Nicknames,Do They Reflect Who We Really Are?

Nicknames,Do They Reflect Who We Really Are? by Bill Thomas

"I would rather pay your board than feed you". This was one of my father's 'famous' quotes about me and my eating habits. He had several others, but the one that really stuck was his constant reminder that "boy, you're like a billy goat, you'll eat anything". Somewhere along the line, this saying evolved into my nickname of 'goat', that I carried with me through most of my childhood. Looking back on it, his characterization seemed quite appropriate especially in light of his trying to feed five children on a working man's wages when one ate like five himself. I was reminded of this by my brother recently, as this lead into a rather lengthy discussion of the various names we had back during our childhood days. The odd thing is how many of them still seem appropriate today!

Growing up in the city during the early sixties, the ghetto that we lived in was divided along several lines. First, there was the division of Catholics and Protestants and others that did not fit into either group. Then there were the ethnic divisions consisting mainly of German, Italian, Irish, and smaller groups such as Lithuanian, Russian, and others. While all lived in the same neighborhood and under the same relative economic conditions, there was nevertheless a condescending attitude exhibited among the groups towards each other. This was usually expressed in the privacy of the homes with unflattering remarks about some aspect of another ethnicity. While as children we certainly heard the remarks made by adults, we didn't really understand them, and it didn't matter much to us as we all played together, and didn't realize we were different until we got older and 'grew up'. No, the names we bestowed on each other had more to do with some quality or peculiar characteristic that had nothing to do with ethnicity but seemed to reflect the personality of that person. A good example of this is my buddy 'Tarzan'.

The first thing you noticed about 'Tarzan who's real name was John, was his constant smile and the way he was constructed. John stood about 4 foot tall and about that wide. He later became my weight lifting buddy, but at the time was a friend of my older brother. When I asked him how he got the name Tarzan he would just laugh and say, "ahhh, I don't know". I later found out from my brother that John came by his nickname because of his climbing ability. It seems as if John was the one who would dash up the tree to tie the rope for the neighborhood game of 'Chicken'. This daring game consisted of jumping on the rope, swinging out as far as you could, swinging back in, and sticking the knife as high as you could in the dirt to force the next person to perform a trapeze act in order to grab the knife. Many of the neighborhood chums wound up with broken arms, and a few with broken legs playing this game. Having played the game myself, I can attest to its dangers. In any event, John became 'Tarzan' as most people knew him by that name instead of his given name John. Good nicknames stuck.

There were other guys that had equally memorable nicknames. My father tabbed one of the Italian boys 'Killer' because of his constant bragging about his pugilistic abilities. Dad used to say that Killer, whose real name was Billy, needed his own private cemetery with all the people he had disposed of along the way. Ironically, Killer did become an amateur boxer as an adult, and had quite a few scrapes with the law. So, in a sense, maybe his nickname was again appropriate. Another lad was labeled 'Stinky' because he hadn't quite figured out what modern indoor plumbing was about yet. And who could forget 'Bugs', a young girl that had the misfortune of having head lice a time or two.

None of us escaped from being labeled with an unflattering nickname. In some cases we earned the honor of having more than one. For instance, my brother Rick had several nicknames that all commented about the shape of his head. Several of the neighborhood boys would call him 'flat head', square head, Frankenstein, and even Herman Munster. I used to tell him that his head was so flat that you could take a round ball, place it on his head and it wouldn't move an inch. Fortunately, none of our constant ragging on him had a negative impact as he has grown up to do quite well for himself, even with a flat head.

Looking back on it, we all seem to have had some pet name or nickname that at the time accurately described something about us. While many of the names were less than flattering, I believe most were given with a sense of affection towards the person so labeled. I would hope that our childhood nicknames don't always reflect who we are as adults. You hear that Stinky?

Bill Thomas is actively engaged in Internet Business pursuits. His current website is.. Create Lifetime Income from Home With Your Own..Internet Business

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