Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Nick Names



Historical Photo:
               Hannah Stiley  was a first!


 Hannah is the very first individual to be captured on film. Reckon she ever wished she had smiled a little?


Tonight's plunder:
When I read Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry aka  Stepenfetchit’s[JD1]  name last night, I couldn’t help but think of my dad. My dad’s name on his first grade list was Frank B Darnell (the only legal record of his name). The B for Benjamin. As he got older he changed it to Benjamin Franklin, he liked it better. In his later years he was referred to as BF. I remember once someone asked him his name and he said, “My name is Benjamin Franklin Thomas Jefferson Roosevelt Darnell. It is hard to get that much name on my paychecks, so I shortened it to BF.”

Dad gave people names, Mama was “The Georgia Peach.” Shirl was, ‘Shirley Maxine the Strawberry Blonde.’  She was also his pet!

Folks loved his name for me it was: Jacktum-a-yanktum-hickstank-stankstanktum-bowlegged-knockkneed- pigeon-toed-jacktum. I added the dashes so you might could read it.

He taught Ralph, his much younger brother this: “When you look over in whirly whickum-whackum and see boney bickum backum, call Tommy tickum tackum to run boney bickum backum out of whirly whickum-whackum.”

Interpreted: “When you look over in the corn field and see the cow. Call the dog to run her out of the corn.” (Ralph had been burned badly as a child and never developed into an adult). We played together. Ralph never forgot that while he lived.


Up until I left school, nick names were popular. Bubba and Buck were popular down south. There was Red-Eye, Punky, Kiki, Reeccup, Lefty, Lanky, Butch and Stump. We had a Mortician, well liked in Belmont who was known county as Fat Myers.

Most of the nick-names were endearing not malicious.

So, do you have a nick name?

Nite Shipslog
PS: Cousin Tony sent these little known facts about the USA:
Arizona and Hawaii are now the only states that don't observe daylight savings time.
*****   ***      *****  ******    ***
 Cecil B deMille's 1937 Cord

9 comments:

Mevely317 said...

My goodness, but those hyphenated names/sayings had me doing double and triple-takes! Exercise for my eyeballs, lol.

Funny you ask about nicknames. I secretly wanted a nickname in the worst way ... but don't recall ever having one. Tom's grandparents used to call him by the Polish version of Thomas, but that's not really a nickname, is it?
Can't say for sure, but I suspect they're more common to small towns.

Chatty Crone said...

You know on those older photos - no one smiled - have you noticed that?

Your dad legally got his name changed to Benjamin Franklin - that was cool. Andy has one of those silly hyphenated names.

Sandra - Sandie

Paula said...

Like your Daddy's nick names. Daddy was kind of good at giving neighbors names but our family never had one except when Mama got mad at me she would grab me by the shoulders, shake me and say listen here Sukkie Sal.

Glenda said...

YEP, Mama called me "Glenda Glue" when she wanted something done....like the washing or picking in the clothes off the line...Mama always did the ironing.
I did the odd jobs, and to this day when I'm asked for another security step beyond "Mother's maiden name" I plug in Glenda Glue. Today is Mom's 94th Birthday and I'm still sad that I wasn't there to hug her....but I sent a card with a photo of her sister with her at a birthday party and am hoping that works. Call me 'Sean of the South' I'm hanging in there.

TARYTERRE said...

Those hyphenated names Have my eyes rolling out of my head. some interesting ones for sure.

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Your dad certainly had a love of words and made them fun for sure. Nick names abound in my family, but until everyone started calling me 'ma' I was mostly known as Pam. Although I do remember one of my uncles calling me Pim.

Rick Watson said...

My nickname was Fish. I caught a monster sucker fish when I was about 12 and from that day on, all my friends in Sloss called me Fish.
R

Lisa said...

You had me laughing at Hannah. In fact, I about choked on my water. I am a “Myers maiden”. I wonder if im kin to “Fat”. Haha.
I never really had a “legal” nickname that everyone used. My sister and brother called me “Lili”. One grandpaw called me “Lether” and the other granpaw called me “Hounddog”. My daughter calls me “Mai”. But to everyone else, im just Lisa.

Hugs from my desk
Lisa

Unknown said...

One reason folks didn't smile back in those old photographs is because the exposure time was so long--it was not a quick snap of the shutter. It was hard to hold a smile for the length of time it took to expose the photograph is what I think I've read somewhere.
Anyway, I guess getting a picture made back then was serious business.
I like the little saying about the cow in the corn.