WhatCityWho?
The name madcitypato could probably use some explanation. I left the country the day after high school graduation four decades ago for a summer of adventure in South America. It was time to move on and reinvent myself, so I shortened "Donald" to "Don". But that didn't fly in the southern hemisphere because it's part of a title there, like in Don Juan, so the folks I stayed with in Peru and Chile called me "Pato" instead, "duck" in Spanish, because of:
The new nickname definitely grew on me, but when I got off the plane in Argentina:
and met the folks I'd be staying with there they couldn't stop laughing when I introduced myself with a robust ¡Soy Pato! (I'm Pato). What they'd forgotten to tell me in Peru and Chile was that it was also Spanish slang for gay. I was of course mortified (I was 18 and it was a much more repressed era), but it seemed a lot funnier as the years went on. It became my nickname later on in college and remains so to this day. In fact, it's just about the only thing my partner ever calls me now.
And Mad City? Also a nickname, an affectionate one for the city of Madison, "78 square miles surrounded by reality". It is indeed a zany town, crazy in a good way. I couldn't have asked for a better or more appropriate place to have ended up.
The new nickname definitely grew on me, but when I got off the plane in Argentina:
and met the folks I'd be staying with there they couldn't stop laughing when I introduced myself with a robust ¡Soy Pato! (I'm Pato). What they'd forgotten to tell me in Peru and Chile was that it was also Spanish slang for gay. I was of course mortified (I was 18 and it was a much more repressed era), but it seemed a lot funnier as the years went on. It became my nickname later on in college and remains so to this day. In fact, it's just about the only thing my partner ever calls me now.
And Mad City? Also a nickname, an affectionate one for the city of Madison, "78 square miles surrounded by reality". It is indeed a zany town, crazy in a good way. I couldn't have asked for a better or more appropriate place to have ended up.