A self imposed mental acuity exercise. How many old nicknames could we recall in one hour, i.e., friend, acquaintance, co-worker, classmate and such...?
Ace, Bert, Boner, Bouncer, Bum, Cap'n, Chisel, Derby, Dinski, Doc, Fuzz, Gizzy, Google...
The three brothers Hacker, Jocko and Boo...
Ol' Pop's best friend Black Cat... and Pop always bought a used car from Dirt...
Soul brothers Catfish, Corny, Flip, Fuddy, Gilly, Hawk, Porky, Spanky, Tombstone and best buddy Juice (aka, OJ)...
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Walkin' alone along the business district main street of the lower west side of town. Home was the northeast end of town, or 'East End'. In those days there was a geographic (and a bit cultural) divide to the city, mainly dictated by the various electoral wards, each with it's own elementary school, playground and little league baseball and midget football and basketball teams. Usually if ya' got caught walking alone in another groups "turf" (and always outnumbered at least 3 ta' 1), you were potentially in for a bit of harassment.
So out of a side street steps Hard Tack and his gang. I'm immediately surrounded. One each side, two behind and Hard Tack in front - all 4'-10" of 'em.
"Gimme a quarter"
"I ain't got a quarter."
"The man said give 'em a quarter!" (A shove from the side)
"Gimme a quarter or you're gonna feel the wrath of my black power glove!!"
(Hard Tack is sportin' one black right hand glove, à la Michael Jackson, except years before)
"I said I ain't got a quarter!"
POW! - I take a short right jab to the jaw from the black power glove. I take a second to shake it off, then go for Hard Tack, who takes off running. I chase 'em across three alleys. The rest of the gang hot on my heels. Hard Tack is quicker than a jackrabbit and smokes me. I suddenly realize that I've run myself deeper into hostile territory. I stop and expect to be swarmed by the pursuing gang. I turn to face 'em. They'd all vanished! Didn't know where they went but I took advantage of the reprieve and quickly got the f*k out of there.
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Muscle Girl Sarah and ZMan...
Whitey, Blackie, Red...
Hap, Jet'ro, Keet, (Kung) FU, Mon City, Monk, Mugs, Nails, Nink, Pecker, Puke, Punk, Putt, Stu, Turk, Ug, Wild Bill, Willie, Woo...
Physical attributes and resemblances Beak, Big Bird, Big Head, Bob Hope, Catfish, Dino, Egg Head, Fatman, Filbert, Hook, Harpo, Hair Bear, Howdy Doody, Pee Wee, Weiner Head, Whale Butt...
Steel Workers Arab, Baby, Bubba, Butch, Cookie, Daddy, Farmer, Flop, Frog, GiGi, Greek, Ooo-Waa, (The) Queen, Tush, Scungy, Snoddy, Snuffy, Stush...
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Setting in front of the shower room locker lacing up the work boots in preparation for another Friday, end of week, eight hour midnight shift at the "mill". Around the bend comes Big John, who had just finished the earlier afternoon shift:
" Hey - I'm heading out. Catfish is havin' a party at his place. Why don't ya' call off and come along."
"Heck - I'm already here and dressed, John. If I'd have run in to ya' prior outside the gate I'd have probably called off and went."
"He's invited a few "soul sista's" from the city... couple kegs..."
"That's a tempting offer... but I'm staying here."
Couple days later run into John out havin' a few beers:
"Hey - how was Catfish's party?"
"I walked in the front door and everyone was naked... Catfish walkin' around with his big belly!"
"How 'bout the sista's?"
"Them too - they were hangin' all over Catfish."
"Haha - what did you do?"
"Got naked and joined the party."
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Animal world: Chicken, Chicken Hawk, Duck, Fish, Gopher, Griz, Hound Dog, Mole, Mini Mole, Pigeon, Snake...
Big Joe, Little Joe...
Mad Dog, Red Eye...
