Friday, June 12, 2015

Hi, I'm Weezer

A self-proclaimed devoted reader (Hi Estelle!) recently requested that I share the story behind the nicknames that my sisters and I have for each other. I love nicknames; they suggest familiarity and history. 


From left to right, here we go...

Dad (Jack): We call him `Dad' but my kids call him `Opi'.  Our background is 100% Dutch so usually the grandfather would be called `opa'.  When Kai was born, my dad said he just wanted to be called `Jack', because he didn't want to sound like some 'old guy'.  So, we made `opa' a little more fun; Opi.  My mom used to call him `Shekkie'.  It's a variation of his mom calling him `Jackie' when he was growing up (with a Dutch accent).

Trisha: My sister Trish is the youngest and because of this, she was always our little Peanut.  This has morphed into `Nutty' and then finally `Nut'.  My sister Jackie (Queen-of-going-too-far-with- nicknames) calls her `Nutball'.  I call her `Nut' in every single text even though it always tries to auto correct to `But'.

Maria: My mom often called her by the dutch version of her name; Maritje.  This is pronounced `Muh-Reech-Ah'. I often call her Muh-Reech and my sister Jackie just calls her Reech.

Louise: First of all, my real is Patricia Louise.  Why?  My mom wanted to call me Patricia (her mom's name) Joy.  One month before I was born, my opa passed away, and they wanted to name me after him.  His name was Louis.  They thought that Patricia Louise sounded better than Louise Patricia.  So, I am called by my middle name.  SUCH A PAIN.  NEVER DO THAT.  Whenever I have to fill out information or documents I need to consider if it has to be my legal name or not.  The other crazy thing?  I have a sister name Trisha Joy.  Strange, right?  My mom really wanted her Trisha Joy.  So there is a Patricia and a Trisha.  Two girls named after her mama.

Okay, back to my nickname.  I am the oldest.  Each sister after me had a difficult time saying `Louise'.  It would often come out `Wawouise' or `Weez'--therefore, I became Weezer.  My mom usually called me Lief Lutje (Lief=darling, nice, pretty and Lutje (Lie-Chuh) =Louise).  I miss that.

My best friend calls me `Lou' and Gary calls me Sweetie or Sweetpea.  For years, I was referred to by my maiden name and I would most definitely still respond to it.

Jackie:  She is just `Jack' right now.  It used to be that we called her Doc (you know; Jack to Jock to Doc).   She is named after my dad, Jack.  Jackie is responsible for calling  Kai, `Onion'.  You know: Kaiser Bun to Bunion to Onion.  I don't really know the real names of a lot of Jackie's friends as she 100% uses their nicknames when referring to them; names like `Worm' and `Snip'.  Yes--I  lucked out with Weezer.

Jantina: Growing up she was our Janny Bear.  There was a stage when she was TB (tiny bladder) because no road trip was complete without 1,000 stops for Jon to go pee.  I think around her teenage years she just morphed into Jon.  She is Jon to me.

I'm curious; what nicknames have YOU been given and why?

Love,
Patricia Louise aka Weezer


11 comments:

  1. Haha. This is by far my favorite post. Thanks Estelle! I am called "Looner" by Johnny. Marsalie- Marsaloon - Looner. My father-in-law is called "Cecil", even though his real name is Dennis. This is a long story, but started when Johnny was a teenager. He has been Cecil ever since I met him. My mother-in-law is "the Jean Lady". Her middle name is Jean. Fun stuff!

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    1. Favourite post? Hilarious! I spent about 10 minutes on it :) I need to get more requests for posts. Looner--love it. So funny seeing the progression of a name.

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  2. i LOVE this post!!! SO fun and entertaining!
    I am called Kel by a handful of people, my sister sometimes calls me Ben (my middle name is Benita), Alf used to call me Benita when we were dating and I still sign cards/notes to him that way. and a few random ones have been kellinder, kelita and kellster. of course when I was a kid, smelly kelly belly jelly...whatever rhymed. And my grandma always called me "kell-ma-belle" :)
    But Alf...at his new job, goes by Alfred...which morphed into alfredo (like the sauce), and then into 'saucy' and now has morphed into yet another one but I can't even remember what it is. it might be 'sushi' but i don't know why. :)

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    1. Oh my goodness, I LOVE Alf's nickname at work; Saucy! I know you've said it's morphed into something else but I love the progression! So sweet about signing notes `Benita'.

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  3. I love this post! I've always been curious about the nicknames.

    I've never had a nickname, not even from Jon. My parents always liked for us to be called by our actual names, so if any of my siblings' friends started calling them by a nickname it was quickly stopped.

    Jon's legal name is actually John. His Mom wanted to name him Jonathan when he was born, but her father-in-law (named John) was quite particular that he be named John. She legally changed his name to John shortly after registering his birth to keep the peace, but still referred to him as Jonathan. When we got married, I went through all of his government ID and half of them had his name as Jonathan. Now that he's an adult, he is known as John to his colleagues because he always used his legal name when applying to jobs etc. He's actually starting to see himself as a 'John' and not 'Jon" but to any of his family his name is 'Jon'. It's a messy situation because we're actually trying to decide how the kids will learn to spell his name...John or Jon. I push for Jon because that's how I know him, but he thinks he wants John because that's how he knows himself now. So messed up!

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  4. Anonymous12:42 PM

    Love this post! Thanks for taking requests.
    Love, Estelle aka Stelly Belly Button, Stoodbaker, and daily Stiner.

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    1. Keep the requests coming, Stelly Belly Button!

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  5. Enjoyed getting the explanation of the nicknames of you girls. I have never been called anything but Carol. I guess my family is kind of boring!

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    1. Carol--Care bear? Ha, I don't know! If you were ever to meet my sister Jackie, she'd give you one :)

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  6. Very cool! I love nicknames and how they evolve. To Brayden and his family I am Willy. My family usually calls me Kate/Katie and I get the occasional Bean Bag from my mom :)

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    1. Oh yes, Willy-from your middle name! I wonder what nicknames Henry will have!

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