nicknames

ever since i’ve read danpark’s blog entry, aka, i’ve been thinking of this topic for a while.

so if you haven’t been watching the nba finals this year, you’re missing out cause it’s been really exciting.  who knew the first round would have this much excitement?

anyways, so as i was watching the games of the first round, i was wondering about the nicknames of the nba – who has one, who doesn’t, who should, etc.  some are really cool, some i don’t care for.  i thought this would be really fun, but see if you can name the player associated with the nickname:

superman (there’s 2 with that nickname)

the big ticket

durantula (not my favorite one)

k-mart (prob my favorite one)

psycho t

king james

cp3

red rocket

birdman

agent zero

big baby – because he was a big freshman at lsu, the name just stuck

black mamba

rip

big z

that’s all i can think of for now.  it seems like there should be a lot more.  for instance: blake griffin, d.wade, d.rose, amare, carmelo, tim duncan should all have nicknames i think.  plus, older nicknames were so much cooler than the ones they have today.  for instance:

the glove – because his defense is all over you

the dream

the jet

air

pistol

the admiral

the glide

dr. j

the doctor

penny

don’t they just sound so much better?  we own our nicknames.  here are some i’ve had:

enotch

enocalypse – courtesy of toe-knee lee

e

mamasedenochuout

kickitupenotch

1

enogee

chocochango – courtesy of eunj

liu chang – courtesy of spikeymikey back in elementary school (when mortal kombat reigned the schoolyard)

change

enochang

my name got so hard to share at restaurants where they call your name, i started making names up like tyrone, steve, etc.

how do nicknames come about?  here’s what i came up with:

middle name: a lot of people who fall into this category are women.  i never really understood this one.  you were given a first name, why go by your “second-choice” name?  you know those girls back in high school when they took the first roll of the school year.  the teacher would be like, mary cooper?  and she’d be like, “i go by elizabeth” and then the same thing would happen for about half the girls in class.

inside joke: this can sometimes be a name you really don’t want.  like you get lost using directions and people start calling you “gps” or you fart in front of a bunch of people and everyone starts call you “gas man”.  or they can be really cool, which leads me to my next category:

accomplishments: you get straight A’s and people call you “ace”, or you save someone from choking and people call you “life-saver”.  or, i dunno, you’re a really great musician and people start calling you “the boss”.

your name: this is where most nicknames fall.  a clever reworking of your name turns you into a cool nicknamed person.  unfortunately, most nicknames in the nba fall into this category nowadays.  there’s d.rose, d.wade, melo, and stupid ones like “durantula”.  now these didn’t take much thought, but there are some cool nicknames based on a person’s name.

or you can mix and match.  for instance “chocochango” is a mix of my name and an inside joke.

you got/heard of any cool nicknames?

i leave you with this clip of the “nard-dog” from the office: