30 Days of Me: Day 20

Day 20: Nicknames

When I was a baby, my parents called me "Wammes" (pronounced "VOM-mus"). This was the name of a cartoon character popular at that time, Wammes Waggel, who was a ditzy goose in the "Tom Poes" comic strip.

How flattering, hmm?

When I was around nine, my parents bought a vacation house in central Connecticut, on Amston Lake. My brother and I would sit on the rocks at the lake shore in front of the house late at night and do wolf-call imitations; we were pretty good at them, too, because we loved to watch the lights snap on in the houses across the lake. My brother started calling me Wolfie, and that nickname stuck for YEARS... all through high school, in fact.

But when I got to my 20s, I started becoming irritated that people didn't seem to want to learn how to pronounce my name. I'd tell them my name is Welmoed, and they'd ask, "What do people call you for short?" and I'd reply, "Welmoed." Come on, people; it's two syllables! Some people tried to stick me with the nickname "Vel", but I stomped on that pretty hard.

Comments

  1. Felicity from Down UnderJune 26, 2011 at 1:04 AM

    I'm just catching up on some of your older blog entries. This one made me laugh so much because I understand how it happens. My son is Gianluca, which isn't that difficult a name, though perhaps a little trickier than Welmoed.

    When he was a baby and he'd been introduced to a new neighbour, there was a moment of blank silence. "What do you call him for short?" I was asked. My visiting niece and I replied as one, "Giannino." Not shorter, not easier, not harder, just another take on his name.

    He's now 16 and I'm sorry to say that no amount of his insisting on his correct name seems to do the trick entirely, so I'm glad that you were so stern about yours. I'll encourage him to adopt your motto: Stomp away and stomp hard.

    Thank you for all the lovely sewing tips and tutorials. You're amazing - and Diana is very lucky to have you sew for her.

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