I had always admired Julies called by, 'Jules'; Rebeccas called 'Becky' or Christinas called 'Tina'. Alas, for me, a cute, girlie nickname was never to be...It was my 17th birthday and, as I sat amongst my group of friends (who obviously had too much time on their hands) in the cafeteria of New Life Academy, I suddenly found myself at the center of a clown-fest. Complete with cake, balloons, singing, silly card-tricks... and 'Happy Birthday, VONDA SWINBORNE!!' written on the chalk board at the back of the room. I was honored and completely humiliated simultaneously - and will never forget the sweet generosity of my friends to celebrate me, even if it was TOTALLY embarrassing.
At some point in all the chaos, Steve Williams, the class Bono, strolled up to the chalk-board and erased the letters, 'V','N', then 'B','O' 'R', and an 'N'. He had no ill intent; Steve and I had been friends from grade-school and it was all affectionate. Nevertheless, my name was 'Oda Swine' (amongst friends and enemies) until the day I graduated.
Some people just have a knack for creating nicknames and making them stick. They deserve to be kicked. Hard. (JK)! ;-)
This isn't the only nick-name I've ever held; just the one with the best story. How about you? What are you 'formerly known as'? Who gave you your childhood nickname - and why?
P.S. Thanks to pw for the fun topic idea... :-)
15 comments:
Farrah, thanks to the boys of my
9th grade class.
I played a semester of basketball and a group of them would get the whole gymnasium of people chanting... Far-rah, Far-rah,
I made up for it though and started calling one of the guys in my class Dorthy Hamil (he had her same haircut) and that name has stuck with him until this day. Poor Scott
Now my name is groovy
1.Leadfoot, because a fellow classmate witnessed a police officer giving me a speeding ticket.
2. Chiquita, someone in high school said I looked like the chiquita banana lady. It stuck.
I did not know that is how your name came about. I must have missed that lunch and only heard Dave and Ben call you that - sorry. I was called Burnt Toast and BJ and the bear. Shortie or something about shortness mostly but can't change that.
I didn't know that's how Oda came about either--I never really called you "Oda" to my recollection. I do remember you calling me "Puffin" and me calling you something else but don't remember what it was (nicknames that originated on band tour, I believe). Do you remember? Speaking of band tour, I remember you laughing uncontrollably when I fell out of the bus in front of the whole band on band tour. . .I recall that you always had an inability to control your laughter when you saw people fall. Is that still true? :)
mine:
binky
pam-a-lam-a-ding-dong
spam
map
And unless your invited to otherwise, I don't wish to be called any of these. :)
My mom used to call me Big E.
She would shout from the bleachers at basketball games, "Go, Big E!"
Totally embarrassing when you S.U.C.K. at basketball.
Rachel - your not remembering 'Oda' much makes me think that maybe it was actually my 18th b-day - senior year. You would have been at Bethel then... No - you never called me that - THANK you! :-)
Oh my goodness! I SO remember your falling off that bus; how awful of me to laugh at you - it must have been embarrassing enough without your supposed best friend humiliating you further... You even needed a band-aid or aspirin or something too, right? Or was that for something else. ;-)
I would LOVE to say my sense of humor has become more sophisticated (and less cruel) since high school, but unfortunately, I busted out in a case of the giggles at work, just THINKING about someone falling off a bus. You know America's Funniest Home Videos? My favorites are the ones where the guy's skiing and lands in a tree - or the wedding-fainters. Hilarious!
Wow - can't believe I just admitted that. Sorry about it! :-)
P.S. Was just thinking about your 'Puffin' name this morning on my way to work - I think it was based on a post-card you gave me somewhere along the way... Forgot the other name you called me though... I remember our turtle fixation, the green cube of life, "you have a piece of fuzz on your nose", reading road signs backwards, 'Pedittle!', and using 'Edie' as code for 'Ed' when I had a crush on him and we wrote boy-crazy notes (or at least, you put up with all of mine)... ;-) I was SO thankful to have someone to be my weird self with...
V, I had no idea about your Oda nickname. You've kept it hidden well.
Personally, I like Vondie--I believe that was from your amazing and dearly loved mother-in-law, right?
When I was little my dad called me "Bunky," but I have no idea why.
My real name is Kara Jo, but in college a lot of people called me KJ. (Some still do.) One friend adapted that to "Birdcage," which she still calls me to this day.
pw, I'm smiling...and just dying to call you Pam-a-lam-a-ding-dong!
Or how 'bout you call me Bunky and I call you Binky? J/K. Oh, so kidding.
I'm sticking with Vondaful. I think it's, well, Vondaful.
Actually I recall that I was accompanying you (girls always travel in pairs at that age) to get Tums while the bus waited. . .but no need to apologize! It's a funny story, and I told it to Ari the other day. It sums up a lot of teenage "stuff"--the angst and embarassment of "being noticed" along with a friend who can't stop a roaring laugh. . .glad you haven't lost that. And your trip down memory lane with the turtles, cubes, etc. was fun.
Rach - Oh good; glad it was me who needed Walgreens; not you! ;-) Also glad you weren't scarred for life... Fun to remember those days with you. But SO glad we never have to go back! :-)
V..I can't contain myself when my 6 foot five husband trips or falls. I think it is the funniest thing ever. I'm not proud of it, but it cannot be helped. The bigger they are, the harder the fall...the harder I laugh. Glad I'm not alone. I'm with you on the FHVideo...I started laughing with the ones you mentioned. Sick. We're sick.
Friends called me "val-pal" or
"valley" for obvious reasons.
Now, students call me Swinny, Miss Swin, or Profe.
And Ed calls me various names such as little-V, tiny-V, or Lene
little-v: don't forget 'Spoo'! :-)
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