#buzzfeed books

[cashytouille]

Shitposting cuz its funny

[yeoldenews]

While we’re on the subject of names, is there an explanation for how traditional nicknames came about that are seemingly unrelated to, or have little in common with, the original name?

ie- John/Jack, Richard/Dick, Henry/Harry/Hank, Charles/Chuck, Margaret/Peggy/Daisy, Sarah/Sally, Mary/Molly, Anne/Nan, etc

I am actually over a week into researching a huge follow-up post (probably more than one if I’m being honest) about the history of nickname usage, so I will be going into this in much, much more detail at a hopefully not-so-later date - if I have not lost my mind. (Two days ago I spent three hours chasing down a source lead that turned out to be a typographical error from 1727 that was then quoted in source after source for the next 150 years.)

As a preview though, here’s some info about the names you mentioned:

The origins of a good portion of common English nicknames come down to the simple fact that people really, really like rhyming things. Will 🠞Bill, Rob🠞Bob, Rick🠞Dick, Meg🠞Peg.

It may seem like a weird reason, but how many of you have known an Anna/Hannah-Banana? I exclusively refer to my Mom’s cat as Toes even though her name is Moe (Moesie-Toesies 🠞 Toesies 🠞 Toes).

Jack likely evolved from the use of the Middle English diminutive suffix “-chen” - pronounced (and often spelled) “-kyn” or “kin”. The use of -chen as a diminutive suffix still endures in modern German - as in “liebchen” = sweetheart (lieb “love” + -chen).

John (Jan) 🠞 Jankin 🠞 Jackin 🠞 Jack.

Hank was also originally a nickname for John from the same source. I and J were not distinct letters in English until the 17th Century. “Iankin” would have been nearly indistinguishable in pronunciation from “Hankin” due to H-dropping. It’s believed to have switched over to being a nickname for Henry in early Colonial America due to the English being exposed to the Dutch nickname for Henrik - “Henk”.

Harry is thought to be a remnant of how Henry was pronounced up until the early modern era. The name was introduced to England during the Norman conquest as the French Henri (On-REE). The already muted nasal n was dropped in the English pronunciation. With a lack of standardized spelling, the two names were used interchangeably in records throughout the middle ages. So all the early English King Henrys would have written their name Henry and pronounced it Harry.

Sally and Molly likely developed simply because little kids can’t say R’s or L’s. Mary 🠞 Mawy 🠞 Molly. Sary 🠞 Sawy 🠞 Sally.

Daisy became a nickname for Margaret because in French garden daisies are called marguerites.

Nan for Anne is an example of a very cool linguistic process called rebracketing, where two words that are often said/written together transfer letters/morphemes over time. The English use of “an” instead of “a” before words beginning with vowels is a common cause of rebracketing. For example: the Middle English “an eute” became “a newt”, and “a napron” became “an apron”. In the case of nicknames the use of the archaic possessive “mine” is often the culprit. “Mine Anne” over time became “My Nan” as “mine” fell out of use. Ned and Nell have the same origin.

Oddly enough the word “nickname” is itself a result of rebracketing, from the Middle English “an eke (meaning additional) name”.

I realized earlier this week that my cat (Toe’s sister) also has a rebracketing nickname. Her name is Mina, but I call her Nom Nom - formed by me being very annoying and saying her name a bunch of time in a row - miNAMiNAMiNAM.

Chuck is a very modern (20th century) nickname which I’ll have to get back to you on as I started my research in the 16th century and am only up to the 1810s so far lol.

[parkercore-69]

i was a victim of the gravity falls to transgenderism/buzzfeed unsolved (+watcher) pipeline and i made a visual representation for it.

[2ndbestalex]

[illadvisedart]

shane’s shanesonas

[helloitsvehere]

[daisydoodle-123]

Not to brag, but…

[pendragonbooks]

In which Sophie is horrified to discover she has been doing magic the whole time

[elysian467]

How I like my books....

I get so frustrated when I find people pointing natural flaws in characters simply to hate them.I love my fictional(or non fictional) books realistic in some aspects.I have never been attracted to God Perfect characters tbh.Characters should have depth and real emotions(which include messed up intrusive thoughts too u know) and fake faults and weaknesses.

I am a reader so I have countless scenarios to talk about but I'll just give a few examples.

