Naming individuals can be stupid
In my land of birth, Australia, an incredible problem has always existed. People often don't have the courage to use officially-given names. They replace them by shortened versions or colloquial names. And this trivial refusal to use correct names has ended up undermining whatever's left of everyday culture Down Under. I imagine that most outsiders are unaware of this ridiculous problem, which has attained astronomical proportions. Many silly terms substituted for given names are absurd, and have weak linguistic links to the original names, or maybe none at all. Here are several examples: William > " Bill " Margaret > " Peggy " Richard > " Dick " Susan > " Sue " James > " Jim " Catherine > " Kitty " Robert > " Bob " Dorothy > " Dot " Thomas > " Tom " Michael > " Mick " This Aussie naming phenomenon has little to do with endearment or brevity. It'...