Nicknames

We all had nicknames as kids - I mean, beyond Kate for Kathleen and Rob for Robert. While others let these addtional nicknames fall to the wayside as they get older, and presumably more "mature", the members of my family do no such thing. Hence, I am still occasionally called "Coffee" -- the closest pronuciation that one of my kindergarten friend's baby brother could give. (At the time I was normally called Kathy.) And my mother still springs "Katydid, yes, she did!" on me every once in a while.

Now, my brother had a whole slew of nicknames -- mostly ones bestowed by adults looking for child-safe alternatives to what they really wanted to call him. heh heh. So, he went from Baby Robby to Bubby Rubby (one of my personal favorites) to "AreOhBeeSeeOhDoubleYou" to Bertram Bunnykins to, well, god only knows what new ones he's racked up by now. I realize that "AreOhBeeSeeOhDoubleYou" requires explanation, so here goes...

My parents were off pretending to be childfree and my brother and I were home with our favoritist baby sitter, Theresa. We were coloring or pressing flowers or something creative and quiet. Bubby was less than enthralled (he was 5 and I was 7 at the time), so Theresa started playing with his little head.

T: What's your middle name, Robby?
R: Kyle (said with warped 5 year old pronuciation)
T: Cow?
R: Yeah, Kyle.
T: Want to know how to spell that?
R: Okay.
T: (writes out his name R O B C O W) Can you read that?
R: Are Oh Bee See Oh Double You.
T: Good job. So from now on we'll call you AreOhBeeSeeOhDoubleYou.

Is it any wonder that she was our favorite baby sitter?

Coming Next: Bubbalooie