Never trust a person who doesn't have a nickname

A few days ago, I was discussing nicknames with a friend of mine.

Nicknames make me happy.

One of my friends, The Fourth (for those of you who read Eat Drink and Be Mary...Douglass, you know who he is), is the KING of creating nicknames. He has two for me: Roush and Guy la Roush. Both stem from an incorrect pronunciation of my last name. But he nicknames everyone.

Then I starting thinking about all the nicknames I've accumulated in my life.

JR
Junior
Punkin
Olive (as in Oyl)
Janer
Jane Fish
Janathan

The list goes on. It made me start thinking though. Of all of these nicknames, very few people use more than one of them. Pops calls me Punkin. Little Mommy calls me JR. They don't call me any of those other nicknames.

Then I was talking to my cat this morning while I was getting ready. Don't judge. She talks back.

Her name is Lalita. She was named for a Hindu goddess. "Lalita is a woman-child Goddess. She delights in all play and pleasure. The universe is a great toy to Her, created for Her enjoyment." I figured nothing described a cat better than that! But I call her Lali.

Anyway, this morning, she decided to peek in on my shower. I saw her little paw on the glass and started talking to her, calling her Buggie. I nicknamed her Lali-bug, which eventually got shortened to Bug, which then became Buggie. Amongst her other nicknames:

Doodle-bug
Doodle
Doods
Princess Fluffernutter
Stinker (a nickname I have also given my parents' cat)
Bugalicious
Stinker-doodle

I'm sure there are others I have forgotten. But it made me realize something. My cat has more nicknames just from me than I have been given by all the people I've ever gotten a nickname from. And to be honest, I think most people probably nickname their pets more than anyone else. Sad. But true.