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On ‘Back to School Night’ in second grade, we were asked to leave our parents a note. “If you have a special nickname,” Mrs. Onufrak told us, “you can use it.” I did not have a special nickname, but I didn’t know the next time we’d be granted such liberal name-signing power.
At the time, my two biggest influences were Lawrence (”LT”) Taylor and the WWF. Since “JE” wasn’t very special, I opted for an uninspired moniker in the tradition of Gene Okerlund. “Mr. Mean” was born.
The name didn’t stick.
When I asked all-star mental_floss designer Terri Dann to whip up a banner to promote this WWF Action Figure Quiz, she asked what my WWF nickname would be. I told her that story, and now Mr. Mean has a second chance to catch on.
Take the quiz, then feel free to share any ridiculous nickname stories. Don’t leave Mr. Mean dangling out here all alone.
Comments (20)
Comment
“Don’t leave Mr. Mean dangling out here all alone.”
Eww.
posted by Ira on 2-29-2008 at 11:43 am
I can’t think of any nickname stories but I feel pretty good about my 13/14 on this quiz ( I missed Vince McMahon).. I think my parents still have a bunch of them in their attic.
posted by George on 2-29-2008 at 11:51 am
A couple years ago, my aunt dug out a birthday card I’d sent her in 1987 that i signed ‘Mr. Wonderful.’ Maybe I should add that to my email signature.
9/14. I remember those action figures, but clearly, not well enough.
posted by Mr. Wonderful on 2-29-2008 at 11:57 am
I got 4 right - all guesses. Not a professional wrestling fan.
No nick-names….
posted by Lynne on 2-29-2008 at 12:19 pm
Brought back some great memories. I actually had most of those figures. Got 14/14. I should dig them out of my mom’s storage.
posted by Jeff on 2-29-2008 at 12:22 pm
Yes, as a matter of fact, I would like to brag about my 13 out of 14, although I may argue that the dude with the red double singlet (is that an oxymoron?) looks like Barry Horowitz. I was waiting for the Brooklyn Brawler to pop up there. (Quick, what was his real name?) God, I’m a neeeerrrdddd…
ANSWER: Steve Lombardi
posted by Drew on 2-29-2008 at 12:28 pm
Alas, I don’t have a cool nickname but my pre teen daughters have some strange ones. They are their super hero names:
Super Cup ( as in bra- she is eagerly anticipating acquiring one of those soon)
And Heely Girl- because she flies around the house in her Heely skates.
posted by qt314159265 on 2-29-2008 at 12:35 pm
For some reaon I seem rather apt to having nicknames.
Since childhood my dad and best friend have called me Bert or Buddy Bert.
One summer as a camp counselor I was doing face-painting and a kid came up to me and asked for the word “juice” on his face. I yelled “Juice?!?”, someone heard me, and all through highschool I was nicknamed Juice. Weird, eh?
I also had a friend’s boyfriend nickname me Mustard, because he thought that’s what kind of condiment I would be…I don’t know about that one.
My boss also just calls me “B” because he thinks it’s cool.
posted by Brittany (one name of many) on 2-29-2008 at 12:46 pm
I, also, got 13/14. I missed Ted Arcidi, or whatever his name is. I’ve never heard of him. I put Barry Horowitz as well. I had some of those action figures back in the day. I’m surprised I remembered that many.
posted by Bryan on 2-29-2008 at 1:07 pm
I got a 21% on the quiz. I think I’m proud of that.
My name is Breann, and my most frequent (and obvious) nickname has been Bre. I’ve also had Breezy (my favorite) and Cheesehead (not so favorite) from Brie cheese…get it?
However, my older sister was the queen of nickname givers. And they always evolved. My first nickname from her was BreLeeDee. (First name, middle name, last initial.) That evolved into Brelly Delly. Then that became just Delly (or Deli) which became Delicatessen, then just ‘Catessen for short. (Bizarre, I know.)
My little sister, Barbie Sue (unique enough on its own?) started out as Barben Susan, evolved into Bourbon Susan. Then just Bourbon. Then Whiskey. Imagine the strange looks we got when my 15-year-old sister called my 5-year-old sister “Whiskey.”
