Now everyone has a nickname. Some people have several nicknames. Nicknames can be funny, some are descriptive, and some are rather embarrassing. I have had quite a few over the years.
When I was little my dad called me “Jammer.” I liked it! It was nice, simple, cute. The kids in my neighborhood called me “Little Jaime” or “Jaime D.” I grew up in the coolest neighborhood ever in Sunrise, FL and we had four “Jamie’s” on our block. There was Jamie Babbitt, who lived next door. Then there was Jamie Barnard, who lived across the street and down a few houses. Our neighborhood babysitter was Jamie O’Neil and then there was me. I was the youngest of the group… so I was “Little Jaime.”
As I hit middle school, all of my friends started growing… and well I didn’t. When I say I was REALLY TINY in middle school, that is an understatement. I was so small that on my first day of middle school I got off the bus at Westpine (Yes, my mom made me ride the bus. She said it was to “build character.” I say it was so she didn’t miss her soap operas in the afternoon! haha) and a girl came up to me. She looked very concerned. She asked me my name and what school I was supposed to be at. I will never forget her saying, “You poor little thing, you must have got on the wrong bus! This is Westpine not Sandpiper” (the elementary school in Sunrise.) When I told her I was in 6th grade she couldn’t believe it and called over her friends to look at how small I was. Talk about mortifying! So throughout middle school I was know as, “Munchkin,” and “Shorty.” Luckily those nicknames didn’t stick with my teachers, just my peers. My 7th grade Peer Counseling teacher called me “Doogie Houser.” That one was pretty entertaining but didn’t last for very long because my family moved to Spartanburg when I was in the 8th grade.
When we moved to South Carolina, I was known as “the new girl.” Then I started playing softball for the high school. That is when I inherited the lovely nickname, “Softball Action Barbie.” This nickname really used to piss me off… but hey, I guess people usually don’t love their nicknames. I did not play like a Barbie. But I did try to look good for my games. It wasn’t rare for my friend Cara to do my makeup and my hair before our games. We had to look our best… what if the baseball players came to watch!? Haha! So looking back at it, I can understand the nickname. But at the time, I was not too thrilled.
Outside of my softball team, somewhere along the way, people also started calling me “Doogie” and “Duganator.” Both of those nicknames cracked me up.
I started my first job when I was 16 years old. I worked at the infamous Carmike Cinemas in Spartanburg, SC. Here I was a part of an elite group of workers, we gave ourselves our own nickname. We referred to each other as the “Carmike Whoadies!” Think Black Rob, “Whoa” meets Coolio, “Rollin’ With My Homies” and that will get you our term, “whoadies.” I used to sport the amazing black pants, collared shirt (that was completely stained with popcorn grease) and black bow-tie. It was pretty amazing. And we were pretty gangster. Haha. I remember pulling our cars upfront and turing on the Dr. Dre Chronic 2001 CD and rapping all of the songs. We would run around the theatre rapping and dancing and acting like complete fools. Sometimes we would even pull the pillows off of the couches in the middle of the theatre and slide across the floors on top of them! I really loved working at that place! When I see my old co-workers I still laugh about the “Carmike Whoadies!”
Throughout high school I even had a nickname that I was completely unaware of until I went to college at USC. I was the Editor of photography for the school yearbook and newspaper. So I was constantly taking pictures of everyone all of the time. I was at every school dance, every school event, and I even had to take pictures on the sidelines at the football games. Apparently I was called “picture girl” by all of the senior guys. I actually never knew about this nickname until I went to my first Sigma Nu mixer in college. Several guys that had gone to Spartan High came up to me and exclaimed, “Hey its picture girl!” I turned behind me to see who they were talking about. Then I finally realized they were talking about me. Somehow that name stuck with that entire group of guys all through college. Once in awhile I will still be out in Spartanburg and someone will yell, “Hey picture girl!” Maybe I should get back into photography since I have already established myself as picture girl back home!
Now my nickname is pretty cliche. Erik calls me “Blondie.” I call him “Curl” so “Blondie” goes along with the “hair theme.” Haha. What are some of your nicknames?