The Nutty Irishman
I acquired my nickname, the "Nutty Irishman," during my junior year at the University of Michigan. My roommate and I were hosting one segment of a progressive drinking party, and we wanted to serve a memorable drink. (A progressive drinking party-"progressive" or PDP for short-is similar to a pub crawl, except that the participants travel between private parties held at their own homes. It's an easy way to coordinate a large party between neighbors, even if they don't know each other well.) We spent quite a while brainstorming, and I no longer remember any of the unused suggestions or the reasoning behind them. I only remember the winning drink: the Nutty Irishman.
When I suggested the drink, I had no idea how to mix it; I didn't even know what it tasted like. I had only seen the name on a "house specialties" menu. We had to call around to a few local bars to find the recipe: 1 part Bailey's Irish creme liqueur, 1 part Frangelico hazelnut liqueur, and 1 part cream. Those are expensive ingredients for middle-class college students, but we went ahead with it anyway, because the name suited us perfectly. We both had a well-deserved reputation for zaniness and pratfalls. We both appreciated our Irish-American heritage, especially for its humor value. The Nutty Irishmen.
We liked the name so much that we made a very exclusive but silly club out of it. He and I were the only members. On a trip to the Cedar Point amusement park, we made membership badges: good-luck medallions stamped with our names and "THE NUTTY IRISHMEN." (I still carry mine.) We made honorary members of our closest friends and girlfriends. Their not-too-secret membership badges were ribbons from Seagram's VO bottles, tied around their wrists. Fond memories.
Around the same time, I started using "Nutty" as a screen name for various chat and messaging systems, like MUDs and Meet:Students. That got harder as the Internet got more popular, and now it's practically impossible to get the shortened name on any well-known service. In a few places, I couldn't even get the full name-Skype and MySpace already had Nutty Irishmen. For those places, I use a variant: the Cafe Nelson, made with ½ shot Bailey's and ½ shot Frangelico in a cup of coffee, with whipped cream on top.
Welcome to my journal!
When I suggested the drink, I had no idea how to mix it; I didn't even know what it tasted like. I had only seen the name on a "house specialties" menu. We had to call around to a few local bars to find the recipe: 1 part Bailey's Irish creme liqueur, 1 part Frangelico hazelnut liqueur, and 1 part cream. Those are expensive ingredients for middle-class college students, but we went ahead with it anyway, because the name suited us perfectly. We both had a well-deserved reputation for zaniness and pratfalls. We both appreciated our Irish-American heritage, especially for its humor value. The Nutty Irishmen.
We liked the name so much that we made a very exclusive but silly club out of it. He and I were the only members. On a trip to the Cedar Point amusement park, we made membership badges: good-luck medallions stamped with our names and "THE NUTTY IRISHMEN." (I still carry mine.) We made honorary members of our closest friends and girlfriends. Their not-too-secret membership badges were ribbons from Seagram's VO bottles, tied around their wrists. Fond memories.
Around the same time, I started using "Nutty" as a screen name for various chat and messaging systems, like MUDs and Meet:Students. That got harder as the Internet got more popular, and now it's practically impossible to get the shortened name on any well-known service. In a few places, I couldn't even get the full name-Skype and MySpace already had Nutty Irishmen. For those places, I use a variant: the Cafe Nelson, made with ½ shot Bailey's and ½ shot Frangelico in a cup of coffee, with whipped cream on top.
Welcome to my journal!