That's basically it! Someone shared a story about having to fix names like sparkplug and barbecue and gasoline, and then a few weeks later a chipmunk darted across our path on a university visit and my mom said "oh no, if she goes here, she's gonna have all the little animals and insist that they're pets" and I, playing along, said "but mom, Sparkplug will starve if I leave her over winter break!"
Years later, ended up with a squirrel. Named her Sparkplug.
Fun fact: in Agatha Christie's "Three Act Tragedy", there's a character who's often referred to by her nickname: Egg. So Poirot actually does end up asking about the whereabouts of "Mademoiselle Egg". And in "Third Girl", Ariadne Oliver causes confusion by insisting she was attacked by "The Peacock" (her nickname for a suspect called "David"). So...yeah ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I live in Thailand. I don't have a nickname, I'm just plain old Daniel. Which, by Thai proper name standards, is short enough to be a nickname. Yikes they have LONG names here!
Granddaughters nickname is First. Because she was the first grandchild. Feels super weird to call her name out in public!
I have a pet squirrel named Sparkplug, inspired by an anecdote from an ESL teacher about "fixing" names like this.
ReplyDeleteThat's an AMAZING name for a squirrel. What's the anecdote?
DeleteThat's basically it! Someone shared a story about having to fix names like sparkplug and barbecue and gasoline, and then a few weeks later a chipmunk darted across our path on a university visit and my mom said "oh no, if she goes here, she's gonna have all the little animals and insist that they're pets" and I, playing along, said "but mom, Sparkplug will starve if I leave her over winter break!"
DeleteYears later, ended up with a squirrel. Named her Sparkplug.
XD
DeleteFun fact: in Agatha Christie's "Three Act Tragedy", there's a character who's often referred to by her nickname: Egg. So Poirot actually does end up asking about the whereabouts of "Mademoiselle Egg". And in "Third Girl", Ariadne Oliver causes confusion by insisting she was attacked by "The Peacock" (her nickname for a suspect called "David"). So...yeah ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ReplyDeleteIncredible. I did not expect someone to have actual detective odd name facts. Kudos!
DeleteI live in Thailand. I don't have a nickname, I'm just plain old Daniel. Which, by Thai proper name standards, is short enough to be a nickname. Yikes they have LONG names here!
ReplyDeleteGranddaughters nickname is First. Because she was the first grandchild. Feels super weird to call her name out in public!