There must be some interesting history behind the whole nicknaming phenomenon. Sure, it is a phenomenon what with every third Indian being called either 'Chhotu' or 'Pappu'!. The name 'pappu' is so much a household name that a very popular advert used it for naming the protagonist and also, the big-effect-adline was "Pappu paas ho gaya".....What's exactly the point they are trying to make here? Is pappu a name, which implies -by the sound of it -a dud at school spending year after years in grade 6, in the social psyche of India? And then some great man has said, what's in a name...? So much for poor pappu.
On the other hand it's not an India thing, this strange short naming business. People call William -Bill typically or sometimes Will, Elizabeth -Liz, Thomas - Tom etc....This is routine though. What's more interesting is what people in love call each other. There is a very close friend of mine who likes to call her beau 'Zzzz'....I mean really, 'Zzzz'...??? Sweet, isn't it? Yes, until there are people like me around you who 'misinterpret' it as some boring creepy stalker who sends you a million SMSs everyday! I am a bit low on imagination when it comes to guessing what you'd call your boyfriend, you see.
Talking about people in love. My mama (hindi for maternal uncle) chooses to call my mami (his wife) 'Joe'. No, that's not short for 'Jairam' and she has not got any such weird name. Her name is a plain simple 'Jyoti'. And YES YES YES, I tried to tell my mama that Joe sounds so much like a guy's name! But then you know what makes it worse; it is used everywhere to make a reference to the all n sundry. For instance, my IBM machine prompts me like this - "Enter your email address e.g. joe@us.ibm.com." Hello JOE, what a coincidence that's what my mama calls my mami!
Still talking about people in love. I've heard so many of the girls call their guys either "Honey", or "Love", or "Sweetheart" (this one is quite mundane though. Get original ladies!), or "Jaanu". Strangely, I haven't seen too many guys reciprocate in the same nick-namish tone ;). A li'l gal I know got badly spanked recently for bunking her classes to meet her li'l boyfriend. Funnily, I discovered that she chose to call her dude "Handsome". Yeah, I understand that all you men out there are dying to be called handsome may be...but it's like strange. For one, when the phone rings, dad gets to know it's "Handsome calling..."!!! That's not all and that's not how dad gotto know about this li'l gals li'l romance in the city park, by the way! But seriously, can you really call your boyfriend handsome even if he truly resembles Ashton Kutcher or Brad Pitt whichever you prefer best?? Imagine saying "How the hell is that toilet seat not down, Handsome?" OR "I swear, I'm beginning to hate to see your friggin' face every morn, Handsome?".....Believe me, with 'handsome' as the name for your guy, you won't last too long in the relationship.
Well, the naming fever has got on my nerves now. My colleagues in office have devised short names for many around. Let me share some. A guy you'd say qualifies in the plump category is fondly called 'Chow'; Reason: Short for 'Choudhury' -his last name. Going by the same logic a certain Mr. Ranganath was called Ranga until some innovative namer started calling him RoRa; Reason: Ro is from his first name, Ra is from his second! Maddenning, huh? Not yet, read on for hitting the roof. There's a certain Kiran (boy not girl;) called Kirrru that too with a roll of the tongue 'rrrrrrr' there! As if this was not enough, some people have renamed the prior 'Sharmaji' (the Business Delivery Lead in the project) as BeeDeeEll (short for Business Delivery Lead, of course!). The one person who has played tremendously vital role in assigning these menial names to people has recently got it back too. We all have known that Mr. Ranganath alias RoRa and this Namer guy hang out together way too much. And since Mr. Ranganath's nickname was Ranga, somebody aptly named the namer 'Panga'. Now, everyone who's looking for the duo is found asking for "Ranga and Panga". ARE WE IN THE PROFESSIONAL SPACE AT ALL?
Do you also know funny names you like to call people to irritate the s*** out of them? Go on, let us all know.
On the other hand it's not an India thing, this strange short naming business. People call William -Bill typically or sometimes Will, Elizabeth -Liz, Thomas - Tom etc....This is routine though. What's more interesting is what people in love call each other. There is a very close friend of mine who likes to call her beau 'Zzzz'....I mean really, 'Zzzz'...??? Sweet, isn't it? Yes, until there are people like me around you who 'misinterpret' it as some boring creepy stalker who sends you a million SMSs everyday! I am a bit low on imagination when it comes to guessing what you'd call your boyfriend, you see.
Talking about people in love. My mama (hindi for maternal uncle) chooses to call my mami (his wife) 'Joe'. No, that's not short for 'Jairam' and she has not got any such weird name. Her name is a plain simple 'Jyoti'. And YES YES YES, I tried to tell my mama that Joe sounds so much like a guy's name! But then you know what makes it worse; it is used everywhere to make a reference to the all n sundry. For instance, my IBM machine prompts me like this - "Enter your email address e.g. joe@us.ibm.com." Hello JOE, what a coincidence that's what my mama calls my mami!
Still talking about people in love. I've heard so many of the girls call their guys either "Honey", or "Love", or "Sweetheart" (this one is quite mundane though. Get original ladies!), or "Jaanu". Strangely, I haven't seen too many guys reciprocate in the same nick-namish tone ;). A li'l gal I know got badly spanked recently for bunking her classes to meet her li'l boyfriend. Funnily, I discovered that she chose to call her dude "Handsome". Yeah, I understand that all you men out there are dying to be called handsome may be...but it's like strange. For one, when the phone rings, dad gets to know it's "Handsome calling..."!!! That's not all and that's not how dad gotto know about this li'l gals li'l romance in the city park, by the way! But seriously, can you really call your boyfriend handsome even if he truly resembles Ashton Kutcher or Brad Pitt whichever you prefer best?? Imagine saying "How the hell is that toilet seat not down, Handsome?" OR "I swear, I'm beginning to hate to see your friggin' face every morn, Handsome?".....Believe me, with 'handsome' as the name for your guy, you won't last too long in the relationship.
Well, the naming fever has got on my nerves now. My colleagues in office have devised short names for many around. Let me share some. A guy you'd say qualifies in the plump category is fondly called 'Chow'; Reason: Short for 'Choudhury' -his last name. Going by the same logic a certain Mr. Ranganath was called Ranga until some innovative namer started calling him RoRa; Reason: Ro is from his first name, Ra is from his second! Maddenning, huh? Not yet, read on for hitting the roof. There's a certain Kiran (boy not girl;) called Kirrru that too with a roll of the tongue 'rrrrrrr' there! As if this was not enough, some people have renamed the prior 'Sharmaji' (the Business Delivery Lead in the project) as BeeDeeEll (short for Business Delivery Lead, of course!). The one person who has played tremendously vital role in assigning these menial names to people has recently got it back too. We all have known that Mr. Ranganath alias RoRa and this Namer guy hang out together way too much. And since Mr. Ranganath's nickname was Ranga, somebody aptly named the namer 'Panga'. Now, everyone who's looking for the duo is found asking for "Ranga and Panga". ARE WE IN THE PROFESSIONAL SPACE AT ALL?
Do you also know funny names you like to call people to irritate the s*** out of them? Go on, let us all know.
2 comments:
Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my site, it is about the CresceNet, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . A hug.
Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my site, it is about the CresceNet, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . A hug.
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