I use the same handle here as everywhere, so people call me Z in real life half the time now.
For a while in high school I was “Snoop” at band events for no discernible reason (aside from the fact that it originated with a tuba player).
I administered and coded/designed areas for an MUD for several years, and ended up meeting several of the long-term players in real life, many of whom still call me “Meho” (an abbreviation of my character’s name).
Never had one. My SDMB Board name is my first alias.
Apparently where I work all of the doctors have nicknames. There was an e-mail thread a while back about what the new guy’s nickname should be. Since his last name is Weiner, the first suggestion was Hot Dog. It went through a few permutations, but someone brought up that since he is kosher, that needed to be reflected in his name.
Hot Diggerty Dog … Or diggerty for short
DOGG pronounced D O double G fo shizzle
Kosher Dog
They finally took my suggestion: K-Dog
I never really had any good nicknames. My parents used to call me flash sometimes when I was in high school. Not because I exposed myself, but because I was always coming and going out of the house.
On a separate note, I used to tease my wife that when we moved somewhere new I would tell people “My name is Chain, but my friends call me Saw.” Unfortunately I never did, but that would have been an awesome nickname.
From my school days “Empty” which are my initials - M T
From my motorcycle years (which are still going on) Lurker - because I could turn up just about anywhere with almost anyone but I never belonged to a specific club or circle of riders.
In elementary school, one girl tried getting everyone to call me Richie - sorta related to my nickname. Thankfully, most people ignored that girl, so it never stuck. (Same for the girl whose last name was Snyder, and idiot girl kept calling her Snydley. :rolleyes: )
My driver’s ed teacher called me Mike, even tho I went by Mickie in those days. On reflection some years later, I figured out he was a dirty old man.
The only nick that stuck for any amount of time was Fred. When I was in the Navy, my team leader was describing to the shop chief some brilliant troubleshooting I’d done, and he forgot my name. Instead he said “So, Fred here said…” and that was it. For the next 2 years, I was Fred. But once I left San Diego, I left that name behind.
No one’s ever called me anything other than my name since then - at least, not to my face.
My mom called me Boooker for same strange reason when I was little.
When I was very young, my Mom and Dad used to call me “Kitey-Cat”, because even way back then, I’ve always loved kites.
In high school, I was “Pistol Pete”, because it vaguely rhymed with my last name.
In college, I was “Herbert” for a while (from an old Star Trek episode), though that got shortened to “Herb” when the ill-fated Burger King ad campaign came out.
Haven’t really had a nickname since then.
Ooh, I just remembered another one! Late '70’s, I worked in a Straw Hat Pizza Palace. After closing, the staff would often hang around and play foosball. Once, while I was watching others play a game, the phone rang. I answered it, and the guy on the other end said, “Is this Foosball Schwarz?” I said, “No, this is Foosball Brown.”
That led to me being called, variously, “Foosball” and “Foos” for the rest of my tenure.
In elementary school I was dubbed “incubator” because when we went outside to play in the winter I always said I never felt cold, I felt warm.
The story goes that my grandfather was called ‘Boots’ because of the the oversize, hand-me-down cowboy boots he wore when he as little. When I came along, my dad and my uncle started calling me ‘little boots’. As I got older it changed to ‘bootsy’. Since my dad was a little league coach, that moniker got a lot of play followed me through high school. Nowadays though, only my dad calls me ‘boots’.
I don’t know if “bud” counts as a nickname, but that is what I find myself calling my own kid.
In high school I was Radar, due to my big ears.
On my first tour in Vietnam my doctor at the battalion aid station called me “slope” (a derogatory term for any asian Vietnam Veteran's Terminology and Slang) because I was teaching myself the vietnamese language. Later, in the infantry I was called Doc Croc (close to my actual name) or Doc Moses (I carried a walking stick) depending on which platoon I was with. Now my co-workers call me “white panda” or “W.P.” (meaning the white guy who speaks Chinese). One of the airline translators calls me “Bai xiong mao da ge” (white panda big brother).
A note on the sainted Dr. Laubengayer who called me “slope” those many years ago. He was not racist in the least. He would never refer to an oriental using that word. He called me that because I am very whitebread in appearance and the word is so racist and so objectionable that it was funny.
Z, Zero, and One. The last two are related and I actually got the Z one twice, once related to Zero and once completely randomly.
I’m a little out of luck, as I happen to have the most literal, prototypical nickname it’s possible to have. (Outside of “hey, you” I guess)
I did manage to get called “the Lord of War” once, but it hasn’t really caught on in a big way. Yet.
… In Germany, the short version of “Arthur” which is my first name,
"Ati"
When we learned we were coming to Germany with my American soldier Dad,
"Billy"
… when we got here from Germany (I was 11 in 1960),
"Adolf"
… as a teenager, playing drums for “The Watchmen” (the first rock group I was ever in),
**“Beatle Bill” **(quite a transition from “Adolf”, huh?) I liked the name because I loved the Beatles - Ringo was and is my favorite.
… my best friend Gary ("Yockastrock") once heard my Mom call me “Ati”, and because he misunderstood her, I then became,
"Cutty" (as in “Cutty cain’t hang” from the film Airplane). He still calls me that and I still call him by his nick (see above). When we do that dialogue (we know the entire movie by heart) we laugh our asses off, and our wives just shake their heads at each other!
Gary’s brother used to call him “Coqavin” and we didn’t even know what that word meant!
In the Air Force, in Basic, I was called,
"Airman Drummerboy" which later became, “Sgt. Godzilla” (One of the guys in my flight loved the film West Side Story and used Godzilla’s name instead of “Maria” (as in “Godzilla! I just met a man named Godzilla”). That one I liked about as well as “Adolf”, especially when the whole barracks took up the chorus! :rolleyes:
During my days in the 80’s playing country music with “The Combo-Nations”, I was,
"Billy-Bob", which back then was another name for “redneck” (which I also didn’t mind, as it was used with affection, even by my wife).
And these days, I am affectionately (I hope) known as ,
"Quasi" or “Dr. Demento”
Just kidding about that last one.
What a great thread, Rack-a-Bones! You just caused me to “time travel” my life in 30 minutes!
Thanks!
Q
Well, other than my username, I also am called “Squirrel” by my uncle. And a lot of people mispronounce my first name, so that almost counts, right?
Can’t… help… it! PLEASE, no offense is meant, okay?
They mispronounce Big?
There!
Whew! I feel better now…
Thanks for the “early morning smile”, BigT!
Quasi