The Nicknames I’ve Had
I haven’t really had many nicknames through my time here on earth, but there were two or three that I can recall. One of them was my surname. I think that probably most of us have been called just by our surnames at some point in our lives.
When I went through army basic training, I was called a nitwit, a maggot and various other insulting names that no one had ever called me before, but every other “trainee,” (the official name for new recruits in army basic training), got called all those names too, so I didn’t take it personally.
Where I went overseas after Advanced Individual Training, or AIT, I was eventually given the nickname of Gus and this other friend got the nickname of Slim. There was this group of potheads, heroin addicts and acid trippers that gave me that name. “Gus and Slim” became like a comedy duet act for them, because they’d laugh at just about anything Gus and Slim would talk about.
I personally had never taken any kind of illegal drugs or substances in my life before I went overseas in the army. I was SUPER dead set against them. But a friend that I was in the same company with during AIT in the states, ended up in the same place with me overseas. He nagged at me and nagged at me to “just try” smoking a joint, and I resisted. His nagging got tiring though, so I agreed to “try” it with him.
I thought it gave me a pretty nice feeling, but then I was afraid about getting addicted, so after doing it a couple of times, I stopped so I wouldn’t get addicted. Then, probably three months later, I told myself the hell with it and started hanging out with them and getting high with them.
I didn’t mind the nickname “Gus,” during my time in the army overseas, but I got a nickname that I hated on one of the jobs I had about a decade after that.
This is me next to my dad when I was twenty nine, right around the time I was hired at this place. I’ve had very curly hair all my life, and at the time I started working for this company, my hair was long and looked a lot like an afro. I also had a mustache. I’d grown the mustache when I was in the army, (because I could), and kept it on my face for several years after that.
One of the bosses there started calling me Gabe and said I looked like Mr. Kotter on “Welcome Back Kotter,” which I took as an insult because I never liked that show or “Mr. Kotter” himself. I thought that he and that show and all the people on it were awful. So I hated that nickname.
That was the last nickname I’ve ever had, and I haven’t had one since, unless I count “free-reign” as a nickname, but I chose to use that name myself, and I don’t think it qualifies as a real nickname if you give it to yourself.
I once worked with this dorky guy who gave himself the nickname of “Hacksaw.” I think he thought it made him sound like a real rowdy, tough guy type, despite his dorkiness factor.
I wonder what he’s doing today.
The Nicknames I’ve Had ©free-reign 2020
I've written this piece as I was inspired by a prompt that I received in a daily email from @shadowspub. The prompt is, “What Nicknames Have You Ever Gotten or Given?”
Thanks for reading!
Sources for images used in this post:
(Public Domain photos are from Wikimedia Commons)
Cover Image: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Me at 29: Image by Me
Welcome Back Kotter: Image by ABC Television / Public domain
posh:
Nicknames can be nice or insulting. Thanks for sharing yours.
Lovely photo of you and your Dad. the Afro hairdo was all the style but you had it naturally.
Some people have some wild nicknames. I think"professional" wrestlers probably have the wildest nicknames, and also some of our historical military figures.
I hated my curly hair until I saw guys getting perms to have hair like mine, lol.
So cool! Interesting nicknames too :)
This one kinda got lost! Thank you @iamraincrystal for reading and the very nice comment!
When was this prompt? Somehow I missed it!
Thanks for sharing!
It was in the March 23rd prompt list:
Thanks! I'm not sure how I missed it!
Glad I could help! 😃