Nicknames

[Winchester67]

Why post this in "Living Well"? Because nicknames are the embodiment of Living Well. Nicknames are earned from your closest circle of friends...if that is not living well, I frankly can't grasp the concept. The nickname comes from a snapshot in time when the recipient did something Epic or something Stupid. Frankly, Stupid is better, because it drives them to get a better nickname, and the only way to do that is to blow stupid out of the water. Just saying. For example, this is Casino Kays. He got that nickname after a SMOKING night at the tables in Vegas. He flew back in on the red eye and asked me to pick him up at the Honda Dealer because he peeled off the hundreds and bought a new Honda Interceptor. That is pretty dang epic. This is an older pic of him sitting on my old Triumph Bonneville with my Lotus in the background when he was allowing me to use half of his garage. Geez that seems like a long time ago...and sometimes it seems like yesterday.

[Gabriel Suarez]

I agree. Everyone in my tribe...and fam...has a call sign.

[Winchester67]

Computers fight me at every turn....

[Winchester67]

And Gabe, they didn't get assigned the name, did they? They earned it, for good or for bad!

[Gabriel Suarez]

And Gabe, they didn't get assigned the name, did they? They earned it, for good or for bad!

Indeed.

[Jack Rumbaugh]

As long as I'm not "Shit Magnet" I'm good.

[Papa]

Rule One for nicknames: You don't get to name yourself.

I have four that I know of, bestowed at various times in various careers.

And not all complimentary.

[LawDog]

There are social rules for nicknames. I still feel kind of alien about them; like an outsider looking in. I've generally not had a nickname, except for a brief period when I was working with three other guys who also had my same first name.

There is a "control" aspect to it. Not everyone can give a nickname. Only someone with perceived authority can bestow one upon you. So the guy at the top of the chain may not have a nickname, because no one possesses sufficient social authority to create one for him. If the Alpha does have one, it was likely bestowed upon him before he ascended to his current position.

The nickname isn't exactly what King Solomon was writing about when he penned that "a good name is better than gold and silver," but it still ties together. There are some names you would not want to have, and others you could say with pride. The nickname very clearly reveals how much respect you have from those who hang it on you.

[Faramir2]

I have had occasional ones when I was much younger, but never anything that really has stuck. One guy at law school calls me "Socrates," for reasons I'm still not wholly clear on, largely because my manner in debating issues is as about unlike Socrates' as one can imagine. (Personally, Socrates, as depicted in Plato's Dialogues, has always struck me as an arrogant fellow, his pretensions to humility notwithstanding; something about the manner of questioning. Maybe that's partly because I don't have any good reason to accept the pseudo-Scriptural level of deference Plato's writings receive with regard to what Socrates thought and said, so Socrates as a literary character rubs me the wrong way.) But, he's the only one who calls me that, and only a small group of friends really know that.

I did dub a judge in the quarterfinal round of the ABA's National Moot Court competition last week "Chief Justice Ding Dong" because she was a ding dong who took up at least five minutes of argument time with stammering, unclear, wandering, asinine questions that came down to her disliking and not understanding my argument. That then I had little time, comparatively, to actually elucidate because the idiot wouldn't shut up.

I have wondered why I don't have really any nicknames, at least ones that I'm aware of. Possibly it's a sign I don't get out enough; I'm unremarkable; the rather pretentious assertion that I am too lofty for a nickname (a conclusion that seems singularly unlikely); or, on the positive side, that I avoid doing stupid things enough that I don't get derogatory ones (see my "Chief Justice Ding Dong" example).

[Gabriel Suarez]

I already discussed "Assassin" before.

One Jr staffer was named Snakedoc because of her affinity for the show The Unit...and because she was able to sneak out of school, meet me for lunch, and sneak back in undetected...in 7th grade!

The other is Longbow because at 11 he killed an aggressive javelina boar with a toy arrow (that had conspicuosly been sharpened like a convict spoon somehow).

[IANative]

When I was on active duty, and even later among those I served with, my nickname was "Rico." As in Rico Tubbs, from Miami Vice. It was a play on my last name, and not due to my affinity for the Jeri-Curl, shiny suits or .38 snubs.

[Sharkbite]

When I wore a badge it was Joker due to my sometimes insensitive use of humor. Pussies. My training compatriots dubbed me Sharkbite due to my elbow's post operative appearance. When it was fresh, I told the inquisitive a shark bit me. it worked every time.

My other Muchachos are BigFoot, Hollywood, and Bondo.

[apamburn]

My wife calls me papi.

Does that count? :naughty: :naughty: :naughty:

[Jack Rumbaugh]

My wife calls me papi.

Does that count? :naughty: :naughty: :naughty:

You know you are just inviting mayhem with that statement...:lmao:

[Papa]

I already discussed "Assassin" before.

One Jr staffer was named Snakedoc because of her affinity for the show The Unit...and because she was able to sneak out of school, meet me for lunch, and sneak back in undetected...in 7th grade!

The other is Longbow because at 11 he killed an aggressive javelina boar with a toy arrow (that had conspicuosly been sharpened like a convict spoon somehow).

Well, he needs to get back to work:

https://youtu.be/VYTb_ci2RPs

The little devils are stealing cars now.