Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 10:39:49 -0400

From: Wayne Glowka wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.GAC.PEACHNET.EDU

Subject: Robert/Bob



Anyone familiar with Monty Python's _The Life of Brian_ will remember (in

this season of the Passion, no less) the scene with the crowd in which a

Roman official cannot say /r/. Like children everywhere, he substituted

/w/ for /r/, much to the delectation of the crowd, which kept hollering out

names like "Barabas" and "Roderick," which the official (was it Pilate or

Biggus Dickus?) repeated as "Bawabas" and "Woderick." _Saturday Night

Live_ parodies of Barbara Walters also come to mind.



Thus, "Robert" may get rendered into "Wob" (like "Rob"), which is a short

bilabial step to "Bob." The same process seems to happen in the change

from "William" to "Bill." However, I still like the duplication argument

that I offered in the last posting.





Wayne Glowka

Professor of English

Director of Research and Graduate Student Services

Georgia College

Milledgeville, GA 31061

912-453-4222

wglowka[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]mail.gac.peachnet.edu