Nicknames are very telling, sometimes.
I was always very tall for my age – and skinny as a rail – so I’ve had my share of unpleasant nom de guerres bestowed upon me by an unfeeling world. Fortunately, I’ve found the world to be a more accepting, caring place for the adult version of me to inhabit.
Of course, I’ve chosen a path that regularly intersects with some of the most challenging souls humanity has to offer, so my view of the world is ever-evolving. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
But back to nicknames.
I used to work with a guy who underwent a dramatic evolution over the course of our time together. When we both started at the hotel, he was a quiet preppy, a financial wiz who wasn’t overt in his intentions towards the fairer sex.
But that soon changed. And how.
He colored his hair, opted for contacts and used his financial know-how to finance the purchase of a Mustang , the car of choice for the penile-challenged! Oh, and he began answering to the nickname, “The Champ”.
The only problem? He gave himself the nickname!
A true champion is humble and anything but self-serving. This guy broke the rules and created a new persona that defined how he wanted others to see him, not how he actually was as a person. In retrospect, I guess it’s safe to say the nickname had the desired effect: he became a ladies’ man.
Of course, there were no actual ladies, just a collection of skanks and freaks with issues! Still, he was happy so I guess that’s something.
As for me, I’ve only been referred to as The Hook for a relatively short time and that name only came about because of my actual name. Still, I’ve grown to love it because it actually suits my personality: love me or hate me, I leave an impression!
With the return of Summer, comes new staff at the Bell Desk, all of whom have been instructed to refer to me as The Hook! This makes for some interesting situations, especially when a guest is in earshot.
I knocked on a door the other day and was greeted with a soft, weak yet sweet, female voice who remarked to her husband, “Oh, Frank, that must be The Hook with our bags!”
So there you have it, I’m The Hook,
Who are you?
You've Been Hooked! 
The only time I had a real nickname was when I was at university. It was a derivative of my last name and was actually cute. I should have kept it.
Yes, you should have! Nicknmaes can rock!
Nicknames are so often bestowed by people of ill-will… glad you like yours!
I’ve definitely settled into it!
I selected you for the Blog Love award. Go here to check it out. http://mairedubhtx.wordpress.com/2011/06/24/blog-love/
I am currently nickname-less. I’m okay with that. I’ve had enough variations of my last name to compensate that.
But you can call me whatever you want!
How about cutie?
My West Virginia family called me “cooter” when I was a kid… it wasn’t until I became an adult that I realized that my nickname was just kind of “wrong”
Sorry to hear that!
I never was lucky enough to get a nickname 😦 Oh well…glad you’re happy with yours!
I sure am. Doesn’t the love of your life have a nickname for you?
Any guy can get a skank or freak; it takes a real man to “hook” a real lady! 😉 I think The Hook should have his own comic book series….
I like the way you think!
Ha! Great background story–I love how nicknames come about. My brothers and I get called a slew of similar nicknames because of our last name. Apparently it’s a fun one to experiment with. I’m not sure if I can count the number of nicknames I’ve been given on two hands. Everyone always feels the need to come up with their own name that they think is the most original!
I suppost that’s true. Thanks for the visit, Caroline.
this was a funny post, It’s my first time here. I’ve always tried to impose a nickname upon myself. Like when I was in 7th grade and I moved to a new school, I wanted everyone to call me Tweety. Thank God that didn’t stick.
For my writing & FB presence, I’ve chosen Tracita Linda which means (Little Pretty Tracey) but now I’m grown a little so I use She Traces, named after my blog, which is Globe Tracer.
Not bad at all! Thanks for the visit.
In h.s. and college my nickname was Motley, as in Motley Crue…..yes they were my fav band at the time (80’s metal man)and I went to a private school and I was the only one with long hair and earrings heh.
The Crue rock hard! Thanks for sharing, Mr. T!
Nice origin story :). I never really had a nickname growing up. The closest was at an old mortgate job, my boss would call me J-Man (pronounced Jay-Man), instead of Julio. That’s pretty much it.
That’s pretty good! Personally, Iike Spiderman’s origin better than my own.
Nicknames never suited me very well. I usually just go by shorter versions of my name…
However, for a short time, I was called “The Reverend” due to my extensive theological knowledge and prowess of logic.
That’s a cool nickname! Thanks for the visit.
Nice, it was good reading about how your nickname came about! I thought it was just a blog name, but it’s cool that you actually go by it in real life. It sounds like a super hero name, which I’m sure you’re happy about. 🙂
I am definitely happy about that! Enjoy your summer, Brittany.
I’m pen pusher, (a bit like fire starter only safer) xx
Your “Champ” made me think of a guy I know who has been dubbed “The Dose” because he’ll always give you a dose of what he’s thinking, and what he’s thinking is usually going to make you want to self-medicate : ).
Hilarious!
I absolutely love you nick name. The Hook. It has a very impressive sound to it.
“The Champ” made me laugh out loud because my friends sometimes call me that (Only to annoy me).
Does it work?
Please don’t start calling me that. I will unsubscribe if you do.
Okay, I promise!
All my nicknames have pretty much been plays on my name…like Shar, short for Sharon. When I was in college, people in the singing/dancing group I was in started calling me Shazter(which I never really knew why) and sometimes Sharone the Patrone to be silly…..as in Patrone(sp?), the Spanish word for beer, I believe?
My most recent nickname is Sharebear, that one of my best friends gave me….not as sophisticated as The Hook, huh?
But it still works!
