From: djheydt@kithrup.com   
      
   In article ,   
   Evelyn C. Leeper  wrote:   
   >My major complaint with the dramatizations is that the   
   >scriptwriter has decided to use Western-style nicknames: "Alex" for   
   >Alexander, "Ptol" for Ptolomy, and so on.  I just don't believe   
   >that anyone called Ptolomy "Ptol".   
      
   [Hal Heydt]   
   My father who had been there when sailing on commerical ships and   
   possibly when he was in the Navy, usually referred to Aledandria,   
   Egypt as "Alex".   
      
   We know that he was there because after the older of my two   
   sisters died, in the accumulated papers we fund a document   
   permitting him shore leave there from a ship on wheich he was   
   part of the crew.  One half is signed by the ship's captain and   
   is in English.  The other half was signed by the local Chief of   
   Police and written in Arabic.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)