N: Nicknames

WARNING: This will NOT be a short post!

Nicknames can be funny, meaningful, sometimes come from meanness, sometimes come from love, but they seem to stick with us throughout life. Nicknames can also be applied to inanimate objects. I have often named my cars, motorcycles, and even appliances. Our robot vacuum is Herbie, our air filter is Priscilla. Years ago we had an old pickup truck named George.

My first VW bug was Schultzie. Since getting married in 2009, we’ve had Freddie the Freightliner and Scooby the F-250 pickup truck. When I got my first bike, my brother glued a little frog onto my bumper pad since I had collected frog items for many years (full story below). Thus the first bike was named Jeremiah (Joy to the World). My next bike was a lower, faster one and I named him Benny (Benny and the Jets), but that made me think about the Sharks & the Jets (West Side Story), so he became Benni. I admit to having forgotten the name for my third motorcycle, but my fourth was Twister and my last was Gypsy.

Growing up, I never had a nickname. In fact, mine didn’t come until I was in my 50s. It started in around 2000, when I needed an ID name for the Delphi Forums where I was chatting about learning to ride a motorcycle. Starting around 1975, I was shopping for a baby gift for a coworker. As I was checking out, I saw this cute little squeaky frog and on impulse, I bought it. It sat on my desk to eat the bugs in my programs (I was an application programmer at the time).

Next thing I knew, friends & coworkers were adding to my frog collection. Thus it was started. Over the years I added a ton of frog items to my collection and displayed them in many ways, in many rooms, in various homes. You can see some photos in this album. But most were sold when I became a full-time RVer. Once we bought a house here in Tennessee, I added a few more, but nothing like my house in 2000.

Back to the Delphi Forums – I picked the online ID of FrogBiker and as people go to know and meet me I soon became known as Froggy Donna. After my husband passed, I wanted to get a vanity tag for my motorcycle and Froggy was already taken but FROGGI wasn’t. So, FROGGI it was. Later, as a full-time RVer, my motorhome had the vanity tag of LILIPAD. When I got a car to pull, it was POLIWOG. See the trend here?

Now when people ask how I got my nickname, I ask them if they want the long answer that’s the truth (what you just read) or the short answer that’s a lie (but could be true). Most will opt for the short answer: I’m allergic to smoke/campfires and I lose my voice. Thus, froggy voice.

And there you have it – more than you ever wanted to know about my nickname. Do you have one? How did you get it?

My A-Z this year are random thoughts, ideas, and whatever pops into my mind for the letter of the day. As in previous years, I will keep it short and sweet.

Till next time!