The words from the well-loved sitcom Cheers rings in my mind....
(composer Gary Portnay)
With the theme as background, I hope you enjoy reading this post as much
as I did writing it.
The litany of nicknames in the Village echoes in my heart. It is as if I am reciting a kind of nursery rhyme..remembering them. Portuguese folk were fond of anointing one another with pithy ones.The reasons for these nicknames were often lost in the past somewhere: the names just took root and stayed attached to that person, usually for a lifetime. Here are a few to tickle the strings of your memory. Perhaps they will stir up more for us to share.
-chicken without eggs....or galinha sems ovos
(who knows why)
-49-50 - cadence for a man who limped, said in english.
-Red Sox
-Squeaky
-Conga
-Sassy
-Mailbox
-Tony Hikey
-Baron
-Flapper
-BooBoo
-Jumbo
-The Bishop
-Snowball
-Twinney (?x2)
-Cozy
-Too Tall
-Chocolate
-Buddha
-Babe
-Jimmy Pierre
-Sebula (onion)
This is what happens when your lives continually meet and intertwine in the cultural kind
of bubble that is a village.
Meanwhile as the song goes:
" Be glad there's one place in the world
where everybody knows your name".
Meanwhile as the song goes:
" Be glad there's one place in the world
Sandy,I really enjoyed your list of nicknames.Loved seeing my brother listed.My husband and I had a ball coming up with the following list.Some go way,way back.Only seven are still alive.I was always fascinated where they came from and what they meant.Some had to spelled phonetically.I hope I came close!
ReplyDeletePepper Twan Bibber Red (2) Fling
Joao Bota Bo Bo Kerchie Canary Crow
Pinky Peckum Doogy Moochy Frenchy
Pug Cheese Bucky Lefty Cockerroach
Flordas Chummy Chipper Jigger Fat Man
Big John Bernardick Favaseca Bidgy
Pee Wee Joe Papea Jiggy Bunny Flash
Horse Teddy Champ Chip Butchy
Cappy Pingingah Bedah Fahring Jug
Sandy, I know where our families' nicknames came from.Flordas, this is the name of the Rose family.It came from my grandmother whose name was Flora,so the kids became Floras. My father was Joe Florda and etc.
ReplyDeletePug was my Uncle Frank's name. He was a pugalist thusPug. He would fight anyone anytime! He even tried it once when he was in his eighties.
My husband,John's father always played the triangle when he and his Madeira friends serenaded neighbors on Christmas Eve.The triangle is a fahring in Portuguse,so he and all his kids were called Fahring.John's friend, Louie Gouveia americanized it to Fling,so John became Fling.One fellow called my husband and his brothers Fling Flang.
My brothet was never calledCozy by our family and John is never called Fling by my family.These names remained forever with their friends and maybe that's the way it should be. I'm sure everyone really liked their names because it was an expression of affection.
By the way all the Reds really had red hair. One was my father's uncle.
ReplyDeleteWONDERFUL!!!!
ReplyDelete