Posted by Peter H on August 25, 2003 at 15:10:52 from 213.122.89.39 user Peter_H.
In Reply to: Re: Formality or mistake? was Re: Question for the Scientists. posted by Mike Dennis on August 25, 2003 at 10:39:00:
It's an occupational hazard, Mike. The most confusing example I can remember was Devon Malcolm, the cricketer who played for England. Even the Chairman of Selectors referred to him as 'Malcolm Devon' (Not sure why I say 'even'!)
As to surname use, yes it was widespread in Britain until somewhere around 1960-1970. It was always 'Holmes' and Watson', not 'Sherlock' and 'James'. I can remember in my office in London (possibly a bit backward-looking) an edict came round in 1975 saying that from then on we would all use forenames. Some of the older people could not accept this, so they made nicknames out of their surnames instead, e.g. 'Gibbons' became 'Gibby' (though I tried to persuade the person to use 'Gibber', but she was not an AR devotee, which is perhaps as well. At least this gets me back on-topic, just).