Memory Lane Mondays ~ Daddy and his nicknames.

When we talk about Daddy, we probably don't always leave our readers with a very good opinion of him. He was an unusual character who wasn't warm and cuddly, but he provided well for us, and we had many good times with him. It wasn't all bad!

One of his little quirks was to give nicknames to people. Each of us had one and most of our good friends did too. We can't tell you why he chose these names, because there was rarely a reason for the name, except in one case. Here's the list:

Patti was and still is "Doodle Bug." Daddy would sing a little song he made up that was equally ridiculous as the name. It went something like:
Doodle Bug, Doodle Bug, Doodle Bug, Doodle Bug dee-doh
Doh dee oh doh, doh, doh dee oh doh, doh doh doh,
Doh doh dee oh doh, doh doh. (The last line went sort of like "shave and a haircut, two bits!)

Bobbi was and still is "Little Turkey." Daddy told me he chose this name because when I was mad, my rear-end stuck up in the air like a turkey! Of course I never saw that! He sang the following song for me, but I don't think it had anything to do with my nickname:
Gim' big kiss and Piggly Wiggly
Gim' big kiss and Piggly Wiggly
Gim' big kiss and Piggly Wiggly
I don't think the song had a closing line. It could have gone on forever!

Rico was named either "Nifty" or "Ace." I can't answer whatever questions you might have up to this point! I don't remember a song that went with Rico's name. Rico didn't like his nicknames.

David, Rico's best friend was "Moose," or "Moose, you ace." Moose, by the way, was tall and weighed about 110 pounds. Sometimes I wonder if "ace" was a nice way to say something else (like a particular body part), because most of the time, Moose was sort of an "ace."

Ercie, Patti's best friend and next-door neighbor was nicknamed "Reverse," which I guess was a play on the pronunciation of her name ("ursy"). After he came up with this name, he never called her by her real name again!

Ercie had a brother Arnulfo, who already had a nickname from his parents - "Nuco," but Daddy renamed him "Margarine" - pronounced mar-jer-REEN. Remember Nucoa Margarine?? One of Daddy's favorite pasttimes was to turn on the sprinklers whenever Arnulfo/Nuco/Marjereen parked his prized midnight blue '55 Chevy within range and after he had just spent hours washing and waxing it. Nuco probably had some choice names for Daddy, as well!

Daddy had his own nickname - "Hoot." I don't know the story behind that name, but all his friends called him Hoot. Daddy's given name was Percy and he hated it! Our attorney told me Daddy had his name legally changed to Perry in the 1970's. I think he told the IRS it was a typo! I don't think Perry is a whole lot better than Percy!

Our mother wasn't given a nickname, but he had some other choice names for her occasionally. In a strange way, she was spared.

Daddy didn't give the grandkids nicknames, but because Trevor was so curious and would run off with Daddy's tools when he was a little boy, everytime we went to visit Daddy, he would say he had to "Trevorize" the house before we got there!

Yes, Daddy was unusual.