April 30, 2015

What is your nickname? Who uses it?

Laura: No shortage of nicknames. But the first that comes to mind is Lulu. It's my family nickname mostly given by my mother but used occasionally by pretty much everyone else in the family. LauraLu would be the offshoot of that, probably used even more by everyone in the family, but also my mother to a large extent. Dad called me Corinne when he really wanted my attention. Grandma Grace called me Sunshine. My gym teacher called me city kitty. My dentist called me Skowronski. Some sports team members would call me Scrunchie, like the hair tie. I've been called Goldie or Blondie occasionally but more often as a joke, as if they didn't know me or a better name for me.

Naveen calls me a lot of different things. I think it may have started with Boogaloo or Boog. Later it became Skowronski, as if to highlight a friendly casual summoning power. Monkey for silliness. Beesly in reference to The Office. But it has mostly been his favorite Lauralyne, sometimes Corinne, but more often Corinne-bin, and of course, Love.

Naveen: The obvious one is Bobby, given by my mom and/or grandfather. The story has frequently changed. But usually it goes along the lines of the name reminding my mom of her brother who was also called Bobby for short. It's unrelated to Robert, but probably related more to some kind of affectionate Indian term that sounded like or transformed into Bobby. But the name's meaning was said to be "a happy guy." My grandfather once told me that I looked like a happy kid, so that's why they all called me Bobby.

I used to sign my cards or emails to Laura as "Your Sweet Sulaco." Now I write all kinds of email signatures, there is no end to the names I come up with. Laura and I would also refer to each other as "my favorite" frequently. Sometimes I'd jokingly refer to myself as Greg (or Greg would be Laura's supposed fictional other love interest, a white Catholic man from a simpler time). Walter was the one we used when referring to ourselves in the golden age years when men used to beat their subordinate wives who would pretend to be fancy and spotless (Walter and Susan, old fashioned and dramatic). Nowadays Laura frequently calls me Navin, Navin Modem, Brown Man, Brownie. Love. Jackass.