Hi Cousins!!!! Diane has told me several times how confused Don got when he joined the family about who was who and why were they called something different than their name. We seem to enjoy giving members nicknames -- I have no idea who started it but it was probably around Munnie and Papa's time. I can remember them but I bet I'm the only one in the Cusenbary line in our generation that had seen them. Take Granny and Granddaddy for instance. Granny was well, GRANNY to my bunch and Bula's bunch, MOMA CUSH for Wade and Celeste, CUSHEN for Buster, Melton and Cathy, MRS. CUSH to the in-laws, I think GRANNY to Candy and Susan, and AUNT FAY to all the rest. Granddady was GRANDDADDY, MR. CUSH and UNCLE DAN. Then there was LALA! Grandaddy called Lala CALAH (don't ask why, maybe Collie or Bula know) but when I started to talk --Lala always said at 6 weeks -- I couldn't say CALAH and it came out LALA. Now, for my Moma, Granddaddy called her WOWAH (Sweetie, your guess is as good as mine) and in school - high school I think, kids started calling her PAT.
So many people that knew her afterward were surprised to learn her name was Mattie Faye. They have told me they always figured it was Patricia. Now for Velma Estelle - I was told that someone started calling her BULA after a Negro maid on the radio. You'll have to ask her or Collie to find the answer there. COLLIE is Edwin Caldwell's nickname, also CUSH and I've been known to call him COLLIEWOBBLES. Uncle Dan was JUNIOR to Granny and Grandaddy, DANNY to his sisters and SARGE to a lot of people. I remember when I was just a small girl (Collie and Hazel weren't married then) that I was at Granny's and Uncle John came to take her on a date and Collie hollered - "Hey, BIRDLEGS, SUNSHINE is here!!!" Can't you just see Collie giggling over that!!! Suzy and Jimmy's grandmother was always called AUNTIE by the Cusenbary group. MOM is what Suzy and Jimmy called her. AUNT ELLA by others. Their daddy was called GOBBY by my family some, but I have no idea why --ask Suzy. Dont think Wade has ever had a nickname but, of course, Celeste will always be CISSY to us older folks. Don't know about Cathy but both of her brothers have nickname -- Gary is our BUSTER and Melton was known as SHORTY when he was a kid. And my Keri named her future husband BUSTER when they started going together (his real name is Floyd.) So we can understand why Don Bottoni might have been a bit confused. Diane needs to make Maddie a copy of these before the reunion. LOL If you guys have more nicknames that I don't have and have no idea of the next generation, please let us know. I think this is fun. Hope you do too. Love to all, Jody
9 comments:
HA! I feel a new spread sheet coming on! Interesting to know all of the other names we have for each other...some of them kind...some not so kind.
I called Susan "Soo-dah". But that's because that's all a 15 month old could say. She in turn called me "Cannie". Now that she's older, she calls me "Can-dance" (since LOTS of people mispell "Candace") or "Candoid" for no good reason.
What else do you call each other?
Enquiring minds want to know.
Candy
Honest to goodness this is the first I'm hearing of Buster's name not really being Buster. I had NO idea that his name is actually Gary.
Matt, Owen and I have TONS of nicknames for each other. In fact I know I'm probably in trouble if Matt says, "Rachel". For Owen we call him: "O" "Mr. Pants" "Boo bear" "OD" and my Mom calls him, "Little love"...and that's just the ones we use most often. I'm surprised the kid knows his name. Who knows, maybe one day one of his cousins will say, "His name is Owen?! REALLY?!"
I have nothing! No nickname, I feel very unloved. Mom is sitting here with me and just reminded me that Di used to call me (and sometimes still does) KerBear. But, aside from Blondie at work, I am known as Piper everywhere. I'm boring. I did rename my hubby Buster cause, good Lord, Floyd??? LOL!(sorry honeybunny!)
Eden doesn't really have a nickname either, but I've been know to call her "EED", Nicky is now, (excuse ME...) NICK,Nickademus, or Bubba. Madison is MadCat, Miss Mad or (to my Nana) Maddie. Even our hairy son, Buzz has a nickname.....Buzzy.
I am thinking that as a group, we're nuts. LOL!
My daddy (Dan, Jr.) called Aunt Velma "Punk". So Candy and I called her "Aunt Punk". I don't know where that came from or if anyone else called her that.
He also called Marguerite "Rusty". Did anyone else?
Hmmm... it looks like Double D may be the culprit in a few of these misnomers!
Susan, also known as Beautiful
I think our side (Mom, Auntie,) were the only ones that really didn't do nicknames much. I NEVER called Catherine Lala, or anything but Catherine, or Marguerite anything but Marguerite. Mother and Mom always called her that, though I remember others calling her Rusty. Glenn was always Glenn to us, not Buster or GB, as others called him. I don't know why, but we just didn't. Boring, huh? Aunt Velma was just that, and so was Aunt Fay and Uncle Dan. We did call Collie Collie, and Dan Jr. Dan Jr. That's it.
Suzy
You're not boring, Suzy. Just considerate. Most parents named their child a specific name for a reason. I tested a lot of names for obvious potential variations before I settled on Nathan and Rachel...and still I get Nate and Rachie. Could be worse.
We heard about Daddy and his Daddy naming everything that moved "Dan", "Blue Dan" or an other Dan-type name. We planted a pecan tree in our back yard in memory of Daddy and named it..wait for it...Old Blue Dan. Best pecans you ever tasted.
Candy
Interesting to know where some of these came from, but I must admit I've never hear Wowah. Since I am now an old lady of 61, I just cringe at being called Cissy. I asked everyone to stop calling me that at least 45 years ago. Of course, my Daddy still says it, but that's all right because he's my dad, and I'm not going to try to correct him at this late date - hahaha!
When Amanda was little we called her Amanda Panda, and she is the only one who ever calls Sherami "Sher", but I always bristled when people tried to call my son Mike. His name is Michael! Of course, now that he's a grown man, most people he meets are lazy and call him that, but he's Michael to all of us. Chuck's whole family calls him Charles, but I just can't say it. Yes, I guess you'd just have to conclude, this is one weird cousin at this keyboard.
Celeste, I have called you Cissy all my life, but will really TRY to remember to call you Celeste from now on!! As to being weird, that's a requirement for this family. My name for Candy has always been Twisted Cousin. And she is, and takes great pride in it. As long as our family continues to be weird, we will never be boring! Love, Suzy
I loved all these comments about nicknames because I'd always wondered how they came about. But, like Suzy, my family didn't use the nicknames that I can remember---though I did always call Celeste "Sissy". Of course, I always knew my relatives would call me Martha Ann which I disliked because I thought it sounded like someone else's aunt or someone very old. In fact, when I went away to college, I thought seriously about telling everyone that my name was Ann since I liked it much better than Martha. But I didn't have the courage, so I'm still the old Martha Ann.
Love you guys---nicknames or not!
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