An 88 year old man opens fire at the Holocaust Museum, and I'm blogging about nicknames? Yes I am. Sometimes I think I should make more serious commentary instead of silly topics like candy bars and things I like about summer in CNY. But, you know know what? There's enough misery in the world and out there in the blogosphere. So you won't find much serious content until my taxes go up. Then the hounds of my middle class fury will be unleashed. Until then . . .
I love nicknames. I love coining nicknames and believe that some people's names were meant to be nicknamed. There's my friend Ginger, whose name is so easily converted to Gingersnap. There's Clark who became Clark Bar to me in graduate school. I call Zora Zoraster, in part because she drives a Forester. And there's a D-licious out there, cringing as he reads this because some of you know who he is. Every year or so I used to come up with a new nickname for Terry Engebretsen (talk about a patient person), and so Mr. T, T Rex, and my favorite T Bone were coined, among others. I have also coined other nicknames for Pin and Big, and rarely call them by their real names unless referring to them in conversation. Over the years I have called Missy the following:
Miss Thing, pronounced Thang(stolen from Sam)
Missypotamia (stolen from Daryl)
Missy Mephistopheles
Mephistopheles
Mississippi
Missy Poops
Missy Poops a Lotta
Stinker Fuss (because her feet stink like corn chips, but not corn chips you'd want to eat)
Sweet Sally Sue (which Pin loathes)
That's just a partial list, but I want to get on to my main point. Rarely does anyone nickname me. I think when you have a name like Murphy, the "Murf" moniker replaces any real nickname. Brandon Hall used to call me Fatty or Fatty Patty because I wasn't, and occasionally students call me Dr. Pat, but I WANT A REAL NICKNAME. Suggestions?
Do you have a nickname? How did you get it?
Happy Anniversary
My Loves
Vincent Murphy
Central New York
Rocks!
Spring
Come On!
Awwwwww
I miss my Missy
Better Days
they'll come again
Alicia Vida Billman
is 29 today
This says it all!
Friday noon, you're coming home with me Vinny.
Vincent Murphy?
What!?
Tuesday nights
are gonna change in May
Mr. Murphy
waiting for his haircut
When I get bored
I take pictures of myself in bathrooms
Graphic Boulevard
blown transformers and a tree
Cars in Bergenfield
didn't do well
House on Queen St
with a for sale sign in front of it
Bergenfield
Storm 2010
Vincent Murphy
and his look alike Bob Murphy
Off my back porch
Don't worry I didn't take this pic while falling
Down Kellogg Street
Up Kellogg Street
My house, our cars
Winter 2010
Summer!
I want summer back!
How about Chit Chat Pat? or The Patricia Militia?
ReplyDeleteIt's all i could come up with lol. It's better than what Nick's aunt Patti used to be called (Patti Perfect)
People used to call me J-Ro because that's how teachers in high-school would call my name in class (J. Rowe) and they thought it was cool like J-Lo lol
Other Nicknames of mine:
JessRo Tull
Jessie Bear
Pookie Bear
Pookie
Messy Jessie (and I wasn't Messy at all)
Rowe Boat
Jessie
Jess
I don't know where some came from, possibly because I liked teddy bears a lot? Either way I had an interesting childhood.
ooh! Smurphette!
ReplyDeleteI sympathize with you Mama Murphy. Sarah is not really a good name for nicknames, either. Sarbear is about as good as it gets. My mother insists on calling me Susie, or Susan, or Sarah-Susan and I do not know why. Some friends of the family call me Sarah Inez with a really thick southern drawl. But it was more fun to call me that when I was fourteen, because it used to really annoy me, then. My favorite nickname, though, is the one I gave myself.
ReplyDeleteMy friend, Eliza, and I are herb geeks. We used to work at the same herb shop on the Cape, and one day we were talking about how famous herbalists have really goofy names, like Susun Weed and Rosemary Gladstar. So we made up our own herbalist names - Sarah Strangewaters and Eliza Greenstench. Though we've since shortened them to Strangey and Stenchy.
I do really like the Patricia Militia.
ReplyDeleteMurph-dawg
ReplyDeleteM (just the letter)
Murphster
Doc
Wizard
Smithy (like... wordsmith)
Maestro (why not)
Teapot
Stripes
Pepper. or Pepps (you're a perky girl)
Red (irony)
Greenzo
Nicknames are a thing of comradery and ball-busting in my world - maybe you should rile up the arts&science folks and get them jabbing eachother - nicknames will be sure to arise.
I get a new nick-name pretty readily at work since it's a part of the culture.
Patricia Militia -- definitely! :)
ReplyDeleteA student called me "some joe named Draney" in a paper once, and a student who still drops by from time to time calls me his "English guru."
But don't get me started with what elementary-age kids did with "Draney." Speaking of which, can you connect the dots between my last name and "Crystal," which is what one fellow six-grader called me for awhile?