Nicknames....we all had them..... I think?

My friend Eddie recently posted an image on Facebook of the Disney star from years ago, "Moochie",  referencing another "Mooch" who has been in the news recently. The child actor "Moochie",  that we baby-boomers grew up with, was one of many kid stars that causes me to smile as I remember the early days of television. There were also names like Stymie, Buckwheat, Kingfish, and Butch that reflected the mannerisms of those we watched.

I figured everyone had a nickname of some kind. And, interesting enough, some of us have carried that nickname with us all these years.

As Eddie got a little older, his nickname evolved into Fast Eddie, from the movie "The Hustler". Fast Eddie could shoot a mean stick at the Northtown Pool Hall. And even there you would find characters like Pat Colley, who we called "Fats", again based on a guy from the same movie, known as"Minnesota Fats". Pat not only fit the size but he too shot a mean stick and was kind of a hustler. He did enjoy wearing the moniker.

As some of you know, I was knighted with the name "Skeeter" early on. I'm not even sure where the name came from. The person awarding me the title was my friend "The Jer". I still use the Skeeter non de plume when I want to get into character and write stories from my childhood.

We had a kid in the neighborhood, I guess he was the bully that everybody dreaded. His name was "Duck". We called him that because his first name was Huey, after Donald Duck's brothers, Huey, Dewey, and Louy. I'm not sure if we ever called him that to his face though. Maybe that was what set him off every now and then.

Another kid that Eddie, or rather Fast Eddie, reminded me of, was a kid named Eric. His nickname was "Zero" and that was given to him I think by his teacher at Loos Elementary School. I'll let Eddie tell the story if he reads this. It had something to do with the "Zero" getting all of the questions on a test wrong, including even spelling his name incorrectly.

I remember my friend, "The Jer's" dad had a nickname also. His wife, Evelyn always called him, "Bud". I think that was the name of the son on the tv show "Father Knows Best".

I don't know, maybe it's just politically incorrect these days or maybe the so called experts think it is wrong for a child to have a nickname. Maybe the children are too sensitive and God forbid if they are called by something other than their given name.

Another nickname that comes to mind is my friend Bill Bridges. I always thought of him as "Rocky", a name he wore honorably growing up.

My friend P.J. went by his initials in high school. But now that he's all grown up, it's been changed to Paul. Well, except for me and a few others, because he'll always be P.J. to me.

I still use the child-like version of my christian name, Thomas. Many friends still call me Tommy and I enjoy that. It makes me feel young. I dabbled a little bit years ago using the Spanish version Tomas, but that didn't pan out very well.

No doubt there were negative nicknames out there as well. I guess that's part of growing up.

I guess there could have been worse names, "Butthead" or "Buggers".

If anyone has any nicknames that they want to share, I'd love to hear them.

This here's Skeeter signing off.