Pixie?

[vee]

It might be, but it's far less problematic than doing that to a woman of that era, who would be struggling with the society's perception of her as infantile!

[Grizabella]

In those days, to refer to an adult person even by their first name, much less a pet name like Pixie, would be considered extremely rude unless you were a close friend or had been given permission---by her. I cringe every time I see someone referring to her by "Pixie" because I know how a person back in those days would have felt about it. I think she'd feel she deserved more respect than that.

[Grizabella]

Originally Posted by LRichard

She was called Pixie by her friends. There is more information here, including an autographed photo, signed Pixie/Pamela.

Yes, but the key words there are "by her friends"

You know, I'm pretty darned cool myself. ( ) I never liked being called Mrs. (fill in the blank) and my kids called me Ellen if they wanted to. But if I were to create a Tarot deck or write a book and 50 or so years down the road, people decided to call me by a pet name my friends had chosen for me, I'd feel very upset about that. They wouldn't be familiar people to me----they'd be total strangers and what would give them the right to be so presumptuous as to call me by a pet name? Nothing. I think referring to her by the name Pixie is presumptuous and that she'd be insulted by it as well, most likely.

Oh, and I hate, hate, hated being called "Ellie". My name is just a short one, no frills---- just call me Ellen or don't call me. LOL But I don't like my name, anyway, so anything people tried to do with it to make it "cute" just made it worse.

[vee]

Thanks for your perspective! You are definitely cool, Grizzie (just kidding!!)

I hadnt considered the historical context in terms of referring to people. I still don't see a problem with it really, but that gives me a better frame to understand why people are opposed to it.

[vee]

I think it's a way for people to bring these historical figures to a more relatable level, since we are working so personally with their materials. I don't think people would do it if she was alive and hanging around!

[Masa]

Thank you for the information, and all the insights!

This all reminds me of how people say "ol' Billy Shakespeare" when they get silly. Even more strongly, it reminds me of when I was like 11 and I hung around online with Sailor Moon fans all the time, and we called the creator Naoko-Hime (hime meaning "Princess").

Would Pamela Colman Smith have liked it, knowing we swiped her friends' nickname for her? I have no idea. I can definitely see it going either way.

The only thing I can figure is, if random people in the world were calling her Pixie and otherwise ignoring her, that would be pretty bad. But random people in the world don't know or think about the artist behind classic tarot cards at all. Which is also bad! Meanwhile, the only people who do call her Pixie are also the ones who know her real name, know at least a little about her life story, and have studied her work. So the idea of those people referring to her with that kind of warmth feels pretty appropriate. To me, it doesn't feel creepy--like, I don't know, when people who dislike Hillary Clinton call her Hill. Like I said, though, I can see the argument the other way.

[Masa]

Little side-notes: My name is Rachel, too! And yeah, "Rach" doesn't make me angry, but it's just...no. Try again. Whyyyyy would I want to be called something so ugly. X) (My mother reacts even more strongly to "Susie.")

laura_borealis, "infantalizing" is indeed a real word. And super useful!

Originally Posted by vee

It might be, but it's far less problematic than doing that to a woman of that era, who would be struggling with the society's perception of her as infantile!

^ This is exactly why the question is so interesting to me. Being condescended to in our oh-so-modern era is annoying enough, but Ms. Smith does come from a time when women were very commonly seen basically as tall, sexually available children.

AND YET, warmth and affection! I don't know.

[Laura Borealis]

Originally Posted by Masa

laura_borealis, "infantalizing" is indeed a real word. And super useful!

The spell checker was raising its wiggly red eyebrow.

[roppo]

I'm under the impression Ellen Terry called young PCS Pixie because the actress somehow sensed a sort of "changeling" atmosphere about the child. Arthur Ransome suggested everyone called her Pixie who was "a god-daughter of a witch and sister to a fairy".

Her really close friends such as Christopher St John or Edith Craig called PCS Pick or Picky in their letters now housed in the Ellen Terry Museum.

[Carla]

When I moved to the UK, I was struck by how often people's names are changed to a nickname. It is almost as if as soon as you know a person, you ought to start calling them a shortened version of their name. My husband Derek is called Dek by nearly everyone but me (as an American, I am not entirely comfortable with nicknames). But most of the people I know have nicknames: Caz for Caroline, Dek for Derek, Tess for Teresa, Dave for David, Rich for Richard, Libby for Elizabeth, Ang for Angie--practically everyone at work goes by a nickname. ( remember my new friends at work struggling to modify my name to a nickname. But the decided Caz or Cal didn't suit me, so they have stuck with Carla.) So I don't think it's unusual for PCS to have been called Pixie, and I don't think she would mind at all that her fans call her that.