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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Wednesday Thoughts

A name like Elizabeth lends itself to a lot of nicknames - some traditional, some unique. At this point I'm used to answering to all sorts of nicknames and mispronunciations.

Here are a few of my nicknames along with who calls/called me it:

Liz - mostly by guys who never ask if it's ok to call me that.
Lizzy - my uncle and a few other friends
Libby - Chris
Lizzy Lou - Vaughn
Rizza - Diane
Liz Beth - Jesse
Dawitabis - my nieces and nephews at some point
Salibis - my nieces and nephews at some point
Bibis - my brother and sisters when they were kids
Dit - a kid I baby-sat for in high school
B - my friend's niece when she was a toddler
Ah-beth - my niece, currently
Lizardbreath - my brother as a teenager
Liza-poop - my friend's younger brothers when we were kids...and currently.
Katherine - this is my sister's name but people call me it by mistake all. the. time.

As you can see, I'm accustomed to hearing lots of variations on my name.

But one thing I have never been called is "Uncle Elizabeth." My friend Abe, who lives in Seattle, sent me this picture yesterday:


Uncle Elizabeth's Internet Cafe

Hm. Uncle Elizabeth's. Not my favorite, but I've already to confessed to being called much worse.

What's the weirdest thing you've been called?

And for the record, I prefer to be called Elizabeth.

Happy Wednesday.

17 comments:

violet50 said...

My sisters called me Neena (for Linda) when they were young. I was called "floor wax" (for Johnson's floor wax). Shoe laces -I don't remember why. And Johnsoon-rhymes with monsoon by one of my best friends in High School. I haven't been called uncle yet, so you're one step ahead of me.

Sarah said...

What about Azile??? I remember that from passing notes to you in high school! :)

Jesse Davis said...

I've been called a lot of things through the years. All of these have been consistently used at one time or another.

Jesse
Jim
Noodle
Noodie or Nudie
Nudist
Nekkid
Noo-doo
Gutz
Scumbag
Cap'n Neckbeard
Davie-poo
Maxabillion

Anonymous said...

Vaughn, James Vaughn
and I will have that martini Shaken, not stirred.

Mark said...

The teenagers in my stake used to call me Jesus.

Katherine said...

Mark, the teenagers in your stake aren't the only ones... ;)

Here are some of mine:
-Kat (lots of people)
-Kafrin (nieces/nephews)
-Kafin (same as above)
-Fin (friends - got it from Kafin)
-Kitten (Chris)
-Kitty-Kat (BT, Justin)
-Timmy (a friend said I looked like Tiny Tim once when I was limping/wearing a plaid scarf...?)
-Khety (from a play I was in)
-Katrinka/Katrink (Mom, Sean)
-Kathy, Katie, Kate, Kathleen - I lump these together because they're the most obvious nicknames/mistakes, and I don't like being called any of them!!
-Elizabeth (my sister's name, which I get called by mistake all. the. time.) ;) (More like "Ka-He-Sea-Eliz-Sneak-Oh, whatever your name is!")

For the record, I also referred to you as Lizardbreath and Liza-poop on several occasions. ;) Out of love, of course!!

jules said...

Julie
Jules
JD (because my BFF was Julie also so she was J.E.)
and
JuJu and Juliebean(both of Which I DESPISE)

I also got called

Julie Brownie
Downie Flake

I am very jealous that you have a name which elicits so many good spinoffs and yet....you prefer the name as a whole. Seems like such a waste of a good nickname. My friend Melissa was the same way.

Heather said...

My oldest nephew couldn't pronounce Aunt Heather and called me Aunt Hair.........because it was the 80's and I was rockin a Sammy Hagar type perm...it stuck. To this day most of my family calls me that.
I insist they spell it Heahr.

Other than that for no obvious reason people insist on putting an S on my last name.

Wee Sisters Three said...

1.Heedge(the fam)
2.Heed (from so i married an ax murderer, the fam)
3. Heedro McGillicuty(the fam)
4. "Arn't you (Elizabeth, Sean or Katherine's)little sister?"
5. Sneakers (let's face it, Mom always got to sneakers name in the list before mine, so I just accepted it as my own)
6. H.E.H.E.H.E.R (myself as a child trying to spell my own name)
Those are all I can remember. There's no real "shortening" you can so of Heather, so mostly you all just made up names.

elliespen said...

As a fellow Elizabeth, I've had several of those nicknames, too. (I don't let anyone call me Lizzie, though, because of a singularly unpleasant girl by that name in my 6th grade class.) People never ask me if it's okay to call me Liz, either. I've also been called Bets (high school), Riffeth (my nephew—I cried the day he learned how to actually say "Elizabeth"), Bizzah (other nephews), Liddybit (my dad and brother), and, most commonly, Ellie.

I've never been called Uncle Elizabeth, either, although I do regularly get mail from the Federalist Society (leftover from one semester in law school) addressed to Mr. Elizabeth (lastname).

Anonymous said...

HAIRY.....this is a don't ask don't tell moment...

Elizabeth Downie said...

Haha! I bet I know who you are, anonymous! ;)

D said...

My main nickname was and is D. But my family loves nicknames so we were always calling each other names. :)
deedle
deedle berry
goober
queen goober
bug
booger
big boog

And I had a couple friend who lengthened my nickname to deedra or deirdre.

I call my boys cute poopy stinkers all the time. LOL

Natalie said...

My older brothers came up with all sorts of nicknames for me:

Brat-alie
Fat-alie
Mad-alie
Tattle-lie

I probably deserved that last one=)
But I preferred those to "natsy" which my sisters called me for a while. They weren't trying to be mean, but I hated it. It's like nasty and nazi all in one.

My dad called me natty gann, like the movie...but most people choose to use nat or nats.

E McL said...

Continued...
Liz
Beth
Elizabeth
I was Lizard Breath too.
Cheese Liz (like Cheese Whiz)
Special ED (initials)
Lezzie (that one really ticked me off)
...my favorite is Lizzie.

Mary Burnette said...

Mary Moo-Cow, by my loving son. Also Mer....that is how our southern relatives pronounced Mary.

Liz Hughes said...

Note to self: stop calling you Katherine.

My nicknames include:
Liz
Lizzy
Lizard breath/ lizard breath Anne
Beth
L- meister