I don’t know how the whole name evolution thing started from with her, but now she’s doing it to her own defenseless children.
posted by bre on 2-29-2008 at 1:16 pm
When my cousin Sandra was a toddler, she got the nickname “Pootie,” short for “Putana,” or, “Hooker.” Eventually, she wouldn’t answer to anything else. Which amused the heck out of my aunt, right up until Pootie’s first day of school.
posted by Joe Maz on 2-29-2008 at 1:43 pm
When I was freshman in high school, a group of us went on a camping trip. Well, some of the guys went to the camp store and bought one of those giant pickles and stuck it in my sleeping bag. Ha, Ha. I was christened THE PICKLE (and aka for short, THE PICK) for the next three years. Everyone called me THE PICK, everyone. I almost forgot my real name. I was finally able to get rid of it by going to college far away from home.
posted by Deb Teeling on 2-29-2008 at 1:54 pm
My little cousin is 5 and ever since she was old enough to crawl we have called her “short bus”. Anytime she’s playing, walking, thinking (basically all the time) she has her tongue sticking out. Hence “shortbus” was born. She answers to it and it is hillarious cuz she doesn’t get the joke.
posted by Heather A on 2-29-2008 at 6:20 pm
13/14. That does not look like Vince MacMahon.
Nicknames? My last name is ‘McCracken’, so it appears that every single person that I’ve ever met must ask if I have a brother/father named ‘Phil’. Or they just call me Phil.
With that last name, the most common nicknames as a kid were variants of ‘Cracker’. For example, ‘cracka’, ‘cracka fat’ (very Australian), ‘little cracker’ (after an older brother also nicknamed ‘cracka’). The one I really didn’t like didn’t stick. That was ‘finger’, as in ‘finger mccracken’ (’finger my-crack-en’). With a nickname like ‘finger’ people very much assume the worst, and it does confirm that most people have filthy, filthy minds!
My son’s name is Henry, and for no real reason I’ve taken to calling him either ‘Henrylicious’ or ‘Mr Benry’. I quite like these myself, far better than ‘finger’.
posted by Kris on 3-1-2008 at 12:09 am
when my youngest sister was about 1 she could only say the end of my name (the KA in Erica). and she would say it twice. So i became Ka-Ka. which, if you know any spanish, isn’t a good thing to be called. Luckily, 5 years later in high school my family shortened it to just “ka” and saved me much embarrassment when they cheered at tennis matches.
posted by Erica A on 3-1-2008 at 3:59 am
I got 12/14. Missed Vince (looked nothing like him) and Terry Funk (honestly it looked more like Dr. D, David Schultz (remember the guy that slapped John Stossel on 20/20?). I picked Harley Race for the last answer. Nice quiz though, brings back memories……..sad, pathetic ones, but memories nonetheless.
posted by John S on 3-1-2008 at 5:58 am
Well, back in college… my roommate and two of her friends gave me one (due to my short stature) that I LOATHE - ‘Tiny Tot’!
Usually, they were the only ones who knew of this name, but unfortunately -when the had the ‘Jail-athon’ fundraiser to raise money for something or other - they had this big burly Santa-like officer come into our classroom - packed with over 100 students and the three professors who taught the course - to ‘arrest’ me, asking ‘You Tiny Tot?’
posted by Anonymous on 3-1-2008 at 8:05 am
I got 14/14. I am not a nerd now, but I was back in the day!
posted by Nicholas on 3-1-2008 at 1:33 pm
14 out of 14 Baby…I see I haven’t lost my touch even though I do not watch wrestling like a person hypnotized any longer..I believe the only reason I got the Ted Arcidi question right is bc I bought that one.
But on to nicknames: My all-time favorite The Total Package
posted by Lou Alcenda on 3-1-2008 at 2:18 pm
14/14 - 100% pure nerd. I’ll admit Ricky Steamboat nearly threw me off until I looked at his headband.
Vince wasn’t easy to figure out.
posted by Ben on 3-1-2008 at 10:22 pm