tich

   A commonly used generic nickname in Britain for a very small person. An uncle applies it to his niece in Mariana, by Monica Dickens, though she is in fact quite tall. The term is most used in the school playground, where it is used insultingly.

   The children who use it in modern times are unaware that they commemorate a British music-hall artist, known as Little Tich’ although he was born Harry Ralph. As a child Ralph resembled the claimant in the famous Tich-borne Case, in which Arthur Orton, a butcher’s son, claimed to be Roger Charles Tichborne, heir to a baronetcy.

   Other names which can be used as instant nicknames for a small person include: Squirt or little squirt, ankle-biter, flea, half-pint, imp, junior, microbe, midge, nipper, pint-size, shorty, shrimp, small fry, snitch or snitchy, squib, stubby, stumpy or stumps, tiddler, Tiny Tim, Tom Thumb, weed. Words meaning a tall person can also be used sarcastically to a small person.