Nicknames

[monkey hanger]

Going on from my reply in the corona virus thread i wonder if anyone else have got interesting and long lived nicknames. Seemed to be the thing back then and many were definetly really non PC. Think every school had a Prof, Ginge, Billy Bunter and early developing girls gaining one from the lads.

[accyman]

used to call a lad nappyrash at school coz he stunk of pi$$ but probably not as common as the above names

true fact

[dotti34]

There was a teacher at school who we called Sago Pudding Legs as even through her stockings you could tell her skin had lots of little bumps on it - like sago pudding. There was another female teacher who had a wooden leg - and she had the nickname Peg Leg. Kids can be so cruel - but then she was the one who caned the girls, so.....

(Yes, this was before naughty children were 'talked to' or sent to the naughty corner, with not a cane in sight - when I went to school it was a whack, whack, whack, if you misbehaved, no second chances - and no parent dared to complain about the treatment that had been given out to their son or daughter).

[taddy]

I worked at Coloroll wallpapers in Nelson for a while, Everone had a nickname, mine was Stumpy,(cos I am only five foot four), another was called Donkey because of his aroma, there was also a chap called Alien because he was not of this world but I think the best one was Accapulco, (not spelt right but no matter), he received the name because he walked off the end of a twelve foot high gantry whilst his mind was on other things

[monkey hanger]

we had a mechanic called merlin, shortened from the original merlin the magician. he never did a job the same as anyone else did but always managed very well. any problematic vehicle that came in heralded the shout of where,s merlin. that job was another for his unique approach. we had two bus inspecors, one captain mannering and a snooty from a comic character both well named. mine was actually the vampire. this was because i rarely started work before 4 in the afternoon when in winter it was dark by then.

[Hill Walker]

Originally Posted by dotti34

(Yes, this was before naughty children were 'talked to' or sent to the naughty corner, with not a cane in sight - when I went to school it was a whack, whack, whack, if you misbehaved, no second chances - and no parent dared to complain about the treatment that had been given out to their son or daughter).

In many cases it would be repeated at home - just to make sure it sank in.

[monkey hanger]

Originally Posted by Hill Walker

In many cases it would be repeated at home - just to make sure it sank in.

it wasn,t as if we didn,t know what the boundaries were that we had to keep inside. the problem now is that they do not exist, so you cannot blame the kids themselves. parents and lefty teachers are the ones we should vent our anger or displeasure on.

[DaveinGermany]

The forces tend to have their own particular favourites & it tended to vary dependent on the service arm. For whatever the reason those named Williams were referred to as "Bungy" by the "Skates" (RN) who also generalised the Army bods as "Percy Pongo". That being the case, our reply to this slanderous & scurillous effrontery was to call the RN "Skates" various explanations of this choice are available, I suggest you check it out yourselves & as for "Crab Airways", the less said the better!


On a personal level, lads & lasses were often named after their local region, yours truly was known as "Scouse" or to differentiate "Scouse Williams" as opposed to the other "Scouse" or more correctly "Scouse McGee". Matters were further muddied when throwing "Birkonians" (Denizens from over the water, Birkenhead & the upper Wirral) into the mix, they may have sounded similar to us proper "Scousers", but being the "Woolies" they were, they basked falsely under the honorifics of "Scouse", absolutely shocking!


Then there was all the heathen Jocklets, Taffies & Paddies, also apportioned & defined along the same lines as the "Scousers" for ease of identifying the indivdual.


One of the most "Grin eliciting" nicknames was "Anddies", to clarify. Shortly after HMs forces did the business on the Falklands, it was noticed by several rather astute Army types that the locals in their wooly hats bore a strong resmblance to Benny from "Crossroads" & so it came to pass that the local FPF Army, took to naming the locals "Bennies".



At some point a local dignitary got a tad miffed when he realized where the reference came from. He then complained to the local garrison commander & asked him to "Have a word!" with the troops & encourage them to show some respect to the local populace & their penguins.


This he dutifully did & the troops promptly complied with the directive, thus "Anddies" became the generic for the falkands populace (less the penguins). For a week or two the GC let it slide despite his obvious curiosity, eventually he had to ask.


GC "You, Pvt Tomkins, what's this Anddies mularky?"
PT "Name of the locals Sir!"
GC "Yes I'm aware of that so?"
PT "Cos we can't call 'em Bennies anymore Sir"
GC "Yes, fine, but why Anddies?"
PT "Well Sir, it's short for And he's still a Benny!"


Now this, is NAAFI/Toc H/YM gospel, as it was repeated & disseminated amongst the serving over the years ..... whether true or not, well that's still open to debate.

[Bob Dobson]

Every police station I worked in had nicknames . 'Turkey neck' had a very long neck. PC D. Ash was 'Pebble'. Sgt ? was 'Balloon Man' due to his habit of sending the PCs onto their beats with " And don't let me down" 'Spanner' was thought of as 'a bit of a tool' 'Biffo' was thought 'a big,idle fellow from Ormskirk' 'Spider' Watson's handwriting was almost illegible.

[monkey hanger]

actually obtaining a nickname did show you were noticed. the ones who never got one at school or work seemed to be the loner types that either did not want to be noticed or make friends. only the popular or unpopular people seem to get nicknames.

[DaveinGermany]

In one unit we had a couple of "Swampies", so called because of widdle mishaps after far to much Beer, this would result in their "Scratchers, W*nk Chariots" (beds) becoming a rather moist & "Swamp like" environment.



A "Dish", not because of any outstanding good looks but more down to his permanent assignmemt to the "Slop Jockeys" (Army Chefs as was) wagon when on exercise.


