The health of nicknames
Sir: I read with interest Nigel Nicolson's piece in 3 April issue (Long life). He says that in his distinguished family nicknames and a private language are dying out, and he thinks that 'comparable groups of Lyt- tleton, Tennant, Gladstone and Mitford words have by this time probably withered on the family tree as symbols of an impreg- nable self-assurance that is no longer acceptable'.
As the daughter of a Mitford, the wife of one Tennant and the mother of three more,
I beg to disagree. Nicknames and family expressions are alive and well here. They are not symbols of an impregnable self- assurance but of that even more unfashion- able thing, happy family life. They usually arise as the result of a good joke, which they outlive, often by many years.
I am sorry indeed to hear that Siss- inghurst is now a joke-free zone; so sorry that I can hardly believe it. I hope that as Mr Nicolson's garden reaches its zenith of beauty, jokes will come back into season.
Emma Tennant
Shaws, Newcastleton, Roxburghshire
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