And how they get that nickname?
My brother was called pudz after the children in need bear by his friends , he looked nothing like the children in the need bear.
Are you dude_robert?
Fartin’ Martin. Self-evident.
My kids (now grown) went to school with a girl whose last name is Burde (pronounced ‘birdie’). They all call her Pigeon, and I have no idea what her real name is.
Even Googling doesn’t tell me wtf “need bear” is.
Pudsey Bear, the “Children in Need” bear.
Bobby Philpot was known as Slobby Fleapot. Sorry to out him with his real name, but my story would have sounded false otherwise. It’s OK, because he was a real asshole.
My mother used to know a guy called Shitburger, because once while drunk he ate one on a dare.
Thank you.
Reading “children in the need bear” sounds like ‘need bear’ is a place that children go :smack:
You build a thousand houses, do they call you “Ivan the housebuilder”?
I knew a Hispanic man named “Tomas” (pronounced toe-MAS) whose nickname was “Pete”. It was explained to me as toe-MAS > peat moss > Pete. Never made much sense to me. I knew Tomas quite well, though. I never called him “Pete”, though.
I used to work in a building with a woman who answered to “Ugly”.
I’m sure she referred to herself by that name at some point, then it stuck. It wasn’t at all unusual for someone to say, in all seriousness, “is Ugly working today?” or “tomorrow is Ugly’s birthday”.
mmm
I knew a guy who drove a city bus, and once ran over a stopsign. The other drivers called him “Stopsign” after that.
I had a friend in high school we called “Zig.” His name was David Alan, and his last name also started with an A, so his initials were DAA. He though it looked silly, so he signed his artwork (he was pretty good, and drew some PSA posters and small-circulation magazine covers, and a few political comics that got published while he was still in high school) DZA. With a line through the Z, like a European 7. So we decided that Z stood for “Zig.” I don’t know why. Maybe someone asked him and he said it as a joke. Maybe someone else came up with it. I have no idea.
I knew a guy named Kip. His real name was Darrell. Why he was a kid (in the 1930s), people called him “Skippy.” When he got to be about 11, he didn’t want to be called “Skippy” anymore, but he couldn’t get people to call him Darrell, because it was too big a leap, so he settled for “Skip,” then when he started high school, he told people to call him Kip, and he was Kip for the rest of his life.
I have a cousin Bill called “Dink” within the extended family. I have heard various stories but the one that seems most likely is his father commented that he was a “dinky” baby.
Another cousin is called “Val” because her birthday is Valentines Day. Her real name is Sheila.
An aunt was named Esther but she was known by most people as Mickey. I’m not sure why.
I knew a guy named Monroe who was known universally as “Dink”. No idea why. He was a Midwestern white guy born in the late 20s, early 30s, I think.
Every Thai has a nickname, some quite unflattering such as Pig and Frog. A lot of this stems from the notion that giving a baby an unattractive nickname will deter evil spirits from taking said baby, as they’ll think the baby defective. The oddest one I encountered was Bonot, especially since he insisted this was an English word. It eventually transpired that this was the typical Thai pronunciation of the English word “bonus,” and he was named thus by his father because he was born at the end of the month.
I knew a Cooter in West Texas. He became Cooter amid the popularity of The Dukes of Hazzard. An adult, not a child. I think this speaks volumes about West Texans.
Guys I work(ed) with:
- Sponge
- Cupcake
- Big Mike
- Little Big Mike
- Woody
- Chad-and-a-half (50% bigger than regular Chad)
- Shrek
There are more, but they’re identifiable.
I think mine is weird, it’s Fossil. My next door neighbour who I called Uncle Tony gave it to me when I was about 4 years old. Uncle Tony was an alcoholic and during one of his sober periods I asked him why he called me Fossil. He said that it was a long story that I would understand when I was older and he would tell me then. Unfortunately he died when I was 8 years old and he never told me the reason. I am only called Fossil by that part of my family (not DNA related).
I love it, it always makes me think of him and the time we spent together.
My father’s family called him Dub, because his name (full name) was W. H…
I also had an uncle called Hap, though I don’t know why, his name was Wilbur.
I had a high school friend we called Don’t Know. He got the nickname after once getting rip-roaring drunk at a party and when asked if he knew where he was he replied “don’t know”.
Don’t accuse others of socking, please.