By:
Marie Christine Sipin
Sometimes,
to get a glimpse into the kind
of person someone is, observe
how he/she calls his/her family
members and in turn, how they
call him or her. Of course, these
are just clues and not necessarily
applicable all the time. However,
family endearments are fun and
many have zany stories behind
them! They are also more interesting,
sometimes downright funny and
at odd times, even embarrassing!
But no one name says as much about
a person as that nickname given
to him by his family members,
the people who know him best.
So,
what is your family nickname?
My
father has this unusual habit
of "renaming" people.
What do I mean? He christens
people! You see, he has this
rather short memory and he tends
to forget people's names. On
the other hand, he also claims
he just loves giving people
nicknames, his very own terms
of endearment for them.
For
example, my mother, as far back
as I can remember is "Dadang'
to him. He claims this endearment
is unique to only him and my
mother. It's just something
he said, liked the sound of
it, and therefore, stuck
I
became "Little Dadang".
He uses this alternately with
Tin Tin, the nickname he coined
for me, thinking it was unique.
He said he named me after Tingting
Cojuangco. Now, when he hears
my rather ordinary nickname,
he feels like he's been plagiarized
or something. Maybe this is
the reason why he took to calling
me Tin Tin Topak instead for
times when I am rather moody.
My
brother, younger but way bigger
than I am, is "Dodong".
Quite predictable and unimaginative
wouldn't you say? But he also
was Bardagol, Bok-Bok and consequently,
Brian
Even
our househelp have not been
spared from my father's christening
frenzy. Our long-time yaya,
Ate Bebe, her name shortened
from "Baby" is "Librada"
to him. Where the heck did he
get that name? To my father's
credit, the latter is our dear
yaya's real name. For some reason,
my father finds Librada easier
to remember than Bebe. Weird.
My
mom also loves giving nicknames.
Her mother is Lola Bisaya to
us because she hails from Tacloban.
She also wants us apos, to distinguish
her easily from our other Visayan
lola whom we call Lola Baduy.
You can say that to be born
into this family, you would
have to have oodles of a sense
of humor to bear all the monikers.
I
also have a Tito Baduy, a Bruce
Lee because he's a karate master
wannabe, a niece named Kat Kat
Pukat, Kitty for short because
she purrs like a cat, a nephew
named Poldo for Paul, another
named Onyok because he looks
like a little version of the
boxer himself and a baby niece
whose name is Janina Banana
from the popular song and also
because she likes the fruit!
I
also have teenage nephews with
fancy nicknames like Kicker,
he who kicked my sister's womb
the hardest from her brood of
seven. There's also Chiclet,
the junior version of my brother
Chuck. Another nephew is named
Genki because he was born in
Japan. In time it became Genkingkong
because he is agile and well,
simply because, like I said
he was born into this family!
We spare no one, young and old
alike.
We
are not exempted from the unique
Filipino way of giving double
names. What double names? I
mean names like Anne-Anne, Nat-Nat,
Meng Meng etc. Very Filipino
and very makulit. I mean why
say the same name twice?
That's
our family! One just has to
grin, bear it and bask in the
love and familiarity. And don't
even think of changing your
name!
I
am sure you all have your own
family nicknames, endearments,
even taunts! I am also just
as sure that you are as proud
of them as I am. Yes, I've come
to fully embrace all that is
unique and dear to our family.
I'm sure you kids feel the same
way too, don't you?
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