•Harry Potter Series: People hate Hermione(Yes they do) saying she is bossy, know-it-all ,book-smart,infuriating.I don't really understand why book-smart is not considered as a positive attribute by many(Like being as book-smart as her is a great deal!)People dislike the fact that she is called as the brightest witch of her age like what???She is! She could perform spells that helped them during the third floor corridor! She made the polyjuice potion in 2nd year(Practical use),she actually SOLVED the mystery of the chamber of secrets.And there are many many instances where its proved to be true(Read HarryPotter again if u forgot). That being said, I am not blind to her faults.People hate her for the "abuse" when she set the canaries on Ron but they forget that such stuff is normal in the wizarding world(They change hair colours,jelly leg spell tarantallegra,explosions etc). Similarly, Ron is bashed for his insecurities and rudeness and leaving in the last book. Guys the best and the closest relationships have arguments,disagreements and sensitivity involved okay???I really don't like how these two and other characters too tbh are hated for these attributes. They are 17 years old people!!!

•Percy Jackson series:Finding faults in Gods is more than okay cause they are childish selfish useless assholes.Annabeth is hated for her jealousy(bitches please that's called being a teen) though Percy is not called out for his jealous moments.They are both teens and its okay.And listen people Annabeth does not "abuse" okay😂😂We throw light friendly punches while demigods blow up toilets,They literally practice sword fighting!?, judo flip etc.

WAIT A DAMN MINUTE PEOPLE!

HERMIONE IS BUZZFEED'S MOST HATED BOOK CHARACTER!!!????WTF!??

JASON TOO????LIKE DID WE READ THE SAME SERIES!?(Read several times)

Okay wait.I need a moment.No wait.My mind literally went blank rn.I had soooo many examples to give but-

Let's end this post here(temporarily) 😵😷

Literally people who hate characters for reasons worse than their very own existence,Please get a life, see a therapist and tell us HONEY WHO HURT YOU???

Oh wait.Like the title was popular book characters people despise.Aah.STILL NOT OKAY.I should probably calm down.

[floorpancakes]

[hazellvsq]

the 7 as the babysitters club

kristy thomas: annabeth chase: i don’t need to explain this one

claudia kishi: leo valdez: bad in school despite their intelligence, consistently feel inadequate despite being geniuses in their own right, seen as annoying and irresponsible by those around them despite the entire premise of the series resting on their tiny shoulders. legends only.

stacey mcgill: jason grace: bad bitches...blondes...the duality of man...torn between past versus present pretense versus reality control versus freedom...trying to define what “home” really means...

mary anne spier: hazel levesque: frequently underestimated. romantics with sensitive spirits. trying to be their own person and maintain their sense of wonder. wanting to see what the world has to offer them despite being scared.

dawn schafer: piper mclean: piper’s not obnoxious or a White Activist but like dawn she's unfairly hated and doesn’t eat meat. and like dawn she’s a real one who is committed to living as an individual and doing right by herself and by others.

mallory pike: frank zhang: frank’s author clearly hates him much less than mallory’s hated her. but he IS the awkward one of the group that is his thing! like mallory he also suffers more than jesus in his own head.

jessi ramsey: percy jackson: humbly is and will always be the most talented player in the game. hot, funny, moody, misunderstood, deeply kind. legends only.

[tolerateit]

reading murder in the family by cara hunter rn and im really enjoying the format!

[makynzieig]

YALL HOWD IT KNOW… LIKEEEE DONT TELL JUDE IM TRYNA STAY ALIVE

[trashworldblog]

im over halfway done with the unsolved book! here are my thoughts!!

the stories are super great! each location is sorted into chapters (hotels, bars, homes, cemeteries, exc), and each location is about 2-4 pages. its just the right amount of detail and history without slowing down the book. theres often illustrations or photos taken right out of unsolved!

the stories are your usual grim reasons why this place is haunted tale. and talks about the history and weird details that make haunting stories so interesting. obviously, the boys chime in with their reactions, personal stories, and banter. their voice is so clear in all of the tales, its easy to realize whos talking (and their interjections are in different handwritten fonts). again, like unsolved, its their humor that makes this book so hard to put down, and i laugh out loud reading it pretty often. they do go over some of the iconic places theyve been, and cover new places they havent been. Its cool to hear them talk about haunted locations in far out places that wouldnt have been covered anyways.

this is a 10/10 reccomend from me! im excited to listen to the audiobook when im done because that feels like it'll just be an unsolved podcast, lmao, and who wouldn't love that.

[watcherwatts]

i need the unsolved audiobook so bad. i already have a physical copy, but man i need that audiobook.

[the-dog-watch]

I wish Buzzfeed quizzes had existed in the 90s because then Patrick O'Brian could have written one where you, a humble reader of the Aubrey/Maturin series, could test and see if you know more and less about sailing than Stephen Maturin.