What a hoot! Students in my (Carol's) Family Communication course the other day went around and shared their nicknames (those loving terms of endearment bestowed by or on family members, friends, and significant others). We were discussing the way private language -- everything from those quirky nicknames to those phrases that have meaning just between friends and intimates -- serves incredibly important functions in relationships. And, to almost no one's surprise, we discovered that most of us take these terms, names, and creations for granted.
We also discovered that students in our class possess some incredibly creative nicknames, such as:
BillyBob Barefoot, Brown Sound, Keebs, Crisco, Schnitzle, Sr. Rantz Alot, Itty Bitty, Light-els, Shellyn, Twiglet, Pancakes, Scout, Shreck, Annie Margo, Taylor Womp Womp (or Tay-Tay Wompy), Buddah, and Blade of Grass. Others shared the wacky and intriguing details of a completely private language between friends (they call it their "Choo" language), using the term "oodabotchie" when rough-housing needs to end, and employing two claps followed by a stomp (of the foot) to indicate an attractive guy is near (!)
What a hoot, eh?
Take a moment to share (via "comment" below or "share your stories" on our main website) your nickname(s), private codes, and/or personalized ways of communicating. Don't worry, it's anonymous!
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2 comments:
Hmm...we haven't used nicknames for years...I miss that! My husband used to call me "Bunny", and he was my "Monkey" (i know, barf right? but it was great).
Now I call him "Timothy Anne" for some reason (his middle name isn't really Anne) when I'm exasperated by him, like when he gives the kids a quarter to come smack me in the butt :-)
As a child, my first (and favorite!) word was "oops!" so my parents started calling me "Oopie" (pronounced Oo-pee) and my father still does it to this day--more than 20 years later.
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