Written by Rocky Saxbe

It seems to me that nicknames are dying out. Maybe it’s just a factor of my getting older, but in my circle of friends, enemies, and acquaintances many have gone by a variety of names other than those given to them at birth.

Worm, Animal, Shrimp, Flea, Swami, Mousie, Seaweed, Beanie, Chomp, Stinky, Cuban, Speedy, and Fiddle are or were friends of mine. And there are two Frogs.

Goofy, Beast, and Pee Wee you’ll rarely encounter in an introduction. And Dummy, Midget, and Squeaky are all beyond political correctness now. I’m not sure Whitey or Spook are appropriate either. In the Marines, geographical identities reigned. There was always a Tex, a Tennessee, and if from Florida, Gator. Anyone with Native American blood was invariably called Chief.

I had an Uncle Red whose real name was John and an Uncle Sparky whose real name was Carl. And there was Uncle Gizmo who everyone called Red but his real name was Frank. Mom was a beautiful redhead. I was close. But I dreaded being called Red so l always classified my hair as strawberry blond. Once one of my teachers called me Pinky, and for weeks I feared others would take it up. Maybe I’d watched too much Hoody Doody, the red headed freckled puppet on early TV. He was a happy, friendly puppet but not a welcome comparison.

I’m sure everyone sometimes wants to look different from their image in a mirror. Brunettes want to be blondes and blondes want to be brunette, straight hair wants to be curly, short wants to be tall, heavy wants to be slim. Fortunately, we usually accept and even like who we are, what we look like, and the name we’re given, even if it’s a nickname.

My hair is lighter, grayer now. Definitely not red. Maybe strawberry blond. But don’t ever call me Pinky.

Forty years ago our friend's toddler tried saying Suzy but blurted out "Susu" instead. Suzy tucked the name away until our grandsons began talking. Of course, their first words were Mama, Dada, and no, but we made sure the next two were Susu and Papa....out favorite nicknames of all.