Friday, July 06, 2012

Friday Loose Bloggers Consortium: Nicknames

It's interesting that "nicknames" is the topic for today, because I just posted on facebook this week asking to know the nicknames of my friends on FB. I'm sorry that I'm late posting today. I would have been on time if I had remembered that today was Friday. lol

When I was small, my family did try at one point to call me D.D. It didn't really stick. Sometimes when we are chatting online, they will call me D, but I kind of think that is because it is easier to type than my full name.

When I was single and working, I had a boss that began to call me "Delirious". I don't remember him ever calling me anything else. Years later I went to his store to visit him with my kids, but he didn't seem to remember me. I had put on a little weight by then. Later, I regretted not telling him I was "Delirious". I think that would have spurred his memory.

As a missionary, I went by a chinese name. It was just a random chinese name that my teacher picked out for me. But evidently it was a good one, because most people I met commented that it was a good chinese name. My husband's chinese name isn't as good, but he has clung to it these many years out of sentiment. I don't know if you would consider these "nicknames", but that's how we introduce ourselves to chinese people.

My grandfather's family all had nicknames. I can't remember how many children were in his family, but I think it was somewhere between 8 and 10. But each child had a nickname, and it stuck with them their whole life. My grandfather's name was Oliver, so everyone called him "Twist". My brother has adopted that as a screen name.

In some ways I kind of wish our generation had used nicknames like my grandfather's generation did. There is a certain charm to calling someone "Punk", "Twist", or "Ade". Certainly they wouldn't want to use that in their professional life, but it is endearing in their private life.

I wonder if any of the consortium members have a nickname. Check out their blogs to see! :)
Rummuser, Anu, Ashkok, Gaelikka, Grannymar, , Padmum, Magpie11, andAkanksha,Will Knot, Maria the Silver Fox, Anki, Nema Noor Paul Plain Joe, and Rohit
and The Old Fossil, and our newest member MAXI!

9 comments:

Grannymar said...

My Grandaunts all used nicknames, and I only discovered some of their real names after they died.

Maria from Silver Fox said...

How interesting to have a Chinese name. I love that idea and I am sure that the teacher took an immediate liking to you and gave you one of her favorites.

Now that leaves me in a bind because I imagine your husband is just as likable and also should have receivied an equally fine name. LOL

Maxi said...

Your boss probably would have enjoyed the visit had you told him you were Delirious.

Maybe you will have another chance.

Blessings - Maxi

Ursula said...

Delirious, you are probably the best person to confide this to, in the 'privacy' of your blog: Until I was about eight years old I didn't really compute that my name was Ursula (my grandmother who registered my birth had named me after her own daughter, my mother). My beloved grandparents brought me up for the first few years of my life and my grandmother called me her "sunshine", abbreviated by everyone else to "Sonny". Sonny I was, till she died when I was eight. The first truly and lasting life changing event of my life. After that I couldn't bear anyone calling me by my "nickname". It was too painful. Thus I became Ursula. Now, decades down the line, and it touches me greatly, when, rarely, I see them some of my aunts and uncles will still call me Sonny.

With a tear in my eye,tell me what's your Chinese name?

U

Rummuser said...

D, pronounced Dee in Tamil is a suffix akin to you, attached when one addresses a female. It is the familiar form as opposed to the informal and respectful forms of address. I personally have never used it in my speaking to any member of the opposite sex including my sister or my wife. I have always used the informal Maa and for others the respectful Nga.

I was given a Chinese name recently, don't ask me the details, as Ran Ruiming. Figure that out!

Delirious said...

@Rummy: To my ear, your chinese name sounds like a good one!

@Ursula: What a touching story! I think that had she lived, and you were the one who died, your grandmother would probably never have been able to call anyone else by that name either.
My chinese name, which is posted in chinese on the sidebar, is Luo Wan Ru.

Delirious said...

@Maria: My husband had a different teacher from me, and I suspect it is possible that a non-chinese person chose his name. :)

Anonymous said...

Lovely story from Ursula.

So you're "D"? I have a relation who's "D-Roid".

Vid said...

My nickname "Vid" comes from the latter half of my legal name "David." I used to go by "Day," but switched over at some point.