Multiple Chips, Skips, Buddys and Buzzys...
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A bunch of us are out one summer Saturday night enjoying a usual backwoods keg party. The kegs running a bit low. Donations are procured and volunteers secured for a run into town for a second. "Dave" lends the use of his auto for the trip. Two guys make the run.
The local beer distributor was running a 'Schaefer Beer' promotional campaign at the time. The campaign included discounted product and the usual free merchandise - hats, 'Schaefer Beer Girls' calendars, coasters and such. The boys returned with the keg and also with Dave's auto plastered with probably fifty Schaefer Beer stickers. Dave was forever christened Schaefer after that.
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Although dealt a bum hand at birth, Hoagy is forever holdin' four afterlife aces.
Proper name derivations Bean, Dazel, Dingo, Enos, Fitzy, Flacker, Hatchet Head/Hondo, Hooty, JJ, Mungy, Ozzie, Rayme, Sappy, Shep, Sibby, Triple D, WW...
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Ran into long ago Maryland shore re-located Fitzy - back in town for a visit:
"Back here I'm forever known as "Ditzy Fitzy"... around DC I'm Mr. Fitzgerald."
We could relate to that.
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Food Stuffs Eggy, Cheesy, Grapes, Hot Dog, Meatball, Peanut...
Gals Dee Dee, Petey, Pickles...
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OZ was forever christened after he had the letters o and z tattooed on his arm - his intention being the abbreviation for the unit of weight, ounce. Back then the common term for an ounce, as in "ounce of weed", was oz, phonetically pronounced o (period) z (period), i.e., "I'm gonna' cop me an o.z." It was funny - he was forever correcting everyone when they would mistakenly pronounce "OZ", as in 'Wizard of OZ'. It was fun to address the mispronunciation as he never failed to correct ya'. Finally the (Wizard of) OZ just became his handle. To compound the hilarity, as we recall the tattoo was the Greek letters omicron-zeta, symbol for some college fraternity. OZ had barely made it thru the sixth grade.
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From NYC ventures, KIP was one of the four vigilante cops ('Officer Astrachan') in the 1973 'Dirty Harry' (Clint Eastwood) film 'Magnum Force'.
(YouTube Video)
Magnum Force (1973)
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Use your imagination: Crazy George, Crazy Luke, Cro-Magnon Man, Dirty Dan, Gooner, Normal, Nuttzi, Pill Head, Spaceman, (The) Who...
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Fats would occasionally sun himself in the summer atop a local and nearby rock cliff. Sans clothing. No big deal. Hey, he's never bothering anyone, and the place was always deserted, anyway. It could be a bit of a shock, however, stumbling upon him by accident if ya' didn't know he was there. Especially if ya' didn't know him. His spot was out of the way and a bit well hidden as well. He was usually listening to tunes thru his headphones, possibly sleeping, or both, so he was unaware of your presence and would not stir - just like a dead body that was dumped.
Strong Man Matt and I had been rock climbing one day further distance along the cliff. We'd occasionally hear the voices of a few hikers making their way up thru the hollow. At least one of them female. After awhile it was apparent that they were making their way to the top of the cliff. We knew that Fats was sunning at his usual spot. About this time we'd about had it for the day and were packing up...
"Hey... hurry up... let's go up and see what those people do when they encounter Fats!"
We'd no sooner snapped the last buckle fastener when we heard the gal let go a loud, near bloodcurdling scream.
"Too late... sounds like they found 'em."
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Guitarist/singer/songwriter Mr. Wonderful was once a big time professional R&B musician playing clubs, venues and occasional television, including 'Ed Sullivan', from NYC to Vegas to LA. Played backup to headliners such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Glen Campbell. Along with his own band, 'The Mel-O-Dots', penned and recorded the early '50's tunes 'Just How Long' and 'One More Time'...
Mr. Wonderful (Ricky Wells) top, holdin' guitar
One More Time (1952)
Adios,
Rayman
