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Nicknames — Where Do They Come From?
And why do some stick more than others?
I became very curious about the origin of nicknames when I heard someone being referred to as Shagger by his ‘mates’.
Was this because the guy liked to get down a lot?
Was it an ironic nickname because he never did?
Was it merely because his birth name was Timothy Shagwell?
I didn't get the answer to these questions. And probably never will. What I was pretty certain of was his christened name was probably not Shagger. I couldn't see Shagger Jones or Shagger Smith sticking. Unless he had really cruel parents.
I didn’t have the cajones to ask a stranger, why all his mates were shouting Shagger at him. They did it with ease and no one was even flinching or finding it funny.
Did Shagger like his name, or was he now simply immune to it? So many unanswered questions.
From my own personal experience of nicknames, you do get used to them. Nicknames are like arseholes. We all have one. Some are worse than others.
Hopefully, your nickname isn’t actually ‘arsehole’. Although, thinking about it, some of my friends growing up would have probably preferred to be called arsehole.
