The Nickname Game

It's really kinda interesting how I just noticed this. I was IMing a friend of mine and she mentioned "Army Boy" and I knew exactly who she was talking about and just didn't even think anything about it. Then she went on to mention another dude that she calls "Asian Boy" and again, I totally knew who she was talking about and it got me to thinking about how it's so funny that I ONLY know these people by the nicknames she had assigned to them.

Then there's my blogmate, Maggie. She's notorious for assigning nicknames to people. Particularly people at work. And I swear, there are times that I had no idea what people's real names were when she actually said their real names. Sometimes, I still stutter in my head like "Hold up, this one is this guy".

And so when the first friend with the Army Boy was talking to me today, I started thinking, "Hmm, is this something that is just more common nowadays for people to do?" cause more and more of my friends are doing this and it's so hilarious. I don't generally do it...unless I don't know someone's name at all and then I use a descriptor but it's so funny just how a nickname can be assigned to someone when they're in a new situation and it can totally just stick. Maggie's got the innate ability to make them stick both when conveying stories and when speaking to the person directly and getting other people to use the same name. You gotta respect the fact that there's no shame there. Not a lot of people have a power that strong.