A Light Hearted Look at Nicknames

Not many of our schoolteachers had nicknames but we did have 'Cromwell', 'Old Scratch' and 'Busty Thrusty'.

Growing up, I never had much of a nickname apart from a shortened version of my own name. My siblings, however, did:

Sister - Larry or the Roo (Larry was from an old segment on Sesame Street featuring The Rhymies, one of whom was called Larry)

Brother 1 - Buddy

Brother 2 - Doozer (as in, from Fraggle Rock)

Brother 3 - Dickens; Grandpa called him Dicky Boy

Brother 4 - the Mouse or Mickey Mouse

Now, Hubby calls me Wifie or Snuggles. I call him Lovey or sometimes Mr. Fussy when I want to tease him. (Sometimes he calls me Mrs. Foussy 😁)

My Dad was always called Boydie even by my Mum his name was Stanley and I never did ask where it came from. I worked with a very short but busty girl, she was called Titsalena bum squirt by all an sundry she didn’t even mind.

BoggledMind we also had a friend know as Hector but no idea why, his name was John.

We have family next door, one of the daughters is known as Smiler (she naturally has the most miserable expression) and the other we call Long shanks (tall and very skinny). Their late father, a horrible man, was always referred to as Muppet.

My partner and my youngest son call each other John when they have a conversation, so it's "look at this John" "what have you got John" etc etc. Neither is a John.

My last cat was called Holly, her name when we rescued her, but I often called her Pidge.

this thread is making me laugh

we have

mr nosey
dressing gown
the two baldies
the cheeky fuckers
angry man
the druggies
barbie and ken
gobby woman

none are particularly flattering are they?!!

we also have

wide boy
speedy gonzales
the labradors
the walking couple

oh and 'the tutor'

We don't have many nicknames around here except for The Druggies.

At primary school, I was bullied a lot (lots of reasons) and as I was one of the few with a pet dog, I was called after a brand of dog food of the era. Taunted, rather than called and in a cruel way. Kids can be so evil!

My DH's nickname was 'Wolfman' as he had a full beard and moustache which seemed to cover most of his face.

Friends used to joke about checking the phases of the moon if we were meeting up after dark.

Hi yogitree ,
Messaged you .

Kids can be very cruel .
We have lots of nicknames in our family some shared with the Mitfords !
I laughed when I read it.

No one is called by their Christian names unless we about talking about them to other people as it's confusing.

Years ago a lady used to join us at our cafe group and none of us could remember her name and as the weeks rolled on we were too embarrassed to ask her .
One day someone asked if we'd seen Lipstick .
None of had said it but we'd noticed that she always had most of her front teeth coated in lipstick .
It wasn't meant unkindly.

One of my rxes worked ss labourer, and the ha nicknames galore.
"So, I said look, you backfill that 'ole, Smelly"
Why's he called Smelly?
"Well, cos he smells".

When I worked for a firm of Accountants, one, in particular in a senior role, really couldn't write the most basic of letters, he was known throughout the firm as "the illiterate Chartered Accountant"

One of my son's school mates was known as "Bomber" I asked son how he acquired such a name. "Everyone knows when he's dropped one from the fall out" that was in junior school as well that's boys for you, the lavatorial to the last

My parents were cockneys and very blunt and cutting with their nicknames for some of the people on our street; Brasso Lil, Mini fat legs, The Kraut, Kipper feet, Gypsy Rose, Tinkerbell. Many more but not particularly PC.

watermeadow

My father used to call me Fanny! That was long before it got its present meaning.

A friend of my first wife was actually named Fanny.; she was probably born 1950s maybe?

Unfortunately in modern parlance she was the butt of horrendous jokes

Talking of fannies, I am fed up that the affectionate term for a cat 'pussy' has now been outlawed. I blame Pussy Galore and Mrs Slocombe.

When I was a lot younger I and my friends used to go to a pub where a lot of men had nicknames relating to their jobs
So for example you would have John the dust he was a dustman or Brian the book he worked in a shop selling books
Saved asking people what they did for a living

Yes, i knew a Tony Carpet

My great grannie was a Fanny as was my gt aunt, her daughter. I don't know when it began to have another meaning. It was often short for Frances but not in my case.

At school some of the girls had names you could make another name from the initials and surnames.
Thus we had Chicks (C Hicks)
Patty (Patterson) Smartie (S Martin) and so on. These names stuck.

My dad used to call me bluetit until I became very embarrassed when puberty hit!
We don’t have nicknames really, apart from the next door neighbour who is “that ignorant git”.

I used to have two friends called Norma, and if referring to them, one was Norma round the corner, and the other one Norma round the bend, she was a bit! Our tv remote is ZOOMIE. I had a friend who called her car Delilah because the registration was YYY.

We still chuckle over the nickname our son gave to a chap who would pass our front garden. The chap had a distinctive knee raising walk and would be wringing his hands as he went along his way. He was known as ride a bike rubiks in one word ‘rideabikerubiks’ 😂

Reading this I do so hope nicknames have gone out of fashion!

My generation suffered from school-friends who used unkind nicknames, but the worst offenders were parents, especially fathers, ably seconded by uncles.

Mothers used "pet names" often a play on a child's given name, and some of them kept on using a hated name far too long, because they thought it was sweet,

My younger brother had two nicknames. One was egghead and the other was frog. He did have an egg shaped head when younger then changed to a frog like shape. Lol
My mother in laws last name was related to cold weather and she was often called Frost or Winter by mistake

We had a chap called Dustin who came into our local and who worked as a refuse collector. He was always referred to as Dustbin Hoffman.
DH and I always gave nicknames to look-a- like people we came across on holidays. There was a President Kennedy, a Tony Blair and a Miss World.
DH's rugby club was full of nicknames - better not mention them as many are still alive and easily recognisable!

I was Titch.......I was the youngest and the smallest.