• Akasazh@feddit.nlEnglish
    26·
    3 days ago

    I have a mentally handicapped niece. Once for her birthday my parents bought her a plushie in the form of a giraffe. I was the one that got to give it to her.

    To this day (35 years on) when we visit her she calls me ‘giraffe’ very enthusiastically.

    It’s a nickname I wear with pride.

  • Sigilos@ttrpg.networkEnglish
    19·
    3 days ago

    He was in the US military and now has the nickname ‘Cheese’ from his grandchild to be known by instead of the mentally abortive attempt his squad gave him?

    Dude, take the win and don’t complain. There’s definitely worse things to be known as.

    • toynbee@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      3 days ago

      See, that’s what I don’t get about this. First, I question its veracity; however, I would love if my kid (I don’t yet have grandkids) came up with and stuck with a cute nickname for me. With a few exceptions, I don’t care what anyone calls me so long as I can recognize that they’re addressing me; and if someone comes up with a non malicious nickname for me, it’s an indicator of a lasting and likely affectionate relationship.

      I’m toynbee, but if you want to call me cheese, that’s cool with me.

  • Flamekebab@piefed.socialEnglish
    381·
    3 days ago

    When I was growing up my father had a wooden mallet he’d made himself. He still has it now, but he had it then too.

    It was called a “dongy knocker”.

    The thing is, there’s contradictory stories for why it was called that. On the one hand when I looked it up, it seems like it’s an obscure antipodean term. My father was in rural New Zealand in the '70s and may well have picked it up the term over there. This is reinforced by the name of a weapon in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the Bommy Knocker, and threads like this.

    However it’s also possible I named it, according to a book someone published about working for my father (in the anecdote someone had damaged the fabled mallet and was rather worried about what they’d done!). I’m not worried about doxing myself - I’ve been using this username since 2002 and have clothes with it on. It’s not a secret who I am.

    • egrets@lemmy.worldEnglish
      19·
      3 days ago

      It could be coincidence, but there’s an antiquated term for a mace or morningstar, bommyknocker. People on the web seem to attribute it to a children’s book from the 90s, but I’ve found much older uses in the past, both in the UK and in Oceania. Similar to your name and not a very dissimilar tool.

      Edit: I guess it’s obvious I skimmed your answer! You’ve already made the connection.

    • flubba86@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9·
      3 days ago

      I’m from Australia. When I was a kid my mum used to call those inflatable baseball bats and inflatable hammers “tommy knockers”, and weirdly my dad called big boobs “tommy knockers”. I’m sure that and bomby knocker and dongy knocker are all derived from the same root colloquialism.

    • toynbee@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      3 days ago

      When I was a kid and someone asked me “what’s up?” I would, as a smug little snot, say “a direction, similar to but diametrically opposed from down.”

      TIL there was a better way to say that.

      Screenshot of a DDG search for "antipodean"

  • OldChicoAle@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    3 days ago

    The things I read about Vietnam make me think twice about any Viet vet. Atrocities were committed under the name of war. Nonetheless, individual humans carried out these acts.

  • Hathaway@lemmy.zipEnglish
    6·
    3 days ago

    That’s how my little sister got her nickname. They’d say her name as “baby _____” and I couldn’t say baby so it was just “b _____” and she’s been “B” ever since. Her name doesn’t have a B in it.

  • NotJohnSmith@feddit.ukEnglish
    7·
    3 days ago

    My neighbour is called Cheese. It’s because he’s a miserable sod so his mates called him that, as in “cheese, smile for the camera”