Nicknames, schmiknames. . .

I usually answer to two different names. One is my full given birth name that anyone who has met me in college and beyond often call me. The other is the shortened version of my name that anyone who is family or has known me since birth calls me. My sister always used it as a good indicator when I was home from college on who was calling. My sister from Finland always used to call me her "Little Meatball" or "Marshmallow." You can see from the side picture the reason for this lovely nickname.

When I was in 8th grade, my best guy friend, David and I were trying to think of nicknames for each other using the encyclopedias during study hall. I came up with the name Brutus for him. He thought it was after some Greek guy named Brutus but it was more or less because he reminded me of Popeye's arch nemesis Brutus, except that he really didn't look like him besides the dark haired features. David's for me was Chicky-Monkey. And guess what nickname stuck?? That would be correct. In high school it got shortened to just Chicky.

David often didn't even refer to me by name but Chicky. When Luke moved to our school in high school, before I had met him in person, he would often talk to me on the phone and really only knew me as that. When I met him in person a couple of times, I, of course only said my real name seeing as the guys were the only ones that called me Chicky. A month after Luke had met me in person, we were at a back to school party, and David said "hey Chicky, come here a sec" and that's when it dawned on Luke that we were in fact, one and the same person.

I used to HATE hearing Chicky being yelled down the hall in high school, especially when I was trying to be all cool when I was a freshman. And David being a gifted athlete would always seem to say my nickname around the cooler older upperclassmen that he played sports with. In high school, this was just completely mortifying!

Being a girl, I was a lot better at the nickname game, seeing as my friends and I used code names for guys we liked, so we could openly talk about them. In front of them. With no repercussions.

My big crush in 7th grade was on an 8th grade guy who had the initials A.W. so we called him Root Beer. I would say funny things when he sat across from he in study hall to my friend "Man, I could go for some root beer right now!" and he would say "I think the vending machine has some, so you could get some after school." And then we would giggle like junior high girls, and he probably thought I was the biggest tool ever. Which I know isn't too much of a stretch now.

My friend Anna and I would call her crush Rhubarb for no apparently reason, that I can think of now, but it was a very cool code name. In high school, the guy I was in love with for about 2 years, we called Joe because his name in Spanish was Jose. He was a Junior when we were Freshmen. To show how cruel girls are, my friend Jill dated him when we were sophomores and told him that I had that nickname for him one day when he and I were talking about one of our classes and she got jealous. I was a super dork and was the only sophomore in a senior class. It's amazing that I continued to be friends with her in high school. She also dated the above David later on, so of course I got her back a few times. :) I would get David to cancel plans with her and hang out with me instead. It was evil, but he was my best friend and did this whenever I asked.

The reason I bring this up is because my one cousin and I hang out quite a bit. I mean, we live less than a block away from each other and in the same complex, so I mean, it would be weird if we didn't! Anyway, today my friend and neighbor Mike was emailing a bunch of us and said "Well Mac N Cheese (and by Cheese, I mean you) need to. . . Hopefully you like the new nickname!" And to be honest, it is kind of funny. But when she emailed and she said she was at home in bed, I emailed back and said "I hate you." And she emailed back that she was offended and I said "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. Where would cheese be without the Mac??"