Then there was one of of our "Thistle muncher/ Sweaty sock/ Porritch wog" Jocks, Jock "gis a loan a 10 Ds" Gray, so known because of his ability to be permanently skint by the 7th of the month!


One "Stumps or Stumpy" Buckley due to his diminutive stature, all 5ft 2" of him. On ocassion a "Chalky" would grace our unit, in these instances it was used for someone with the surname White. One "Biffo" Thompson a Geordie lad who was rather unfortunately compared to the Viz character.


Then our resident "Throwback", due to his rather unsavoury behaviour to those who had "Slighted" him in one way or another. We also had an RCT "Stick man", from Mankchester fondly referred to as "Gargamel". Newcomers to the unit were usually referred to as "Fraggles" or "Red arses" for their first couple of months until they'd been accepted into the unit



A "Snake" (Medic) RSM from Blackpool whos name was Bell, this was then converted to "Dinger" as a generic moniker, but "Sir" when having the "Stand up interview without Coffee & Biscuits". As RCT, we were known as "Troggs" to the Amy in general, but we much preferred the more nuanced "Richmond Cricket Team" or even "Rikshaws Cabs & Taxis", which was a rather hard job to explain when dealing with "Falling plates & Meatheads" (Infantry in general & Paras specifically).


The "Queens Own Hussars" (Queers On Horseback) & the "Royal Horse Guards & 1st Dragoons" (Donkey Wallopers) much maligned Cavalry Regiments swanning round in their Iron horses, were as you can see not immune from inter Corps/Regt ridicule despite their high opinions of themselves.


So there you go folks some further insight into the Military psyche & thinking, no doubt there'll be more when I remember them.


Key - Military slang



Nicknames as appropriate

[Lost in Cornwall]

Two blokes that I worked with in my first job. One was known as the swede. When I began I assumed he was Swedish but then discovered he came from Norfolk and was always going on about root veg. The other was known as Surrey because that's what he called everybody in the way that we might use love. I found out much later that was common to a very small area around Coalville and is believed to have come from the ancient "Sirrah"

[Bob Dobson]

A boss known as WD40 was so called because he was seen as a little squirt with a lot of power......'PC Lucan' was so called because nobody knew where he was …...'Ladders' was tall and lanky.....'Laptop' was a small PC. PC Eton was given the nickname 'Moth'....I got 'Zebedee' on account of always springing up from nowhere to find PCs off their beat or surprising them as they were not expecting to see me on their beat.

[DaveinGermany]

And so it continues, we shared a camp in Osnabrück with 25 Engineer Regt (armoured) whose day job was digging, wrecking & building stuff at the front hence the armoured vehicles, the "Wedge heads", tended to lose bits of themselves or get them squished due to sticking them where they shouldn't, like fingers in a hole for locking pins on a bridge or sticking their heads under said construction & getting it "wedged".



Alongside the above lot was 4th Fd Regt RA, "Gun bunnies, Drop shots, 5 mile snipers" or as we affectionately named them "Ivys" well what did they expect after using IV instead of 4 in their unit designation?



There was also a detatchment of "Monkeys" 115 Provost coy RMP, mates of the GCP or the Friday/Saturday night pick up service, skint, spent all your money on beer & brattys? Simply kick up a ruckus & the landlord or GCP would call your local neighbourhood monkey unit who'd be along in about 5 minutes, a little bit of friendly coshing & it was "Into the back of the wagon son!".


A short ride home (sometimes sharing the cab) & put up for the night in their "Minimalistic accommodation" (Not me yer 'onour!). Admittedly the CO wasn't exactly delighted with the phone call the following morning informing him that they had "One of yours!", spending some quality time being the local Police dogs squeaky toy & they could always take the Dog to the vets afterwards.


Then there was our crowd 2 Armd Fd Amb, "Snakes" in the main, but with an LAD Det of "Spanner monkeys" REME a "Rag & Shag, Blanket stacker" RAOC bod & all these folk dependent on us "Troggs" to cart them round Germany. We always maintained we were attached & not actually part of the Snake Pit, which for some reason tended to annoy the Medic CO & "Badge Boy" RSM.


Fridays being "POETS" day (Pish off early tomorrows Saturday) The resident Troglodytes would gather in the "Mongoose Room" break out the ale supplied by Volunteers (the muppets who'd screwed up through the week payed their fines In "Yellow Handbags" 1 or more 10er cases of Herforder Pils *other beers were available* dependent on their folly). The "Knacker of the Week" nominees were presented & voted on by "Cheerometer" & the preceeding weeks winner would hand over his "Medal" to his sucessor, then there'd be a meet, greet & Goodbye bit. After about an hour & a half of this, we'd then form up in a smart & soldierly like manner & march off to the Unit bar, there to mingle with the other Riffy raffy types & be informed as to the happenings in "The bigger picture".


Some of the lads nicknames I remember were "Admiral" a full screw (Cpl) transferred across from the RN because every time he went on one of their boats he'd get sea sick, Tony "Tripod" Hughes (well that's what he claimed anyway), Shawn "Legs" Reynolds 6ft 6" or so, Andy "Stan" Matthews, Cpl "Squigg" Willoughby (I really do not know & never asked), Capt "Shirley Temple" Stableford (curly blonde locks & apparently he liked lolipops???), Capt Dick "Ludicrous" Luddiker & an RCT Sgt who ended up being called "Pedro" because of his looks.

[dotti34]

A woman I knew who had a similar name to mine (sadly, she is no longer with us) and liked to bet on the horses, was given the nickname 'Long Shot Dot' as she always backed horses with long odds - the ones no-one thought would win, but often they did.