4allthewrongreasons by Sybil

Over the years, I have grown used to getting odd looks, snickers and even complete rudeness when someone asks me what my husband’s name is.

When I respond with “Doodle”, that’s when the looks, snickers or rudeness come out.

The very first time I saw my husband and I asked someone what his name was, that’s what they told me.”Doodle”. So this is what I called him.

It didn’t take me very long to find out what his real name was but by then I was used to his nickname and that is what EVERYONE calls him. It has been his ‘name’ since he was very little. It started out being “Doodlebug”, and then later on it was shortened to “Doodle” and has been that way ever since.

So as I’m thinking about “Doodle” and nicknames…my mind wanders off to other people that I know that have nicknames.

When my husband and I first started dating, he pinned me with the nickname of “Monk”. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea where it came from but it stuck. For 21 years, “Monk” has been his name for me. In public, in private, doesn’t matter. He still uses my real name also but “Monk” is the one that is most likely to pop out of his mouth.

My girls, Kasey and Kelli, also have nicknames; Goose and Archie. My husband stuck them with these names at a very early age. I have no idea where Goose came from but Archie was pinned on my youngest daughter because of Archie Bunker. She had a big, round head. Need I say more…lol. These nicknames for the girls are mainly used only around the house but they tend to take the place of their real names right often.

Then there is Skibo and Rooster, both of which I have no idea the reasoning behind the nicknames. I only know that I was introduced to both of them many years ago by their nicknames and that is what I know them by. I did eventually learn what Skibo’s real name was but not Rooster’s.

There is Leggs, whose legs are extremely bowlegged due to an accident during childhood (this has been his nickname for 40+ years so I’m guessing he’s ok with it). Then there is Spanky, who I’m guessing got that nickname from the Little Rascals because he kind of resembles Spanky but that’s only MY guess. I don’t really know how he came about the name.

There’s Mutt, Chunky, Fatboy, Slim, Carolina and countless others that work with my husband that have nicknames. There’s also a Big Dave, Skip and Squirrel that I have crossed paths with.

Then there are the nicknames that are just shortened versions of the real name or maybe just a last name or even possibly a word or two added onto the real name.

For example, my son, Kent, whose real name is Kenneth but will never be anything but Kent to family and me. There’s Bonnie, shortened for Bonita, Angie for Angela, Angel for Angelina, Jeff for Jeffrey and a few other general shortened versions of names.

There’s “Mr. Hall”. He is not called this because super respect (not that we don’t respect him, it’s just that we don’t normally go around calling all of our friends Mr. So and So). He has been newly named this by the neighborhood because of a boy his daughter used to date that was overly kissing ass with the “Mr. Hall” stuff, so we took off from there and this has been his name ever since.

There is “Uncle David”, who isn’t anyone’s real uncle in the neighborhood but this name has stuck to him because his niece was around one time and apparently said ‘Uncle David’, so this has become his new name to everyone.

We have a “Kiteman”, which is a version of his last name. There is “Stoneman”, which is his last name and took me years to find out his first name. I thought “Stoneman” WAS his name.

There are others that won’t come to mind at the moment and some I’d prefer to forget but it seems that most people I know have some form of nickname.

This can’t be normal!!! ............. Can it???