WHAT'S IN A NAME?
I'm a creature of bad habits. I love spicy food. I smoke Winston Lights. I enjoy the occassional porn movie. Oh, and I watch the Man Show on Jack TV.
I also tend to call people by different names. I refer to my barkada, known to the world as Bill, Mic, Dan and Ganns, as "B", "Boodle, "D-man" and "G-Spot" respectively. I give my other friends names like "Doc", "Bobby-Jo", "Chips", "Komiks", "Whitebread", "Jimbo", "Chingchingbaching", "Miamee" and "Oach" (4J Boys out there, feel free to guess who has what name).
A question crossed my mind today: "Why in God's name can't I call anyone by their regular names? ". Then it hit me. I've been called many things in my life as well.
I grew up being called JayJay by everyone. I got the name from the initials of my real name, John Julian. I then went through that stage in Grade school when first names disappear and we're all called by our last names. I was "Tan" for two years - in addition to some of my teachers calling me Jules or Julius once in a while.
When I got to high school, first names seemed to be resurrected. Seeing that we were getting older, I chose to reinvent myself and dropped one of the "Jays" and simply became "Jay Tan".
Then fourth year happened and I went to a class full of Jays. To tell us apart, one was called Jay A., the other was Jay D. and I became...
Budoy.
It was meant to be an insult at first but it soon became a term of endearment and even up to this day, my 4J friends still call me "Buds" (pronounced "boods") or "Budoy".
With college came another change. I became the "Bounce". I've been asked several times how I got the name. The truth is that it was a necessity. Several of us were chosen to be newsreaders for a pseudo-raio show that we broadcast over the P.A. system. Since we did the show at an ungodly hour, we risked the ire of people who were badly woken up by our voices blaring through the speakers at 730 in the morning. So, we decided to use "on-air" names. Some really wanted to be known so they used their real names. Me? I became the "Bounce" because it reflected my bouncy personality (plus I was as round as a watermelon).
So, I guess my incessant need to christen people with new names is something I do on my part, not as payback, but really because I discovered the joys of having different names. It means that you've actually endeared yourself to someone.
Or in my case, it was an insult before it became an endearment. At least, they cared enough to think up a new name for you.
I also tend to call people by different names. I refer to my barkada, known to the world as Bill, Mic, Dan and Ganns, as "B", "Boodle, "D-man" and "G-Spot" respectively. I give my other friends names like "Doc", "Bobby-Jo", "Chips", "Komiks", "Whitebread", "Jimbo", "Chingchingbaching", "Miamee" and "Oach" (4J Boys out there, feel free to guess who has what name).
A question crossed my mind today: "Why in God's name can't I call anyone by their regular names? ". Then it hit me. I've been called many things in my life as well.
I grew up being called JayJay by everyone. I got the name from the initials of my real name, John Julian. I then went through that stage in Grade school when first names disappear and we're all called by our last names. I was "Tan" for two years - in addition to some of my teachers calling me Jules or Julius once in a while.
When I got to high school, first names seemed to be resurrected. Seeing that we were getting older, I chose to reinvent myself and dropped one of the "Jays" and simply became "Jay Tan".
Then fourth year happened and I went to a class full of Jays. To tell us apart, one was called Jay A., the other was Jay D. and I became...
Budoy.
It was meant to be an insult at first but it soon became a term of endearment and even up to this day, my 4J friends still call me "Buds" (pronounced "boods") or "Budoy".
With college came another change. I became the "Bounce". I've been asked several times how I got the name. The truth is that it was a necessity. Several of us were chosen to be newsreaders for a pseudo-raio show that we broadcast over the P.A. system. Since we did the show at an ungodly hour, we risked the ire of people who were badly woken up by our voices blaring through the speakers at 730 in the morning. So, we decided to use "on-air" names. Some really wanted to be known so they used their real names. Me? I became the "Bounce" because it reflected my bouncy personality (plus I was as round as a watermelon).
So, I guess my incessant need to christen people with new names is something I do on my part, not as payback, but really because I discovered the joys of having different names. It means that you've actually endeared yourself to someone.
Or in my case, it was an insult before it became an endearment. At least, they cared enough to think up a new name for you.
