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2006 Feb 04 (Sat)

The other day I was thinking about nicknames I've heard for certain places. Below are some examples of what I've heard either growing up or here at UCSD. Jack in the Box: Gag in the Bag, Jack in the Crack

Las Vegas: Lost Wages

JC Penney: Jacques-Penn? (with a French accent)

Wal-Mart: Wally-world

Sierra Summit: Sierra Scummit

Caf? Ventanas: Coffee Windows [update: Ventanas (neutral) Craptanas (negative)]

Tapioca Express: TapEx

Black's Beach: Black's

Cane's Bar and Grill: Cane's

The Onyx Room: Onyx

La Jolla Shores: Shores

Tijuana: T.J.

Pacific Beach: P.B.

Santa Monica Beach and Venice Beach: Muscle Beach

Arrowhead Pond: The Pond

Garden Grove: Garbage Grove

Altho' some of the above nicknames only change a letter or two, the change is significant, since it adds or changes the meaning. Searching for "nicknames for places" on google came up with the Hypocoristics Database. I actually got a lot of pointers from that website, and I hope to write up a rule system for SoCal English (if there is one). For now, I noticed some rules:

Translate the name to another language that conveys the speaker's regard for the place (e.g., Jacques-Penn?, and Coffee Windows).
If mimicking the prosodic structure, change a few sounds of the original (e.g., Gag in the Bag, Jack in the Crack, Lost Wages, Sierra Scummit).
Keep the first syllable of the placename and add a couple syllables, with the stressed syllables copying the first syllable's first sound (e.g., Wally-world).
Keep the first syllable of each word (e.g., TapEx).
Keep one word (e.g., Black's, Cane's, Onyx, Shores).[1]
Take the acronym[2]
Take the last (few?) syllables and add "The"[3]

Some of the above nicknames like Lost Wages, Gag in the Bag, and Coffee Windows seem to have a negative sense added to them (e.g., Caf? Ventanas seems pretty funny when translated directly to English, and so the nickname appears to mock whoever came up with the original name), and it looks like they all mimic the prosodic structure. Maybe there's a sound generalization here, that all negative nicknames mimic the prosodic structure, but I think there needs to be more data.

If I keep finding more nicknames and rules to account for them (notice I don't have a rule to account for T.J.), then I'll probably just make another page to keep a better record of them, similar to The Eggcorn Database or the Hypocoristics Database.

[1] This is actually taken from the Hypocoristics Database (rules 6 and 7), but I said keep one word because it may turn out that a middle word can be kept for SoCal English. [return to text] [2] Taken from the Hypocoristics Database (rule 10). [return to text] [3] Taken from the Hypocoristics Database (rule 9). [return to text]

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