My first encounter with a nickname, other than my own, was "D 叔." I grew up calling him that... and never thought twice what it meant. It wasn't till years later... did I really his name is nothing like what we call him. But in fact... "D" stands for "弟弟." It's a term of endearment that all his older bros and sis called him. And my dad taught us to continue that legacy...but as a sign of respect, add the word 叔. My dad even famously said, "個名係我地專用嘅."
What kind of nicknames are there....? What makes up a nickname??
Some general guidelines, if you may...
- Nicknames come naturally, it can't be forced
- It carries a special meaning - Growing up.... I was given the name 鴨仔. That hasn't really stuck.... but there was a children story, apparently, where a 狗哥哥 would protect an 鴨仔. Those names went away aftetr a while... and 鴨仔 sorta made a comeback years later when I met Joyce.
- It's one of a kind - The obvious ones, but really hard to capture, are people's Chinese names. More often than not.... only your parents or uncles/aunts call you by your Chinese name. So I purposely stick my nose in and make that special connection. (e.g. 素芝, 潔鈺). The other night... when I was debating politics and religion with a friend, it got to a point where I felt we had a moment and I couldn't resist but call her 巧玲. It took her by surprise... but we had a moment. This goes for ours kids also. If you're a child of my friend... and I know your Chinese name... that's inevitably what I will call you. That is, unless of course....#4....
- It's personal - like a term of endearment - I've gone through dozens and dozens for my wife and kids. "BB" and "豬豬" are the obvious ones. For the kids.... we have "囡囡" and "小華." Half of our church don't even know 小華's real name is Joshua. And there are different combinations and permutations on those. Instead of 梁溢曦 and 梁溢泰... I'd even call them 梁溢囡 and 梁溢華. And they'd answer
- Some are reserved or 專用 - Like my kids call Chris, "Giants 叔叔" and Joyce "Giants 姨姨." No one else will call them that.... that's exclusive for us. Same thing for Roy.... not Roy叔叔, but Roy督督. The first time I heard someone else try to use these terms, I gave them the stink eye!
- It shows honor and respect - I'm not big on calling everyone and anyone Uncle and Auntie. So I make it a point to get their name mixed in there. Like 潔鈺's dad is 江叔。 And Hody's mom is 卿姨。They're special to me...
- It's something that defines that person - One of the more famous one I came up with is PAL (Pastor Alan Lee). Acronyms make great nicknames - or can be deviously horrible. Nyuk nyuk nyuk....
- It's rarely self-invented. It should be given by someone else - I gave myself the nickname 叉燒 for my volleyball skills. It sorta stuck.... and people actually carried it on for a few years. But that slowly died away after I stepped away from the court.
- They're short (Unless you purposely make it long) - I almost always call Samantha, Sam. Rachel is Ray. Veronica went from Vero to just V. Anita is naturally Nita. But it goes the other way... like Mark is Marcus Aurelius. And Chris is Anderson... (that's an odd one, maybe it belongs in #4)
- Nicknames shouldn't be insulting.... like "Cry-baby" or "Mama's Boy." We're beyond that.
I, for one, love handing out nicknames or petnames or whatever you call it.
So yeah....a nickname. Something simple... but yet... requires oh much creative juice. You stop and think if it's really worth it. And if you think too much, too long.... then you're overthinking and that's probably not a good nickname. (See Rule #1).
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