Sir, – Nicknames in sport serve different functions. In fast team sports such as football or hurling it is to rapidly attract the attention of the player by his or her teammates. Therefore they tend to be short and end in a vowel, the better to project the urgent request for action.
In golf, on the other hand, the nickname is usually descriptive and informed by consistent characteristics of the player and in general therefore tends to be longer. When I played football my nickname was, if you like, the vocative imperative case of the anglicised version of my forename, “Dekko”. Now, I only play golf and my nickname is “Bottler”! – Yours, etc,
DEAGLÁN
MacGIOLLAPHÁDRAIG,
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Avoca,
Co Wicklow.
