Nicknames can be fun, informative and/or cruel. Some are logical - take mine - Shackman - for instance. I'm called Shackman because I have worked at RadioShack for over 25 years. Several other nicknames attached to me come from my given name - Charles. I happen to hate the name Charles - it's way too formal sounding. Now Chuck - its most common nickname - suits me just fine. One old friend calls me Charlie - a name I am not overly fond of but from Dave it works, likewise Chas. That's Charles abbreviated and one of my oldest friends refers to me that way. Then there's the family nickname - Bubba. There's a 10 and 11 year age difference between my sister, brother and I. When they were little they could not say brother - it came out Bubba and it stuck. Of course that means my five nieces between the two of them call me Uncle Bubba which then assumed a life of its own as several friends' kids call me Uncle Bubba. One common nickname for folks with an McC or Mac last name is Mac - for some reason nobody ever called me that but it is my brother's nickname amongst nearly all of his friends and coworkers. And lastly there's what my buddy Bob and his wife call me - Big. Can't get much simpler (or accurate) than that.
Then there are nicknames for groups. Take The Wrecking Crew for example. You may not know that name but if you are a fan of sixties/seventies pop/rock music produced in Los Angeles then you may not know the Wrecking Crew but you do know their work.
Motown had The Funk Brothers -
Sports and entertainment are bastions of nicknames and with the substantial sums of money involved these days nicknames become a very important part of the individuals brand. Frankly that takes some of the fun out of it but what do I know. Shaq, Captain Marvel, The Refrigerator (I was occasionally The Freezer), The Haryana Hurricane, Bhaji and Captain Cool are just a few from a variety of sports. Entertainment offers Duke (named after his pet dog), The Boss, The Fab Four, The Velvet Fog, The Man in Black, The Rat Pack and The Chairman of the Board to name a few.Check out the Velvet Fog -
That's a quick take on nicknames - please check in on Anu, Delirious, gaelikaa, Grannymar, Maxi, Maria SF, ocdwriter, Padmum, Paul, Ramana, The Old Fossil and Will and see what their take is on this week’s topic.
You can write a song titled Chuck Bubba Chas! and I bet that it will go viral like this Indian one did.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR12Z8f1Dh8
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_This_Kolaveri_Di
'Bubba', I like that one! I also like the music today.
ReplyDeleteWe have a friend who we used to call Big mark. But then another Mark came along - so Little Mark. He grew though. So Little Mark became Big Mark and Big Mark had to become Giant Mark.
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