Nicknames and other stuff
Posted by Pete | Posted in News | Posted on 03-05-2012
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Nicknames comes from so many sources, younger siblings who cannot say a name correctly, fat kids nicknamed Slim or short people called Shorty and so on. I got mine because of wearing a brace of six shooters from the time I got my first cap pistols and holsters, wearing them until I was a pretty big boy, hence Pistol Pete…when I quit carrying them the name Pistol was dropped but the name Pete stuck. Until this day, family and friends call me Pete…..Non friends call me a lot of things, but thats ok to as long as it is a term of endearment….If its not, then I will not worry about it. How about you…Do you have a nickname you would care to tell us about, well, simply click on ” read the full post” at the end of the post and a comment section will come up….I would love to hear from you….
Other stuff…..Did I tell you a story about some of our kin doing some, er, cussing?…It seems that this little fellow, about 5 years old, came up to his Grandma here a while back and said, “Granny, is damn a cuss word?”….”It sure is” came the reply…The kid says, “Oh, ok, I’ll keep saying shit then.” Out of the mouth of babes, huh? I thought that was cute….Pete
In the Philippines, practically everybody has nicknames. There are 13 surviving children in Marina’s family. In their case, the eldest brother took it upon himself to give suitable nicknames for each of the younger siblings (but he didn’t stop with that). He named the older ones too. He even gave nicknames to his parents. This is the thing that made it so confusing for me (a foreigner) in the family. It was difficult enough to put real names with real faces; but, to factor in another dozen or so nicknames made it even more confusing. Let’s see! There is Ming for Marina, Ago for Rodrigo (also Rudy), Whitey for Leticia (also Letty), Balles for Antonio (also Tony), Tibo for Primitivo, and so on into a deep confusion. Nicknames fosters informality and friendliness, but they can be very confusing. I guess the name the family gave to me was that old white Americano; but, as far as I know, they have never said it in my presence. At any rate, that is okay. I am getting old (at least, 29 is older than I was when I was bumping around Coal Fire and Reform). I am white, and I am the best American of more than 300 million. It is descriptive. That is what nicknames are supposed to be: very descriptive, informal, easily remembered, easily spelled, and, better yet, easily pronounced.
Yes, nicknames can be troublesome, huh? In your case anyway…Pete
Nicknames can be troublesome only when a difference in culture is added, but they can be helpful as well be adding an informal, personal dimension.