Happy Friday, everyone. I'm delighted to once again venture into the world of names. It's a veritable goldmine of topics, so I'll certainly be back again soon. Today, I'd like to start with my name. I like it, it's a name that everyone knows so I don't have to spell it for them but isn't so common that I had to be Peter K. in elementary school. Overall, I think it has good positioning in the name popularity index.
However, there's a reason people might know the name: it's featured in an unusually high number of fairy tales. Peter Pan, Peter Piper, Peter Peter Pumpkineater, Peter Rabbit, Peter Cottontail (two rabbits!), Peter and the Wolf, the German fairy tale Struwwelpeter (translated as Shockheaded Peter), and probably many more. Seriously, that's a lot of frickin' nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Also, in our own English language, I've come across a definition for "peter" that read "to gradually become smaller and weaker, eventually ceasing to exist" as in to "peter out." Add that to the fact that it doubles as slang for a penis and my last name meaning "small" in German, and I think you'll agree that we have a winning combination.
As a sidenote, I searched on Google last week for my name to see if UOPTA would come up. I tried different variations to help it along, like "peterklein blog." As it turns out, there's not only a .com of my name taken, but another blog on Live Journal and a guy who write for Wordpress with my name. I just hope they're funny.
Anyway, my senior year of high school, we would often eat lunch at a sandwich place called You're the Boss. I often commented that if that were the case, I'd be Tony Danza. I also had a deep desire to call them, and when they would answer the phone with, "You're the Boss!" I'd reply with, "You're fired!" Never got around to doing that though.
The shop operated as many sandwich places do: you fill out a sheet with what you want, put your name on it, they ring you up and call your name when it's ready. The first time we went in, Dusty wrote his name as Dusti with a heart over the i to be cute. It's a very long story that I may address another time, but I put my name down as Juaquin. When the order was ready, she called "my" name, and "Dusti" and I shared a little laugh. Ha ha. Like that.
A couple of days later, we went back into You're the Boss. As we opened the door, the woman behind the counter said, "Hi Dusti and Juaquin!" Oops. It appeared that I was stuck being Juaquin at that establishment until graduation or until they went out of business, whichever came first. Being a creature of habit, she started to know what I wanted without me filling out a sheet, and since the sandwiches were good, we'd go there once or twice a week. Every time, I was Juaquin, and every time she said it at least once.
I was terrified that someone from school would come in while we were there, and she'd hear them call me by my actual name. I created back-stories just in case, like how I was half-Mexican but ashamed of my heritage when I started high school so I went by my middle name there. Now I see how beautiful the culture is, so I go by my given name when I meet new people. What if she asked to see my license though? I would have to say I don't have one and pray that Dusty drove there that day in case she followed us out. (Yeah, I tend to overanalyze things at times.)
Then one day, I was almost caught. Our classmate Jason Barbanell came into You're the Boss while our sandwiches were still being made. When they were done, the lady said, "Here you go, Juaquin." "Juaquin?" Jason said, and laughed a little, knowing us well enough that it made perfect sense to him. The lady turned to me with a confused look, but I pretended I didn't see her. Then as he was leaving, Jason said, "See ya, Pete." Crap. I quickly decided that he had called me by my nickname 'Quin (pronounced "keen") and she must have misheard him. Dusti played along and called me 'Quin a couple more times before we left. It's actually a pretty cool nickname, and if I could find a way to make that short for Peter, I'd think about using it again.
Gradually, we shifted away from You're the Boss (You're fired!) and toward Del Taco. It was a lot less expensive, almost just as close, and fortunately for my nerves, they never asked my name. Have a great weekend everyone.
However, there's a reason people might know the name: it's featured in an unusually high number of fairy tales. Peter Pan, Peter Piper, Peter Peter Pumpkineater, Peter Rabbit, Peter Cottontail (two rabbits!), Peter and the Wolf, the German fairy tale Struwwelpeter (translated as Shockheaded Peter), and probably many more. Seriously, that's a lot of frickin' nursery rhymes and fairy tales.
Also, in our own English language, I've come across a definition for "peter" that read "to gradually become smaller and weaker, eventually ceasing to exist" as in to "peter out." Add that to the fact that it doubles as slang for a penis and my last name meaning "small" in German, and I think you'll agree that we have a winning combination.
As a sidenote, I searched on Google last week for my name to see if UOPTA would come up. I tried different variations to help it along, like "peterklein blog." As it turns out, there's not only a .com of my name taken, but another blog on Live Journal and a guy who write for Wordpress with my name. I just hope they're funny.
Anyway, my senior year of high school, we would often eat lunch at a sandwich place called You're the Boss. I often commented that if that were the case, I'd be Tony Danza. I also had a deep desire to call them, and when they would answer the phone with, "You're the Boss!" I'd reply with, "You're fired!" Never got around to doing that though.
The shop operated as many sandwich places do: you fill out a sheet with what you want, put your name on it, they ring you up and call your name when it's ready. The first time we went in, Dusty wrote his name as Dusti with a heart over the i to be cute. It's a very long story that I may address another time, but I put my name down as Juaquin. When the order was ready, she called "my" name, and "Dusti" and I shared a little laugh. Ha ha. Like that.
A couple of days later, we went back into You're the Boss. As we opened the door, the woman behind the counter said, "Hi Dusti and Juaquin!" Oops. It appeared that I was stuck being Juaquin at that establishment until graduation or until they went out of business, whichever came first. Being a creature of habit, she started to know what I wanted without me filling out a sheet, and since the sandwiches were good, we'd go there once or twice a week. Every time, I was Juaquin, and every time she said it at least once.
I was terrified that someone from school would come in while we were there, and she'd hear them call me by my actual name. I created back-stories just in case, like how I was half-Mexican but ashamed of my heritage when I started high school so I went by my middle name there. Now I see how beautiful the culture is, so I go by my given name when I meet new people. What if she asked to see my license though? I would have to say I don't have one and pray that Dusty drove there that day in case she followed us out. (Yeah, I tend to overanalyze things at times.)
Then one day, I was almost caught. Our classmate Jason Barbanell came into You're the Boss while our sandwiches were still being made. When they were done, the lady said, "Here you go, Juaquin." "Juaquin?" Jason said, and laughed a little, knowing us well enough that it made perfect sense to him. The lady turned to me with a confused look, but I pretended I didn't see her. Then as he was leaving, Jason said, "See ya, Pete." Crap. I quickly decided that he had called me by my nickname 'Quin (pronounced "keen") and she must have misheard him. Dusti played along and called me 'Quin a couple more times before we left. It's actually a pretty cool nickname, and if I could find a way to make that short for Peter, I'd think about using it again.
Gradually, we shifted away from You're the Boss (You're fired!) and toward Del Taco. It was a lot less expensive, almost just as close, and fortunately for my nerves, they never asked my name. Have a great weekend everyone.
4 comments:
Your name seems to have evolved with you through your lifetime. Through the years you have gone from The Fat Budgie to Baby Peter, to Pee Wee to Mr. Peber. As I recall, you even had a shirt with your name as Rodrigo. And now, you are Juaquin. Are you in the Witness Protection Program?
Hi Peter...your mom told me about your blog. I did not realize what a unique sense of humor you possess. Definite Klein.
I seem to remember Gaspar Portola in your list of names. Around the middle school years.
However to me you will forever be Baby Peter. Sorry some things just stick.
Sue, I'd be shocked at this point if you called me anything but Baby Peter. Thanks for writing in!
Step into my office.
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