“Nicknames that are funny and not too mean are always the best ones, and ‘Spider’ is a perfect example,” comedy writer Ariane told Bored Panda, referring to one of the tweets in the thread about a person being called ‘Spider’ because they bought three pairs of jeans during one shopping trip.
“‘Opposite’ nicknames can also be funny, like when a very tall person is called ‘Tiny.’ I think cool and funny tend to be mutually exclusive. I mean, ‘Spider’ is a cool nickname unless people discover the reason behind it!” she said that nicknames are usually either cool or funny, but never (or rarely!) both.
According to Ariane, people often come up with nicknames to either amuse themselves or to be affectionate. “I use loads of nicknames for my friends, but I wouldn’t call them nicknames if they minded,” she said that we always have to be aware how the people closest to us react to how we call them.
The comedy writer opened up about the nicknames used in her social circle. “I call my lovely ex-boyfriend Kieran ‘Pooky’ because it makes me laugh and is a reference to my favorite film ‘13 Going on 30.’ I call my great friend John ‘John Bon Jovial’ because he’s always so cheery,” Ariane shared.
“I call my friend Kia ‘Kiki Dee’, after the singer, and ‘Kia-Ora’, after the soft drink. And it’s not really a nickname but I call my friend Gordon ‘Gozza’ because he’s 79 and very distinguished and it’s so inappropriate that I find it funny!”
Meanwhile, Ariane said that she mostly gets nicknamed ‘Ari’ or ‘Azza’ these days. “Though the less said about my cruel nicknames at school, the better.”
Erin’s tweet was immensely popular. At the time of writing, her tweet about nicknames got over 104k likes (and counting!). It’s obvious that people really enjoyed the unusual topic with a heavy dose of humor.
In fact, the reporter’s thread finally convinced us that the reasoning behind nicknames really doesn’t have to make sense or be super deep. Heck, someone might see you eating a mayonnaise sandwich, call you ‘Mayo,’ and then you’re stuck with that for the rest of your natural lifespan. That sounds absolutely horrible or quite a bit of fun, depending on your point of view.
Pretty much anything you do can end up earning you a new moniker. And it must really hurt when you end up getting yours for something random that you do instead of what you wish you were known for.
Imagine being an incredibly skilled runner who’s passionate about health, fitness, and the great outdoors. Then, someone notices you eating a bunch of eggs or you do something really dumb in college, and you’re forever branded with something God-awful.
It’s pretty darn hard to shake a nickname once you’ve ‘earned’ it. Even if it was entirely by mistake. Try being the guy who gets called ‘Baghdad’ because they got a bag from their dad. That practically borders on bullying and has got to go against at least a few points in the Geneva Convention, no? Yeah, we’ll say ‘no’ to school reunions from now on.
The fact is that nicknames really can cause some serious self-esteem issues in people if they’re used maliciously. Even if someone doesn’t have any evil intentions, teasing someone can make them lose confidence in their identity. I’ve never had to deal with any horrible nicknames myself, but being the target of bullies is something I’m very familiar with (and I’ll bet a lot of you reading this are, too).
