misleading because they are
new, and in many cases very blind; in many instances the same nickname
being used to represent perhaps a dozen different proper names, so that
it is impossible to tell, from the nickname, what the real name is.
Among the most annoying of this class are those that not only represent
several names each, but are masculine or feminine, as occasion calls.

Of the latter class are "Allie" for Alice, Albert or Alexander, and
"Bertie," used in place of so many that it is needless to specify, the
latter being the worst of its species, since it is wholly indefinite,
applying equally to boy or girl, and for a multitude of either sex, some
of which are so far-fetched that all possible connection is lost in the
journey of transmission. Most of the old fashioned nicknames indicate
the sex quite distinctly, and in this they have much the advantage of
some of their modern competitors. They were also much more expressive if
not so euphonious. A person need but glance at any of our town records
for the past few years to see how the use of these pet names has
increased, and it requires no prophet to foresee what confusion must
naturally arise from the continuance of the custom, and how difficult it
will be in the near future to follow the record accurately.

Another and very different class of nicknames are those derived from
accident or local circumstance, and have no other connection with the
real name of the person to whom they are attached, and to whom they
cling as a foul excrescence long after the circumstances that called
them forth is forgotten. These sometimes originate at home in childhood,
at school among playmates, or after the arrival of the person at mature
age, and are oftentimes ridiculous in the extreme. They are nearly
always a source of great mortification to those who so unwillingly bear
them, who would give almost anything to rid themselves of the nuisance;
yet these, once fixed, seldom lose their hold, but must be borne with
the best grace possible.

It will not be necessary to cite instances of this class, as every one
will recall many such that it might be highly improper to mention
publicly as being personal or taken to be so. Some are simply indicative
of temperament; some of a peculiarity of manner, or a locality in which
they happened to have first seen the light; and others, perhaps the most
unfortunate of all and the most mischievous, are derived from an
ill-timed word or act, s