No doubt you remember an occasion when you were on holiday in some small hotel in Rimini or Florence, and you named your fellow guests by their appearance.
There might have been 'The Green Lady' on account of her strange hair colour, or a 'Mr Four Whiskies' on account of his drinking habits, or even a 'Mrs Doolittle' on account of how she held her knife like a pencil. Well, it's not unlike how we name some of our neighbours.
We used to have two elderly ladies as neighbours. One was named Mrs Old (her real name), so her next door neighbour became Mrs Not So Old. Next door to them was Smoking Woman, for obvious reasons. Our immediate neighbour was known as His Excellency, having been Ethiopia's Ambassador in Sweden.
All of the above are now deceased.
Currently we have a 'Mercedes Man' on account of his soft-top German car. He arrives at his home at strange hours on random days, spends maybe a few hours or a few days, then disappears again. We know absolutely nothing about him; where he goes or what he does. We don't even know his name. We quite like it that way.
When on holiday, it is rather infra dig to ask people their names, so naming them according to some quirk is all part of the fun. I can remember a Hoots-mon (is that how it's spelt?), a Funny Leg, a Mr Doom, and a small girl that we named Pug.
Of course, not all this is one sided, one has to expect others to give you some awful name as well. I do know that one of my neighbours in France has a pet name for me, but I've never got her to tell me what it is. Otherwise I'm possibly known as Old Fart, or That Bloke with the Black and White Dog, or I pity his Wife; etc.
Life's rich tapestry.
22 comments:
Ah yes, we too have always done the same thing when on our travels.
We have had The Colonel (a Colonel Blimp lookalike), Rasputin (a very large chap with a wild, waist length dark beard) and an Uncle 'Arfur (because he closely resembled the character from the TV comedy Only Fools and Horses) ... to name just a few.
Good! I'm glad to see we're not alone. Any 'Pedro's' this time?
We always name people. The names are recognisable immediately, so no further explanation when we're talking about them. And of course we talk about them, especially on holiday. It's part of the fun. 'There goes Mr Bellyman again, on his way to the restaurant'.
In the nerighbourhood most of the men are known by their wive's or mother's names, because so many have the same name. So we have Vaso'sVangeli and Nota'sVangeli. Otherwise many are known by nicknames which have been carried down from their fathers. K is known as Votsalos (the stone, because he threw stones at a neighbour). There's the Rooster, the Flashlight. I got into trouble calling them by these names years ago because I thought they were surnames
Up North, there's no need for all that naming malarkey. We are friendly people and we all know our neighbours by name. I know it's different Down South where there is widespread aloofness, snobbery, poshness and an "I'm all right Jack, pull up the ladder" mentality. Sorry Crozier...I know the truth can hurt.
That reminds me of the Welsh, who have a huge population named Jones. They become Jones the Meat, or Jones the Drain, or Jones the voice, etc. My wife was asked recently to let a roofer into our son's house so he could do an estimate. She asked what his name was, and my son said Rufus. When my wife later asked the man if he was Rufus (roofus) she realised it was a joke!!!
I think 'Mercedes man' is the only person in the street who's name is unknown, and with whom we don't have a good relationship. Sorry to disappoint.
We had a local shop owner who we called 'Mr not so nice' and now next door we have 'mad cat woman' we are lucky and know most of our near neighbours names.
It sounds as if you have some great neighbours. We know ALL our neighbours; except one!
Err... but that's not what you said in the blogpost your honour! I guess I should have added deviousness and duplicity to the list of southern character traits.
Working in a office in the ‘90s my office colleague and I nicknamed the staff, she was the Unicorn as she had long hair with a part pulled up atop her head, her manager was the Jack Russell as he was a small alert guy who was always dashing about with a smile on his face. I was the Flamingo as my attire was appropriate but colourful, my manager was the Honey Monster as he was a good natured, well dressed shambling sort of guy with his hands in his pockets and head in his shoulders. The head of the drawing office was Mr Pastry as he wore a white jacket/overall, had white hair and was always making us laugh.
The MD was the Giraffe as he was almost seven feet tall and loped gracefully around. The sales team were the Boy as he was the youngest, Harley D as his name was David Harley, Max Mooner although his name was Mike Spooner the registration documents for his company car came back with the Max moniker on them. The operations manager was JG, no explanation as he was just gorgeous, his second in command was the Ferret as he was into everything and had so much knowledge of the machinery. Such happy memories, I am now retired but sadly still enjoy people watching and imagining things. Jan in the Midlands
What a wonderful array of characters. I've only worked for a short while in an office, and I can't print what I named most of my co-workers!
We used to have neighbours called Percy Throwers.( obvious reason) When we moved into these flats we had Danny Man cos he looked like my brother in law Dan and Mrs One Leg ( awful I know) . Poor lady is now Mrs. No Legs. Speedy , cos he drives his mobility scooter too fast.
Read again!
I'm afraid that the 'Funny Leg' I mentioned was someone with a limp, but no malice was intended. These names are just 'short cuts'.
There is the Crazian downstairs, the Arms Dealer (he won't say if he is one of ours or one of theirs) the devil-dog lady who rescued an abused rat dog.) But mostly our neighbors are silent. Living in a high rise there are 250 neighbors, and I really know 3 or 4 of them.
Very different to living in our little street of 17 small houses. We know everyone except Mercedes Man.
I know all my neighbors and their dogs by their names and have never thought about giving them alternative secret (joke) names.
I presume, all in good fun.
Why on earth is it socially unacceptable to ask the name of someone you meet in holiday?
A tapestry which is your blog
So do we, except for one!
Just as it is the same to ask what 'job' they do!
I enjoy a laugh; unlike one person who calls herself 'Anonymous'. I'm deleting her (as do you).
Post a Comment