I never had a nickname to speak of. For anyone called “Al” that’s just about it – apart from the prefix “Big”, which was never really me. A twist on this nickname thing though is coming up with a stage name. I’ve recently been asked to do some local gigs solo and asked what my stage name is. Good grief ! I couldn’t think of anything so said “just call me Al” – pretty uninspiring but there you go. And another, I recently tried to complete an exercise in a book where you had to think of new complete name for yourself based upon everything you knew about yourself now. Still working on that one. Seems to me The Hook suits you just fine. Well done. It’s cool the way some of the guests call you that too. Respect !!
Thanks, now I finally have some respect! Coming from you, good sir, that means a lot.
I have a nickname coz my real name is quite a mouthful. Four actually, and that includes my middle name which is my mother’s maiden name. Wow ! So, you’re really called The Hook in real time? I thought that was just something you came up with for your blog. Cool !
It is cool, isn’t it?
I don’t really have a nickname … except for anonymous betty, of course 🙂
But that one rocks!
That cracks me up. “..the Hook with our bags.” Too funny! You know honestly though, I bet with that name you’re going to be one of few that people will remember on their travels. Kinda cool, huh?
As for me…multitude of names have been derived from my given. Probably the most accurate is the nickname Lucifer given to me by my Christian neighbor that lived across the street when I was a little girl (That should send up red flags). And coincidentally, this same name would pop up over and over again randomly through the years out of the mouths of many. Think they know something I don’t? ha..ha.. PissyKittysLitterBox came from my dearly departed cat who was one of three, and the only one that ever covered up the shit in the litter box. Sort of feels like my life at times, always cleaning up someone elses mess. Aptly named.
Both great nicknames!
I love the idea of nicknames, but I was never actually given one. Unless it counts when your grandma calls you the “sneaky one”. I do write by this one.. AGFTMW-Average Girl from the MidWest. So, I can freely talk about those around me without completely alienating myself.
Good plan!
Unless you are a former boxer “the Champ” is a pretty weak nickname, worse when you pick it yourself.
I agree!
Yes, you’re definitely The Hook! I have to find my identity first ^^
Good luck, young lady!
WOOT WOOT!!! Don’t you just love it when you actually get a nickname that is a good one??? My favourite is of course, “Woman”, then probably “Ms Funny Pants”, and my most hated nick name but the one that has stuck with all of my oh so very large family, “China”. What makes matters worse? Even my three year old nephew has no idea what my actual name is. All he calls me is “Auntie China” as no one refers to me by name anymore! Not even my neighbours!
LOL!!! We were all in Toronto staying at a few hotels last weekend, and every time I saw a hotel staff, I was whispering… Hook hook give us the hook!!! Thankfully… it is quite common for me to start singing random movie lines.
TO? Do you realize you were less than two hours from The Hook?
Sorry about the nickname your family has bestowed upon you, but I think “Woman” rocks!
You are right in everything you said.
And you do have a cool nickname, The Hook is awesome!
And so is The Arts Web Show!
🙂 Well Princess was obviously self inflicted…the girls at work used to call me Hot Donna…gah..I much prefer princess 🙂
Me too!
I’ve had nicknames for as long as i can remember.
I was a skinny kid…that equals beanpole and spaghetti legs.
In High School I had a penchant for throwing up certain types of shots. The soccer team called me Shotsy.
Add a why to my last name and you get Mimsy which would also become the name of a dog I owned. My frat brothers call me Droop because I’m laid back like Droopy and my pants hang off my butt sometimes. My dad’s name is Sam….S.O.S = Son of Sam.
Call me what you want to… I answer to damn near anything….
At least you’re flexible and thick-skinned. Good for you, Dude!
I love nick names too. My best friends always called me “JACK” for Jackie. I remember growing up my dad’s name is Roy. So if you did not know his name was Jr. then he did not answer you. I also worked for a barber his name was Curtis and he only answered to HUTCH. So their is some history behind those nick names.
There usually is!
I mostly just get called, “Mom”, which isn’t nearly as cool as “The Hook”!
Wendy
No, but BEING a Mom is way cooler!
Great blog, hook!
I’ve had a couple of nicknames over the years but none have “stuck”.
For a short time in high school some people called me Mickey Rat, because of the motorcycle I drove.
Then I went to college when I was about 30 years old (much older than the other students) and was enrolled in a medical technology programme. On the very first day we were to meet at a big hospital. I entered the room and, like everyone else, was wearing an official-looking lab coat. But when I entered, everyone fell silent and turned watching my every move…they thought that because I was older, I must be a doctor. So I stood at the podium and asked everyone, in turn, their names and why they signed up for the programme. After a few minutes, the instructor walked in and asked me to sit down and said that she would be asking everyone to stand up and state their name and the reason why they chose that programme. One student called out and said, “But we already did that for the doctor!” So “Doc” stuck for a while.
I became good friends with one of the students who was Vietnamese. I’d spend a lot of time with her and her family and began to understand bits of the language. Her aunt insisted that I try only speaking VNese at these functions but my friend’s older brother thought it was useless to try to learn the language. When in Vietnam, the father had been in the military and had had American intelligence officers over to their house for dinner on many occasions and these guys spoke really good VNese, but with a thick accent. So because I was able to partially understand some of their “secret code” and because my accent resembled the intelligence guys’ accent, the older brother called me “The Spy” (in VNese) for a while.
“HoaiPhai” is a self-inflicted nickname to throw the WordPress grammar police off the scent.
Fight the power, my friend! Thanks for the cool coments and visit.
Now I picture you with a hook hand holding luggage. Sheesh!
I’m afraid not!