Let's make the world a more colorful place. After all, that's why we're quilters, isn't it?Have you ever listened to a Louis L'Amour book? I mean really listened. My favorite is the Chick Bowdrie series. Now there's a man a woman could fall in love with. Chick is part Apache and a Texas Ranger. He has ax handle shoulders, knowing eyes, and sits tall in the saddle on his trusty horse, "The Strawberry Roan." Poor horse never gets a name; it's simply, "The Strawberry Roan."
Then there are the secondary characters including the ranch hands whose names come under the heading of Tex, Slim, Rusty, Dusty, and of course Cookie. Can't have a chuck wagon without a "Cookie."
Chick rides from town to town saving the ranch from foreclosure, the school marm from harm, the boy from growing up to become a gunslinger, and of course the "day." Chick always saves the day. Then he rambles on to the next adventure, to the next town, ranch, or day, always meeting a very colorful group of characters.
This leads me to the question of why aren't there more nicknames in the world? When you head in to the corporate office in the sky-high building in the traffic-congested city see what nicknames come to mind. As you take that long elevator ride to the 27th floor, are you standing next to Buck, Curly, Pecos Pete, Ramblin' Roy, or Git-A-Long Sal. If you're in line at the grocery store, is it Lulabell, Coyote Jane, or Hitchem-up Bob in front of you? You know, perhaps if folks all had nicknames, the world would be a far more colorful place.
4 comments:
Good post. Made me chuckle. Now you have my brain working up some nicnames for people I work with and family members :)
You raise an interesting question. Whatever happened to nicknames? It seems they were more common when I was a child--dare I say 60 some years ago? Or, were they more common where I grew up in the wild west? Now that I have returned to my childhood haunts, I no longer hear them. Instead, there are more sophisticated western given names such as, Sierra, Shasta, Cody, Cheyenne. I like your idea. Those colorful nicknames could relieve some of the tension of modern day life. I guess you can just sign me "Lonesome Lindy," 'cause I'm lonesome for my children and grandchildren on the east coast.
I wonder if those folks got to choose their own nicknames or if they got saddled with them? Worse nickname I ever had was Little-bit! I'll let you know when I think of what I'd really like for a nickname...
The Romani often have Waggon names ~ I have friends known in the tribes as Kesha & Loyko & I named another Hoffeno. I was given Dudi (stars/lights) by the childer, but am more usually known as Killi. My younger daughter is HP (half pint) to many & the elder is bem. I grew up with appendages to names, eg Julie Flute, Mary Shop & here in Ireland, there are so many with the same name that extras are added to distinguish between them. I gave an addition to someone I met, so he is now Liam Drom (Liam of the Road). I love names, where they came from, their meanings & why chosen
Post a Comment