When it comes to school slang, all bets are off, in evidence whereof I cite the character Charles A Temple in the wonderful Jennings stories by Anthony Buckeridge that I read as a child.
Temple’s nickname was “Bod.” As explained in the stories, “Bod” derived from the fact that his initials were C.A.T., which had led first to the inevitable nickname “Dog,” which was in turn “shortened” to “Dogsbody,” which became “Bod.” The humor derives from the fact that that is exactly the kind of tortuous logic by which schoolboys (in the U.S., “schoolyoungpersons”) derive much of their slang.
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Alan Gilbertson:
November 7th, 2013 at 1:13 am
When it comes to school slang, all bets are off, in evidence whereof I cite the character Charles A Temple in the wonderful Jennings stories by Anthony Buckeridge that I read as a child.
Temple’s nickname was “Bod.” As explained in the stories, “Bod” derived from the fact that his initials were C.A.T., which had led first to the inevitable nickname “Dog,” which was in turn “shortened” to “Dogsbody,” which became “Bod.” The humor derives from the fact that that is exactly the kind of tortuous logic by which schoolboys (in the U.S., “schoolyoungpersons”) derive much of their slang.