Angelo and Angela.

   Neither the name or vocative appealed to Mr Weller Senior, in The Pickwick Papers, by Charles Dickens. At one point he says to his son: ‘Wot’s the good o’ callin’ a young ‘ooman a Wenus or a angel, Sammy?’ ‘Ah! what, indeed?’ replies Sam, ‘You might jist as well call her a griffin, or a unicorn, or a king’s arms at once, which is wery well known to be a col-lection o’ fabulous animals.’ British readers would recognize in this an allusion to popular pub names, of which the Angel is one. The Wellers may be right in saying that a woman should not be called ‘angel’, but Jerome K.Jerome advanced powerful arguments for using the term to a baby in his Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow: If you desire to drain to the dregs the fullest cup of scorn and hatred that a fellow human creature can pour out for you, let a young mother hear you call her dear baby ‘it’. Your best plan is to address the article as ‘little angel’. The noun ‘angel’ being of common gender suits the case admirably, and the epithet is sure of being favourably received. ‘Pet’ or ‘beauty’ are useful for variety’s sake, but ‘angel’ is the term that brings you the greatest credit for sense and good feeling. The word should be preceded by a short giggle, and accompanied by as much smile as possible. Addressed to adults. angel is used as an intimate term of address in The Bell, by Iris Murdoch and The Half Hunter, by John Sherwood. The latter novel also has ‘my angel’ used between lovers. ‘My angel’ occurs again in The Pumpkin Eater, by Penelope Mortimer. ‘Darling angel’, when it is used in The Country Girls, by Edna O’Brien, is merely friendly rather than intimate, the speaker being one who makes little distinction between acquaintances and intimate friends when it comes to vocative usage.