Monikers

I've accumulated quite a few nicknames over the years. Some of them died right away (fortunately this includes the two that really needed to go), but a great many have lasted for at least several weeks. Here they are in the order in which they came to be:

Ria Roo (before I can remember): This one came from my dad. I don't remember getting it, but it has stuck with me for many years. In second grade, I had my name changed to Ria at school, so some of my friends from elementary school still call me Ria. In third grade, I went back to my real name.

Snuffy (7th grade): One day in Mrs. Reichert's seventh grade English class, Layla and I were both very congested and very tired. We kept snuffling and making slap-happy comments. At one point, I said "You're sniffy today," and she replied "You're snuffy today," and we thought it was outrageously funny. So she became Sniffy and I became Snuffy.

Missy (summer after 8th grade): We went on vacation with the Corbins (a family from church) one summer, and through a long-ish story, their daughter earned the nickname Sissy. Later on in the summer, we ended up matching one day, so Ronda decided that my nickname should be like Kate's. And thus Missy joined the ranks of my monikers.

Fooseba (summer after 9th grade): This one is kind of embarrassing. On the way back from the canoe trip two years ago, we were playing some game (I can't recall its name) wherein we were trying to spell words. Each person would add a letter to whatever the previous people had said in order to spell a word, but you didn't want to be the person to add the last letter. If you had to end the word, you lost. So people would constantly try to redirect the word so that they wouldn't have to finish it or the next person would. Someone started a word with "f". The next two people added an "o" each. I thought the next person was doomed to end up spelling a word, but instead they added an "s" after much deliberation. I was completely baffled. What word could possibly start with "f-o-o-s"? The next three people added an "e", a "b", and an "a" respectively. Then it was my turn. I could not for the life of me figure out what word would start with "f-o-o-s-e-b-a". In exasperation, I shouted "What on earth is 'fooseba' supposed to mean?" The other passengers burst into laughter, and eventually I figured out that they were spelling fooseball. Thus, "fooseba" became one of my nicknames.

M.O.M. (fall of 10th grade): M.O.M. stands for "Manly Octave Maria" and is a tribute to the fact that my vocal range is lower than typical for a female. Bev and Lauren G. gave me the name, so I came up with names for them too. Bev is B.O.T.A. (Bev of the Arctic) and Lauren is L.O.T.S. (Lauren of the Scarves). Gertrude (winter of 10th grade): Morgan is pretty much the only one who uses this one now. Stork was our sub one day in gym, and we got him to believe that Gertrude was my real name. La Bosse (early fall of 11th grade): My friends and I all have French nicknames. It all started in the list of zoo vocabulary when we learned that the word for seal is "la phoque" (pronounced "fock") and deer is "la biche" ("beesh"). Both sound suspiciously like "bad words" in English, so Katie decided that she would be La Phoque Volant, "the flying seal", and that Courtney would be La Suisse Biche, "the Swedish deer". I got to be La Bosse (the hump), Morgan is Le Snack-Bar (pretty self-explanatory), and Anna is L'Eyeliner (also self-explanatory). I can't remember anyone else's name.

Maple (mid fall of 11th grade): During Shantytown, I was spelling my name in strips of duct tape on my box/house. When I had finished my masterpiece, my friends pointed out that I had amputated the second leg off of the "R", so the box said "MAPIA". It made me think of the word maple (probably because our little encampment was under a red maple), so I decided to make that my new name. It's fitting, don't you think? I added the middle name "Laburnum", and when filling out surveys on the internet I make "Stwittyspokkit" my last name. This is the most widely used of my nicknames. All my teachers have been handed papers with this name on it, and three of my six teachers call me Maple. Some of my little sister's friends know me as "that girl who called herself 'Maple' and dressed up as autumn the Halloween". I don't see this name leaving any time soon.

Dr. Lithium Bromide (last week): I haven't asked anyone to call me this yet (and I probably won't), but it will be my nom de plume for all semi-official documents. This hasn't started yet, but I think its first use will be on the agreement to obey the Dungeon rules.