Sunday, June 12, 2011

A compendium of nicknames

Thanks to certain creative friends of mine, I have many many nicknames. Through pursuit of purely my own enjoyment and with no thought to my reader (because really, how many of you could there be?), I present a list of these and their etymology, in no particular order.

1. Freakyknees: This was given to me in high school after the revelation that my knees turn purple when they are cold. This, apparently, was an unusual enough phenomenon to label it appropriately.
2. Sherlock Jones: I often stated the obvious, but I think this came from remembering where we parked the car after a Target run.
3. Kate Scissorhands: At the same trip, someone needed nail clippers, which I readily provided. They were not, however, attached to my hands.
4. No Fun Jones: I refused to sneak into the school building to play hide-and-seek on a Saturday, but instead went to my car (I was the ride) and waited for those hiding to realize they would not be sought. I thought it was rather hilarious, but the others decided I was no fun. This was my name whenever I decried something as dangerous or a bad idea in general. At times, it was shortened to a form of, "Awww, No-fun...!"
5. Katushka: After protesting that I was no china doll and not fragile at all, one friend said "NO! You're one of those Russian dolls with a bunch of little dolls inside of you! You are Katushka!" This was usually followed by someone grabbing me around the shoulders, then another grabbing my ankles, then trying to "pull me open" so that they could see all the "little kates." Usually this happened late at night after much soda and candy.
6. Pickle: My dear Catia was a fan of calling me random names. At one point she giggled and turned to me, asking "Can I call you Pickle?" and thus a name was born.
7. Muffles (pronounced "MOOOFuls"): See #6
8. Kate (Pronounced the Spanish way: "Kah-tay"): I took Spanish all through high school and had a total of 10 years of instruction. My dear friend Carrie and I loved it so much that we spoke Spanish to each other to the best of our abilities outside of class. Therefore, she became Carrita, and I became "Kahtay."
9. Kat (pronounced Kaht): This was a shortening of the above nickname and was usually only used by Catia (who was my room mate in college).
10. Jones: one of my friends, Julie, and I came up with a silly bit where we would greet each other "Julie!" "Jones!" "Julie and Jones!" "Jones and Julie!" "Going to ____!" It was hilarious to us, and a few people ended up calling me "Jones" exclusively.
11. The Cool Nerd: This lovely gem was given to me by my after school kids. They realized that yes, I was super nerdy. I taught them about natural science and read and did arts and crafts with them, but at the same time they realized they kind of liked all of that stuff, too.
12. Kato: Also "Kato Malato." My dad gave me this name. He said it was after Kato, the sidekick of the Green Hornet. I think he just added an "o" at the end of my name.
13. Lil Kate: I'm a very small person, and people in college found this quite a novelty. It was kind of strange though because suddenly, and for the first time in my life, my stature was used to explain my behavior. I disagreed with it and I wasn't very fond of the name because, for lack of a better word, it was a "diminutive," as I feel many pet names are.
14. Bette: This is probably the most embarrassing of the nicknames. In eighth grade, I decided I wanted to be the next Bette Midler. I succeeded in getting a few of my friends and the principal of my school to call me Bette. Ah, youth.
15. Kate the Bald: This joke is so inside it would break the bonds of a sacred sisterhood to explain.
16. Squire Lurdane, Bete Noire of the Deep and Mysterious: See #15

Well, that was entertaining! I think at some point I'll update you guys on my life, my trip, and my goings-on, but currently I'll leave you with that. What is the weirdest nickname you've ever had?

6 comments:

Christian H said...

I have a friend who insists that she's not short. She's fun-sized.

Miss Willow said...

You forgot Kitson!!!

Haha, thanks for the walk down memory lane - love you, deary. Skype date soon = a must!

skatej said...

I'm honestly not sure how Kitson came to be. All of a sudden you and Carrita were calling me that and claiming you'd been calling me that for ages. Do you know the history?
And yes, Skype date must proceed shortly. I have no plans really.

Miss Willow said...

Hahaha...well, you see....my little brothers (namely, Josh) started calling the family cats "kitson"...along with all of the other weird, off the wall derivations of their names that were created. And...since we call you things like Kat (cat)...we thought it was fitting :) And, then we decided to make you think it was a name that had always been around...'cause, you know, we loved trying to unsuccessfully confuse and trick you =]

skatej said...

AHHH! THAT explains it. I thought perhaps this was something you decided to call me long before and just hadn't said it to my face. It's a fun one though!

carriehammie said...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
love this post. i may have to brainstorm through my nicknames and post.word verification is magiet. that is a magical midget.