Monday, September 11, 2006

the name game

I suppose many of you have pet names for lovers, spouses, friends, siblings? My friends and family do, too. I think Australians are particularly fond of nicknames and shortened monikers. Take my dearest friends - Belly, Chooky, KP, Tootie. Not a sensible name amongst them.

My father loved to call me anything but my Christian name. When I was small, he called me, depending on his mood, Chicken Pie, Toukie, Poobah (it's OK, I was a baby then so I didn't mind), and many other silly nicknames. If he called me my actual name, I knew things weren't looking good.

I hardly ever call my husband by his real name, either. I call him 'hon', 'lovie', 'darl' ..... and Fatty. Anyone who has read my blog a few times would have realised this: Fatty = Jelly's husband. I don't know why I began calling my beloved husband by this term of endearment. I suspect the word just popped out of my mouth. I could just as easily have called him Buckethead, or Tickle. But the other day, a blogger friend commented on the nickname. I realised I haven't made it clear that Fatty is not actually fat.

It's not that I worry you may all think I am married to a chubby man. Who cares what weight he is? However, I would hate you all to think that my husband struggles with his weight yet I choose to draw attention to it by calling him Fatty. The fact is, Fatty is not porky. Not even a little bit. He's pretty lean; always has been.

I remember going to a party, several years ago, where a drunken woman in a tie-dye dress plonked herself into Fatty's lap, and proceeded to berate me for daring to call him Fatty. She told me, with a serious face, that I was belittling Fatty, and sloshed her drink onto the grass as she gestured. I was astounded that she could take offence at a nickname that was so obviously NOT fitting. At the time, I was horrified at being so miscontrued. On reflection, I think the drunken hussy just wanted to get into Fatty's pants. And now I've completely lost track of what I wanted to say.

Oh, yes. That's right. I wanted to say this - Fatty is not fat. If he were, I would never call him Fatty. And one more thing - if you ever think of putting on a tie-dye dress, drinking way too much wine, and jumping onto Fatty's lap, well ..... just don't. Remiman and John Cowart - you've been warned.

15 comments:

Heather said...

If she'd known Fatty's wife was a black belt, she might have thought twice! tee hee!

signed,
Tootie :-D

Smalltown RN said...

I would love to know where u got the nickname "Fatty" what would have brought that to mind for your lean husband? Is it that it is so absurbly different from what he really is?

I haven't visited your site in awhile. Tell me did you write a story for the competition? It was on "Time" wasn't it?

Would love to hear from you when you get the "time" no pun intended....lol....cheers

Motherkitty said...

It's just a good thing that Fatty has a good sense of humor and doesn't take offense at your calling him that. We all know he's a lovely man who was probably just as shocked as you were that an obviously drunken woman plopped into his lap and berated you. What was his reaction? You didn't tell us that part of the story. I hope, for your sake, that he dumped her unceremoniously on the floor.

John Cowart said...

Fatty must really have something going for him. Women never plonk into my lap even when they're drunk.

rel said...

OK Jelly, I'll behave myself, but only because Heather says your a black belt. lol ;-It's great to have you back.
Btw my nicknames; Rocky, huff, and rel. Nothin' fancy.
rel

Redneck Mommy said...

Fatty isn't so bad. I call my husband "Tit" in real life, not Boo. Not that he is a tit, although he does have two of them, it's just something that popped out and stuck.

He calls me "Snickers".

I hate that chocolate bar.

Thanks for not forgetting about me, Jelly. I'm ok.

Andrew McAllister said...

Thank you so much for visiting my site and for leaving such a nice comment. I appreciate it!

All the best,
Andrew

Michelle said...

I knew he wouldn't have been fat!! I play hockey with two gorgeously skinny girls who call each other "Fats" !!!

TUFFENUF said...

You came up with her nickname easily - DRUNKEE-LUSH! We know Fatty is not fat. Once, while posting, you actually used his real name. You quickly fixed it, but this detective knows Fatty's real name.

Val said...

I've never pictured Fatty as fat. Isn't it an Australian trait to name things the opposite of what they are?

Jellyhead said...

Val, you're absolutely right - like redhead blokes get called 'Bluey'. We're a weird mob, we Aussies!

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

T...it's good to hear from you again...you have eased my mind with that simple comment.

I call Jimmy 'Honey,' and I've been called Sunshine, Tiger, Rocky, Sammy and now abandoned.

I love tie-dyed, but not on drunken women...or men.

Franny said...

Well that's a relief! I wondered if his feelings were *secretly* hurt!

When I was pregnant, my hubby called me his darling 'chubby-chubby' because of the belly. Then when I was pregnant with twins, it became darling 'chubby-chubby-chubby' for the double load! It was totally sweet and loving because I was taking up a lot of space at that time. Though if he called me that now he would DIE, lol!

thisisme said...

I've lost count of all of the names that I've been called - mafluffy, fish, many others that give away my first name and pumpkin. My sister gets strudel and ceiling, one of my brothers gets rhodendendron and the other gets grub. You've started me thinking about all of the other terms of endearment that get used in my day to day life - I feel a post coming on :)

Kerri said...

Jelly, blogger just ate my comment and now I've gotta go! But I'll be back Chicken Pie!
Nick names are fun :)