Names... and fish carts.

[curiouswombat]

I said in yesterday's post that talking with my Mum had brought to my mind some of the strange names that adults around me went by when I was a child. The origins of some of them I know - but the origins of the others are lost in time for both Mum and I

Comments

[tx_cronopio]

Perhaps from this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepin_Fetchit

[curiouswombat]

Hmm - it's possible - although why a white lady on the isle of Man would be called after a black actor I'm not sure! Mum says she was already in her 40s when she remembers her in the 1930s - I wonder what the link might have been?

[hobbituk]

My mum and dad used to call my brother Butwhy when he was younger. One day mum called him as he had (yet again) run away from her in Woolworths and a woman said to her "Butwhy - what an unusual name!" and mum thought she had probably better stop it before it stuck.

But why did they call him that? Because no question ever got answered without the ripost of "But why?"

Mum thought it was karma that all three of my brother's sons have done exactly the same...

[curiouswombat]

Karma indeed! I love the idea of someone not realising why he was being called Butwhy.

[pondhopper]

I never grew up hearing odd nicknames and can't recall any of note. I think it's more common in other areas of the US (like in the South) than it is in the Midwest where I lived. We're boring. LOL
I loved reading this!
Poor Mr. Evans! Abuse by fish!
:D

[curiouswombat]

Sadly the habit of odd nicknames seems to be dying out these days.

I laughed when Mum told us of Mrs Evans and the fish :)

[cairistiona7]

Ha, I love "Twaan-me"!

My great aunt called my mother "Biddy" her entire life, because she was such a "little biddy" baby. And my own nickname as a kid, for reasons I'm still not sure, was Fritz. My dad tells me of a boy he ran around with who they called "Puddn'head Smif", after the Mark Twain novel (living near the Mississippi River, Mark Twain is a definite cultural influence). The "Smif" was because the boy couldn't say his "-th's". There was also Uncle Fat, so-named for his ample girth.

[curiouswombat]

And my own nickname as a kid, for reasons I'm still not sure, was Fritz.

I can vaguely remember my grandfather calling me 'Rob' - and I have no idea why!

I bet if your father was to meet that man now, even at their age, he could only think of him as Puddn'head Smif!

[shirebound]

I had no idea the Fish Slapping Dance was based on true-life events!

[curiouswombat]

You read it here first! Although it doesn't sound as if Mrs Smith did much dancing :)