Nicknames are one of the major staples of human relationships, immediately signifying a power structure that defies peer-to-peer identification. For example: if a guy calls his friend by a long-standing nickname, others feel as if they must achieve a certain level of closeness before being able to use that nickname. Conversely, if your boss calls you a certain nickname--something like "Hoss" or "Chief"--it may not be a term of endearment but one of devaluation, in which your boss is asserting his or her dominant position: you can't ever,
ever refer to your boss as "Champ," no matter how badly you'd like to.
I say all this, but I've never really had a nickname. And I've
always wanted one. I've been called things in the short-term, and usually only by specific people: my sister calls me "Willow" and my friend Ross calls me "Bill." A teacher called me "Wills" once, but she was a drunk and I'm not sure it wasn't just the whiskey talking. That's about it. For a while, I thought people should call me "Tex," and the reason is sort of bizarre: my middle name is Walker. Walker = "Walker, Texas Ranger" = Tex. Nope. Not even "Dubya," which makes sense since I share George W.'s middle name!
Of course, you can't choose your own nickname. Nicknames
evolve. For example: I have a friend whose full name is Raphael. He usually introduces himself as "Raffi," pronounced like "coffee." My friends and I hated him quite a lot at first, so we called him "Rafiki" to keep him in his place. Eventually, he grew on us. He became "Raffi," like the singer. And somewhere down the line, he became "Roofie," like the date-rape drug. So now, Raphael is Roofie. I hope to one day call him "Rufio," for obvious reasons:
RU. FI. OOOOooooooooooooooooooo...!
And then there's Tim. For almost two full years, my friends and I referred to him as "Tom," because he was pissing us off. He's still in my phone as "Tom." We created a whole biography for Tom, knowing that he will be nearly bald by 35 though still wearing a small ponytail to stay "hip" as he drives his red Mitsubishi Spyder down the streets of Hartford, blasting early-2000s U2.
"Hello, Hello! I'm at a place called Vertigo..."
Maybe I'm just jealous. Maybe it's hard to give a nickname to someone who goes by a nickname: "Will" for William. The truth is, whether the nickname comes out of respect or derision, you're probably stuck with it for a long time. My friend Tess is now and will forever be "Drip-Dry." Don't ask why.
Which brings us to you:
Have you ever been given any nicknames, and if so, how did you get them?
RU. FI. OOOOooooooooooooooooooo...!And then there's Tim. For almost two full years, my friends and I referred to him as "Tom," because he was pissing us off. He's still in my phone as "Tom." We created a whole biography for Tom, knowing that he will be nearly bald by 35 though still wearing a small ponytail to stay "hip" as he drives his red Mitsubishi Spyder down the streets of Hartford, blasting early-2000s U2.
"Hello, Hello! I'm at a place called Vertigo..."
Comments (28)
@nonurbusinessyo@xanga - "Well I just ran into Brett Bretterson, and he says he wants to study with me at lunch!"
That is definitely the best nickname ever. Unless you were to call someone TROGDORRRRR!
My best friend worked as an extra in a movie with the guy from that picture. I guess the first time he walked onto the set, all of the cast and crew were like, "RU-FI-OOOOOOO".
I imagine that gets old after time.
someone got nicknamed the "H-Train" and she thought it was a cool nickname. She got it cuz she was dating around a group of friends and well...all aboard and hop on the H Train
i got labeled as "Chubz" by my brother. This was when he was fit in high school and on the football team and i was overweight. Now Im smaller than him, but the name still sticks. I only allow people older than me call me that.
my best friend and I have a nickname for eachother. She called me cucumber. and I called her giggleberri. She giggles a lot and we heard it while watching American Pie 2. So cucumber and giggleberries represented a penis and balls. Eventually I got promoted to Cucumber Melon i am guessing after the scent and then i got promoted to CUCUMBER MELONHEAD hence my xanga sn.