Nicknames...

I always love watching hockey players in interviews when they are referring to other players. The hockey guys all have nicknames for each other and they have a pretty simple formula for how they make them. They shorten the name to one syllable and add a 'y' to the end. For example: (Interviewer)"So Bill I noticed you played well with Jordanovitch, Ponicorovsky and Alfredsson tonight. Do you think you'll get on the ice with them again tomorrow?" (Player) "uh ya Jim. When I am playing with Jordy, Pony and Alfy I really feel like I can fly on the ice..." It is such a simple method of picking nicknames that it is almost infallible even for the more Moronic of the hockey playing tribe. I have several nicknames here at work but I can tell you I never picked any of them. I do write 'Jedi' on most of my tools and equipment because my last name is 'Knight' but no one really calls me that. I did it because there is another Peter K here and our stuff would get mixed up otherwise. The other Peter K has 30+ years as an Ironworker and was one of my first Jmen that I worked with. I actually made up the name ironpete to describe him and not me. But when I was trying to set a name for this blog everything I chose was taken. So out of frustration I just through that one in and the rest was history. They do have nicknames for me though. Because I like to sit in the front seat of the bus some people call me 'front-seat Pete'. While I am sitting in the front seat I say 'hello' to everyone else as they board so I am also called 'Peter the greeter'. I don't mind either of those two at all. Someone was playing a prank on me and wrote 'Peter North' on my helmet. Mr. North is a porn star known for his ejaculatory prowess so I am often referred to as 'the interior decorator'. What ever! Some nicknames are time sensitive and refer to a condition. I have conjunctivitis in my eye at the moment so people are currently calling me 'pink-eye Pete'. Of course when my buddy Brian also got the same eye infection I started calling him 'Itchy' and he started calling me 'Scratchy' from the cat and mouse duo on the Simpson's television show. But I doubt either of those will last past the infection. There are other people here who have nicknames other than me. But you have to be careful to make sure it IS a nickname. I have a friend here who is a Cree man and when I first arrived I heard people calling him 'large'. He has very wide shoulders and a huge chest so I thought it was a nickname. I remember saying to someone: "that nickname doesn't quite cut it... I think you should be calling him extra-large!" which is when I found out that Large is actually his last nam and not a nickname. But as I heard him say one time: "I haven't been a large since grade 9." he is a good guy and I like working with him. For the record I just call him James. In our trailer most of the people have little nicknames that I call them. Some are of the hockey player variety like Mike Acorn who I call Ache-y (from a hey. Reamy heart actually). Some are just fun like when I call Bruno 'Brunoccio'. Matt 'the legend' Turner actually goes by 'Matti' most of the time. Wayne goes by 'Wayner'. And so on. I guess nicknames, when they are from friends, are terms of endearment. They are things we make up for our friends because we like them. Nicknames kind of tell everyone else 'this person is my friend'. So I never really care what people call me. I do think though about what some famous politician said once: "love me or hate me at least they know my name!" :)