This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

choke, choke
LOL, well I just did the interview. It got off to a bad start - I sort of choked on the first question - but I relaxed as it went on and I think I managed to answer the question.
vote up1vote down

Replies

Congrats!! The secretto not ckoking is realaxing the throat muscles, swallowing, and then............................taking a deep breath and speaking. :) Glad to hear you got through it o.k. YOu should post a transcript for us.
vote up1vote down
What happened? You didn't get stage fright, did you? Did they give you a glass of water? Ah, I'll bet you were a lot better than you might've thought you were.So, do we get to see a transcript? :)-- Nanaea
vote up1vote down
Nope, no glass of water. It was a phone interview. I'm sure I was better than I imagined, at least I hope so. I only messed up in the very beginning when I froze, but it got easier after that.I don't have a transcript, but this is what I mentioned:Bob and Bill are similar in that (1) they are both shorter than the original names, which was done simply because they are familiar forms and it makes them easier to say, and (2) they both start with a different sound than the original name.There are various theories as to why this came about, and these theories could have worked in combination with each other. The distribution of names was thinner in the Middle Ages, so many people would share one name, creating a need to distinguish one Robert from another. There were several other rhyming nicknames for Rob, eg Hob, Nob, Dob, (which gave rise to surnames such as Hobbes and Hobson) but they have all died out now. I gave other examples of rhyming nicknames such as Meg and Peg, and Ed, Ned, and Ted.At this point the interviewer, Sheila Coles, made a joke about Hob's your uncle. She asked me about other diminutives, so I brought up Dick and Richard, and mentioned how the pronunciation of the trilled Norman 'R' may have presented problems to the Anglo-Saxons causing them to substitute a 'D' sound (as mentioned in Hanks'n'Hodges). I also mentioned that Bill may have come about because of difficulty Gaelic speakers may have had with the 'W' sound.She wrapped it up at this point and mentioned she'd like to have me back sometime. The whole thing lasted only a couple minutes (or so it seemed).
vote up1vote down
You did us proud, Mike. :)I wish I could've been listening to that radio interview. I would've pointed to the radio and been proud to tell anyone within earshot: "That's our Mike C!" :)-- Nanaea
vote up1vote down