Nicknames: Howard Shepherd and Dave Shepherd call each other by names other than their given names as they discuss nicknames.
Listener feedback (2:22)
Eke-names, mascots, and a shout-out to a former student (5:18)
Music bumper from “Grapes” by Evan Stone. (17:34)
Monikers–deliberately chosen or applied names (18:23)
Song: “Familar Names, Familiar Games” by Doug McLeod (22:50)
Rude word of the week: your worst nickname (27:05)
Music bumper from “Melancolica” by Mauricio Cuburu. (30:12)
Nicknames–conferred on us often without our consent, and frequently expressive of relationships (30:59)
Music courtesy of The Podsafe Music Network
Theme music by Kick the Cat
time: 40:10
size: 36.8 Mb
rating: PG (The president of the United States called his former chief of staff a rude nickname–and we cite it!)
I personally had a load of nicknames. Especially my sister had a knack for driving me up the wall with her inventions, but the nasty one that stuck for a long time was Panne. Just my luck.
http://anneisaman.blogspot.com/2007/10/nicknames-for-word-nerds.html
One of my good friends, Sam, has been since middle school and always will be known as Spam. He talks quite a bit.
hey guys!
I’ve found your podcast actually by looking for some fm4 (which is an alternative Austrian radio station on which they talk in English[sometimes French and funny German-English; yea, I'm from Austria!]) podcasts and so I stumbled over your podcasts and I’m really glad for that!
since I graduated from school I really want to fresh up my english[couse the english teacher we got in the last few years was srsly not a good one... he sucked balls. srsly]
so I’m pretty glad to have found your podcasts.
keep the cool stuff going!
lg sabine from austria[tyrol]
I really enjoyed the show (and all the music bumpers, too!).
I’ve always been curious about the nicknames derived from certain first names such as William, Dorothy, James, and Richard. I mean, how do you get Bill from William? (Willy makes better sense) And for that matter, Dot, Jimmy, and Dick from the others?
I sort get of Cindy for Cynthia or Heady for Heather. Too me, it seems that if you want to use the diminutive of either name, changing the “th” sound to a “d” (and adding a “y” to the end of it) simply sounds better to the ear.
But, again. I don’t understand the logic in something like Richard to Dick?
Hi i like a lot your podcast i haven’t had time to post something, but this time really like to point out that your definition of mascot is interesting, but have you tought of the spanish word ‘mascota’ which is the equivalent for ‘pet’ in english, that actually makes a lot of sense as many of of the mascots are animals.
Thanks
Sorry for my orthography errors.
Two more: Chuck/Charles; Hank/Henry. On the latter, I just discovered this: “In modern use, Hank is a nickname for the name Henry. This probably comes from the German name Heinke, or Henke, or Hanke, a diminutive of the name Heinrich, the German form of Henry.”
“Squaw” as a possible pejorative was mentioned, which leads to a story from Phoenix.
We have a mountain that dominates the skyline in the middle of town, which was named “Squaw Peak” about 100 years ago. When a freeway wrapping around the mountain was built about 15 years ago, it was named the Squaw Peak Parkway. A few years later, the “squaw is a bad word” folks–a vocal minority–protested the name. A local arts paper, the Phoenix New Times, sponsored a contest to rename the freeway, with a free dinner for 4 at a nice restaurant as the prize.
The dinner winner suggested honoring the city councilman who brought the problem to wide public attention (Calvin Goode) and mentioning the predominant mineral on the mountain (schist) and came up with Goode Schist peak. Say it 3 times fast!
In the end, the peak and freeway (if not the 50 businesses in the area with the same name) were renamed to honor Lori Piestewa (Pie-ESS-tuh-wah), the first female Native American soldier in the U.S. Army to lose her life in combat. You may recall her roommate and friend, Jessica Lynch. Some local wag suggested that the name of the mountain is spelled “Piestewa,” but pronounced “Squaw Peak.”
When I was about 12 and beginning to go through puberty, my father one day noticed that I was developing a more womanly figure. His response was “My, Julie’s becoming corpulent!” I wasn’t, of course, heavy at all (I think I topped out at about 108 pounds in high school).
Anyway he took to calling me “Corp” and called my sister the same. I hated that nickname as a young person – but I’ve become fonder of it in my old age (now it’s accurate, alas.)
My favorite nickname, on the other hand, is my “Sign name,” given to me by a deaf friend in the early 80s in Rochester, which is the sign for “Joy” combined with the letter J.
Julie
I just paused this podcast on my iPod nano (whose nickname is Kimbernano) to let you know that wolverines are indeed quite vicious! From wikipedia.com (and I’ve heard this before): “The wolverine is, like most mustelids, remarkably strong for its size, and is considered one of the most ferocious of that family. It has been known to kill prey as large as moose.”
But I have two ferrets, and you’re right: they think they’re tough, but they’re not!
Since I am twelve years old, a classmate called me ”Plot”.
I kind of thought it was really annoying, but everyone started to call me that. Nowadays, it’s a name my friends use for me. I’m attached to it.
It’s also funny that ”Plot” has got a meaning: the storyline of a story or novel. And of course, I do write a lot. When my classmate called me ”Plot”, I know she didn’t knew that, but I like it anyway.