Little Mama's my name, whining's my game

I forgot how much I have always wanted a good nickname.
Ok, so maybe I'm not being original here, but I was inspired by another blogger who also had a life spanning longing for a good nickname and now here is my story.

When I was a little girl, my mother tells me, everyone called me a Little Doll.
The reason for this was thanks to my bright blue eyes and my porcelain-looking face. I looked just like one of those little porcelain dolls they used to sell back then. I used to have one too. I remember she was named Sarah (all my dolls were named Sarah, actually, including my reflection in the mirror) and one of her hands was broken off with only a sharp pointy porcelain nub left.

At any rate, it wasn't much of a nickname so much as a comparison to judge my little girl good looks. My mom had a nickname for me growing up, make that TWO nicknames (one for when I was being naughty): Punkin' and Little Punk. As I got older the nicknames transformed into Ya Punk Kid and Brat. Now my step-father, whom I lovingly call "Daddy" has always had a nickname for me and it has never changed, even to this day. He calls me "Princess". I love that nickname but nobody else can call me that really. I suppose it's just a special father/daughter thing.

With peers in mind, it was in high school that I decided I really needed a good nickname. Nothing was wrong with my given name, in fact, people thought my name WAS a nickname for Theresa or something. Nope...just Teri. I always loved my name. BUT I still wanted a nickname. So of course, I tried to give myself one. How lame. How embarrassing in retrospect. But if you must know, I decided to call myself "Lucky". See? Look at me! I can jay-walk across the street in downtown Dallas without looking and not get hit! Lucky! Look at me! I can not do my homework all semester then ace the final exams and pass with a C because I'm just that smart and lazy. Lucky! Look at me! This name sounds really cool and special and I'm good to have in your pocket as a charm. Lucky!

Okkaaay....

That didn't last too long because as anyone knows, once you've given yourself a nickname...you're a dork. I gave it up since nobody wanted to use it.
I did get a couple in high school from friends. One guy called me T-bird. That one was cool because I guess he was cool so it all worked out. Another girlfriend called me Teri Tarantula or just Tarantula because we used to stand in opposite ends of a hallway, put our arms up in the air like a pissed off tarantula and run towards each other with over-exaggerated high steps as if we were psycho spiders and end up laughing by the time we got close to each other. (It was a silly time).

I've also been called a handful of other not so great names growing up, like Shrimp, Shorty, Four-Eyes, Speck, and sometimes they would act like I wasn't even there when I talked as if to say I was so little that they couldn't hear or see me (hence "Speck"). But I digress.

Teridactle was kind of cool but I made that one up so it only got used a handful of times too. It wasn't until my Filipino step-mother went a bit further with the "Bo" nicknames of my real father's family. Basically they just added a "-bo" to the end of everyone's shortened names. Uncle Billy was Bil-bo, Uncle Charlie was Cha-bo, Elsa was El-bo....etc...it's kind of dumb, but whatever. I ended up being Ter-bo, which is tolerable because it sounded like "turbo" which is just fine with me. But my stepmother, Elsa, started calling me Teri-yaki, and she thought that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. I wasn't amused. At first. Now it's my myspace name because it's funny and it's cool because it is a rather tasty ingredient in some of my favorite meals.

Nobody calls me that really, outside of myspace these days.

So what is my nickname now?

My husband calls me "Babe". It's endearing to me. If I think about it harder than what it really is, I could say it was a cooler version of "baby", a little more grown up, not as saccharine or too mushy. It's a tough guy "baby". Makes sense, considering my husband doesn't get to the mushy foo foo extreme side of the romance spectrum. Although there are times I've wished for some kind of cute pet name, but alas.

My almost 3 year old daughter has also unwittingly given me a nickname. She calls me Little Mama. Probably because I call her brother, Little Guy, she calls me Little Mama. I love it. Actually, one of my ex-boyfriends used to say "Let's roll, Little Mama" whenever we'd decided to go somewhere and we were heading out the door. I used to love that too. It was just so much fun.

My sister and I have a LOVING name calling relationship too.
Her nickname for me is "Fat" or "Fatty", even though I don't consider myself fat.
My nickname for her is "Ugly" even though she doesn't consider herself ugly. At least I hope she doesn't haha!
When I was pregnant and visiting the parents' house where she still resides, I had taken a shower and was standing in the living room with a towel on when she came downstairs. She immediately bellowed, "ARRRR! THERE BE THE WHITE WHALE!"
I couldn't help but laugh. We have a special mean streak that we enjoy inflicting upon one another. We are also big fans of the hecklers from the Muppet Show. We've even come up with our own little sketches as if we were them. (P.S. She's the ugly one).



Over the years I've had some online names for instant messaging, RPGs and other online games. These names are the exception to the give yourself a name = dork rule. Online names can still be cool even if you pick them out because they represent you like an avatar. My aliases have ranged mostly in the techie, Spanish or Japanese nomenclature:

Zorra - used it a lot in IRC chats when I was first an online entity. Spanish for "Vixen", but what I wasn't aware of was the Spanish slang use of the word, which was more along the lines of "slutty whore" and so once I started getting unsolicited sex offers in español, I decided that was the end of that name.

Satsukiyami - I believe means "dark night during the rainy season", was fitting for my brooding stage...also it sounded like the dark, mysterious mood I liked to project - the rainy season aspect made it sound sexy too.

Statik - a cooler version of static - not that I stay in one place or anything, far from it, but it was more on the play of statik electricity....I'm electric! :P

Anyway, that name morphed into my current internet name, which is also more of an entity now: statikradio.
It came from the U2 song "Stay (Far Away, So Close) lyrics, "...far away, so close, up with the static and the radio...". It made me think of being suspended in outer space with chaotic quiet, floating in the darkness, yet surrounded with endless sources of light. I liked it. What can I say?

But here I am going on and on about the internet when really, I just want a pet name. A nickname from friends that means something or is just silly. I guess you have to have friends for something like that. I've lost most of mine over the years. I suppose not having a nickname now is reminding me that I'm lonely, that I don't have any close friendships - except one that lives in Texas still, only we call each other maybe once a month or so.

Today's glass of cold lemonade has a splash of nostalgia bitters and a smallest-violin-in-the-world garnish on it. Drink it up, readers. Just for fun, anyone who feels like commenting can give this drink a good nickname. Heh.