OK, I don't expect you to believe me, but something really bizarre just happened.
Ordinarily I have no earthly idea what I'm going to write in a post until I sit down and stare at various pictures I've pre-loaded. The picture may trigger a thought which may trigger a bigger thought and voila, a post is born. Sometimes at work when bored
The topic of nicknames has been on my list for two weeks now, and each evening it was a contender for the next day's post but it kept getting shoved to the back burner. Last evening as I was cleaning up after supper, I made the decision to write about nicknames for today's post. Knowing I'd already briefly touched on the topic of names some time last year, I went back to that post and was pleased to discover that it was about strange first names, not nicknames, although we did dabble in nicknames in the comments section. Click here to see.
Then I looked at the date of the post: November 20th, 2008. Exactly one year ago to the day. What are the chances?
[Insert sound of creepy music that goes doo-doo-doo-doo, doo-doo-doo-doo.]
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Anyway, we have lots of characters with nicknames running around here. In my neighborhood alone, there are aplenty:
Prunes - my father's friend. He hauls our trash to the dump. Descended from Tangier Island.
Mooch - Prunes' wife. When I was a kid I always thought they called her Moose and never understood why. Not that I understand Mooch, mind you.
Miss Curly - same person as Mooch, aka Prunes' wife. She gets two nicknames. Maybe it's because she keeps her Christmas tree up year 'round, prominently displayed in the picture window. Who knows.
Cotton - He lived in the red brick house that Mental P Mama wants to buy.
Sticks - Cotton's son who is just a few years older than me. Or older than I. He was older. And as skinny as a stick, hence the name.
When I was in high school, I played basketball with Dopie, Buckwheat, LaRue, and Boufant. LaRue had a brother called Mumps (his real name was the unusual Grayling). Of course who from around these parts can forget Watergate, the unofficial mayor of Ward's Corner and groundskeeper of the stretch of road from Eastview to Westview Inn.
My father is friends with Pepsi, Poochie and Meat Morris. Meat is like my father's brother; they
Jeffrey Rainier gave me a nickname in 7th grade. He and a few others called me Flipper because my straight-as-a-poker hair was mashed so flat to my head that my ears would poke out. He sat behind me in Mr. Thomas's social studies class and would flick me on the ear. Then in 8th grade shop class he made me a sign that said Flipper. Then he asked me to a 9th grade dance, which is a story for another time.
Most people just called me by my last name, which I actually liked.
My Baby Sis was known as Sunshine, and she played basketball with a person whose nickname was actually Baby Sis. (Trust me, this makes sense to those of us who
Middle Sis had a nickname, but I can't remember what it was. Perhaps she can enlighten us.
Did you have a nickname? What are some unusual nicknames from your past?
If I write about names or nicknames on November 20, 2010, I'm officially dubbing myself psychic
22 comments:
I grew up in South London rather than the country, and it was a fairly rough, harsh environment for kids. All my nicknames were horrible and unkind, and I'm very glad to have left them, and south London, well behind.
The strangest nickname I ever heard was that of a girl I worked with briefly, Cunsy. Say it. Weirdest was that she seemed to like it.
Re Re... that was my childhood nickname. The fact that the kids use Re Re as meaning RETARD these days is just coincidence... I think.
However.. i have a different CB Handle. Puppy Dog. my daddy is Hound Dog. Get it.. Hound Dog.. Puppy Dog.
In high school i got stuck with Maverick for awhile. Let's not discuss that ok.
Now I am just Re. Which kind of surprises me this crowd hasn't picked up on yet.
CBW _ i didn't know you were Flipper. Seriously I thought your nickname in school was...
damnthatgirlcanplaysomeball
WV spitill... that sounds like some kind of rap word..
"better step off.. boom boom boom you gonna make me spitill bout you.. boom boom boom"
Yea I can't rap.
she aint to RE its Annie RE!!!
My cousin and I, who were more like brother and sister, were known, uninspiringly as 'Big Ted' and 'Little Ted' (from an English children's programme of a certain era). Neither of us is called Ted, and I am not little... but he is 6'8". I mean, he is now, but not when we were children. Obviously. That would just be... odd, right?
Oh, hush up Mrs F, no-one needs this drivel at 8am!
wv theolyve."Who's got the olyve, I need it for my martini..."
No nicknames here. Though, I always wished for one:/ Thank goodness I became a blogger and was able to give myself a nickname. I really like BHE!!!
WV: ovultest
Thank goodness I don't have to get my ovultest for another year!
There were two Bubbas who rode the bus the same time I did. I just remember everyone's nicknames were just variations of their regular names.
My grandma who grew up in Nebraska was Adah Lenore, but the family called her Spud (I haven't discovered the origin of that one yet) she always hated her real name and her nickname so as an adult she decided she wanted to be called Jeanne, and it stuck.
My Dad's wife is named Regina, but shorted to Gina, though it's pronounced like Jenna. Not sure how that one came about either.
I'm kind of suprised Re didn't mention Snooks.
WV: quicons... maybe a good nickname for a computer geek?
I was Lips. Unfortunately, I shared that story (the nickname part of it anyway) with my daughter. Maybe that's how it spread ALL AROUND TOWN. Mistake number 7,897,243 for this week.
My best friend gave me the name "Red"
Don't rightly remember why, or how it started. Another one I remember was "los labios de plato"
or in English...duck lips.
Ok, so I had full lips before Angelina made them popular. I HATED them!!!!! Still do, though I had someone tell me the other day they wish they had my lips. Go figure.
msseabreeze
I've been called Lid, Stretch, Linder and Linder Loo. Had a co-worker who called her brother and sister 'Brother' and 'Sister'.
Sometimes nicknames are not nice. Because I have an unusual name for a girl I suffered a lot of teasing so no, I am not sharing that stuff.
Remember names chains? I have one and someone mis-read it .. so Daryl became Darly ..
And my favorite aunt called me Dar
Prunes calls his wife " mooch" because he says that she mooches money off of him. He told me that.
I was always curious as to why Prunes was called Prunes. It was explained to me at last year's neighborhood Christmas party, but it didn't stay with me very long. By the way, where is this year's party??
My current nickname is "Nessy". I love this name and there's NO WAY I will EVER explain it on the blog...I'll tell you next time I see you...that is, IF you want to know!
Poor Watergate. We used to drive up to his shack and ask if he had any liquour, to which he would always reply "no", and then we would squeel out on two wheels yelling " git it 'GAAAATTTTEEE!!!"
I know, it's nonsense!
Love,
Baby Sis
BabySis - Let's definitely make it a point to re-ask the Prunes question at the neighborhood party, which is at Walter's this year, though no date is set.
Don't forget to bring the James Brown.
I have a feeling there's a book you could write about your high school antics, Nessy.
p.s. Didn't Stephanie call you The Colonel, too? Becuase you fell asleep with popcorn in your mouth? (kernel of popcorn = kernel = colonel)
No, Stephanie's nickname is " the KERNEL" because SHE fell asleep with a MOUTHFUL of popcorn and woke up coughing and choking on it. She immediately called me and was crying hysterically. I was laughing uncontrollably...ALSO, one night she came home from a night out with me and another friend, and tried to cook hard boiled eggs...she woke up the next morning to a smoke filled apartment and found 2 small black dots in a pan.
Love,
Baby Sis
Baby Sis, what a wonderful friend you are to provide support 24/7 to the Colonel. I'm sure it was comforting to hear all the laughter on the other end of the line as she described her near-death experience. On the other hand, I laugh hysterically every time I hear the story, so I don't know how you could have comforted her with a straight face.
The burned eggs story reminds me of somebody who once put a turkey in the oven with saran wrap on it. Or something like that. I know heat and plastic were involved.
Love,
Big Sis
I think the saran wrap was over your baked tomato slop, which I LOVED, by the way.
Yes,I'm always a great support when friends fall, nearly die, etc. In fact, just today she was telling me how she was jogging early in the morning and tripped over something in the road and fell on her chin. I died laughing! She's used to that,though..
Love,
BS
I thought ovultest was chocolate milk?
I have about a googol of nicknames. Dad started calling me Toad/Toadfrog/Toadums/Froggums, and now he calls my daughter Sparky "Little Toadums." Mom has always called me Noni. Little brother Bocci and I have a shared Hawaiian past so he calls me Tita, which basically means "b*tch."
That's just a few. I left out Swami/Swams and Foolery, which I'm starting to answer to. My family has a thing for nicknames -- can you tell?
"Took" - that's what both of my parents call me. Daryl, I too have a less than normal "girl" name. Or I guess I should say, I'm a female with an unusual name that sounds masculine. Anyway, always had all sorts of nicknames from that, although my favorite was "Cooler", due to a brand name of cooler that is the same as mine. Was that roundabout enough for ya'll? It's Friday, what can I say!?
PS - WV is daphi (coincidence after my "daphi" rambling post? I think not!
I get called Megster now, by some...
My husband says there are people who give nicknames and other people who are assigned nicknames. He's a giver and doesn't really have any nicknames that are commonly used...
I love reading the obituaries in my hometown (PA) weekly newspaper because they'll be like "Robert 'Pap' Harris" or "James 'Spiff' Jones".
You can see by my conspicuous absence that I dont know many nicknames...although I did have one at school..a shortened version of my surname. I didn't mind it then but hate it if anyone calls me that now, which they don't anymore luckily. Mostly they call me Annie which I kinda like. We had a funny name my father bestowed on my first son which was kinda cute at the time, but I won't embarrass him now. I think it was cos it was such an adult kind of name that we gave him, I know I almost couldn't call him that for a long time...funny..!
Daryl, I love your aunt's name for you Dar...sounds good!
This is to a couple of ya..
kate.. you are right.. why didn't I think about Snooks.. well because I have no idea how he got that name. I even called Aunt Ann.. Nope no clue. What I CAN tell you is that his name was Lemual Winn and he had an older brother who died at 11 months.. name Lemual Winn.. maybe they needed to do that so they wouldn't call him the same thing.. but then WHY NAME HIM THAT. However.. Lemual was his fathers name so I think I get it. maybe.
Daryl I LOVE YOUR NAME. the end.
Breezeway.. Cooler whatever you would like to call yourself.. I LOVE YOUR NAME TOO!!!!
Both of them are so .. cool.
This coming from the girl who whined for years about the country ass name I had. I still think it is .. but for some reason I adore Annie Re. :)
Flipper! I love it. the only nickname I had was one my BIL had for me...Janny Fanny.
I do give all my grandkids nicknames though.
All the kids in my neighborhood called me "Mutt" or "Mutley". Believe it or not I liked it (probably because my best friend's ultra-cool brother gave it to me). I didn't particularly look like a mutt, more like a tomboy who wore the same holey jeans day in and day out and had hair down to my waist.
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