# About The Strange Mob Nicknames

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-strange-mob-nicknames/437030>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 10, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-strange-mob-nicknames/437030 "2008-02-10T12:45:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-strange-mob-nicknames/437030/1 "2008-02-10T12:45:07Z")

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I was laughing a bit when I read of the recent raids in NYC, where the police and FBI picked up dozens of mob figures. Those names : like " Bobby the Jew", “Greasball”, Nick the Pig". My question: when did these monikers become popular in the Mob? Are they are mark of being accepted? And, would you like to be known as “Greaseball”? 😃

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**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-strange-mob-nicknames/437030/2 "2008-02-10T14:42:13Z")

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I see the same thing at work every day. No, I don’t work with the mob, but I’m surrounded by Navy and Air Force pilots, and they all have callsigns. As far as I can discern, the monikers are pretty juvenile. The guy with curly hair is called _Brillo_. The one named Vail is called _Ski_. And Lt. Blanks is called (I can’t believe this one) _Shootin’_. :rolleyes: I’ve got a friend who retired at least 10 years ago, and he still introduces himself by his callsign, and his wife calls him that, too.

I don’t get it. And I don’t call them by their stoopit names.

Anyway, it’s not limited to mobsters.

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**Author:** ![jaydotbeedot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/54ee81/32.png) [@jaydotbeedot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaydotbeedot)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-strange-mob-nicknames/437030/3 "2008-02-10T17:52:17Z")

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[Slate: Where do mob nicknames come from?](http://www.slate.com/id/2184020/)

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**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-strange-mob-nicknames/437030/4 "2008-02-10T18:20:23Z")

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[QUOTE=FairyChatMom]

I don’t get it. And I don’t call them by their stoopit names.

Anyway, it’s not limited to mobsters.  
[/QUOTE]

Of course, _we_ would never address someone by an odd nickname like, say, “FairyChatMom”. Or “Balance”. Or “Cajun Man”. Or…

😉

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/about-the-strange-mob-nicknames/437030/5 "2008-02-10T19:06:41Z")

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Hey, they aren’t limited to The Mob. Where I grew up in the Bronx, we had regular guys in the neighborhood known as Tommy Bullshit, Jack the Whack, Fat Louie, and so on. Then there was Louie Lump-Lump, but he actually was a mob guy.