Just wondering as I just interviewed a man who goes by the name Dick, his name is Richard, but he prefers Dick. I’d like to know a couple things about this psuedo-abbreviated name.
A) Where does it come from?
B) How do you feel about the name in general?
C) Is this a generational thing? I do not know anyone, personally, under the age of 60 who goes by this name. Do you?
D) Somewhat jokingly - Does the phallic connotation come into mind when addressing someone with this name? *
One of my younger female employees stated that she would have a hard time calling Dick, Dick because she could not get the “other connotation” out of her mind. She was speaking somewhat jokingly, but I suppose she will have to get used to it because he is by far the best candidate to date.
I don’t know any younger people that go by “Dick.” My younger brother’s name is Richard and I call him Dick just to annoy him but all the current Dicks I know are of my parents’ generation.
My neighbor is called Dick (he’s 81). His wife’s best friend’s husband is also called Dick. The wives refer to their spouses as “my Dick” and “your Dick”, or “big Dick” and “little Dick” (one is tall and one is short). My neighbor Dick is an Anglican Bishop, so this always cracks me up.
I have an uncle Richard who goes by Rich or among family only, Dink. Never, never Dick. He is only 2 years older than me, so it is definitely a generational thing. I used to work with a Dick, he was in his 70’s.
The youngest Dick I know is in his mid-late 50’s - young enough that the other meaning of the word would have been prevalant when he was growing up. I’m not sure why he chose to go by it instead of one of the other nicknames.
I was born in 1957 and have never met any Richard who goes by “Dick” who was born later. All the Richards I’ve met my age or younger have been Richard, Rich, or Rick.
ETA: In the 8th grade we would sometimes fill in the roll sheet with “Dick Hertz” and wait for the teacher to ask “Who’s Dick Hertz?” Then 6 guys would all yell, “Not mine!”
Amazing. When I was growing up “Dick” was the standard nickname for “Richard”, just like “Robert” and “Bob”. I hadn’t noticed but I guess that has gone away. On the other hand “dick” had the same meaning it currently has. But we never make any connection between them. Just like you didn’t make any assumption that Mr. Miller was in the business of grinding seed into meal.
The nickname has, of course, vanished due to the phallic connotations. It wasn’t that “dick” as “penis” was new – the OED dates it from 1891, and since it’s a sexual term, that means it probably was used for some time before that.
But people thought differently. The connection wasn’t made because “dick = penis” was not a word you used in public.
Another vote for Dick-as-Richard ending in with folks born in the '50s. There were a few kids around my age named Richard, but almost none went by Dick. The youngest Dick I can recall from then would be about 55 now. And the youngest Dick I know now or have heard of recently would also be about 55.
Without looking it up, I’d bet that Richard itself was pretty out of style from, say, 1955 to 1975and has since made a come back. But nobody from this later set of Richards is using the Dick nickname.
I’ve always wondered why Richards would choose to be called Dick, but they often do. My maternal grandfather was one such Richard. He was known as Dick his whole life. Born in 1907, but surely they had “dick” as penis slang back in the early part of the century.
However, I did have a classmate who went by Dickie, and that was in the 1960s or 1970s. Maybe early 1970s.
My name is Richard and I’ve had people call me Dick as a joke. I’ll probably laugh politely if I’m in a good mood, and tell them that I won’t respond to “Dick”.
And I don’t. I don’t like any of the shortened forms of Richard, and when I meet new people they assume for some reason I must prefer a short form like Rich, Rick, Ricky… nah. You can call me Richard, because it’s like, my name.
I’m 20, and I don’t know anyone my age with the name Richard let alone any that go by Dick. My father’s name is Richard and he’s the same as me, no shortened forms, no nicknames, and certainly no Dick. He’s in his late fifties.