Nicknames were just what we did where I grew up

Call me Carlo or call me Maldune. Call me whatever you want just don’t call me late for supper.

Those are two of the nicknames (that people called me to my face) that stuck with me.

At my first real full-time job in the newspaper pressroom my boss called me Carlo. I kinda liked it and when I talk to myself out loud that’s what I call myself.

The other name came in the 1980s while I was playing on and managing a slow-pitch softball team in Tucumcari. Because my first name was Karl, like Karl Malden of “Streets of San Francisco,” they started calling me Karl Malden, then it became Malden and eventually they emphasized the second syllable and called me Mall-Dune.

It didn’t bother me because I grew up in a place and time where nicknames were what we did. My dad never called anyone by their real name; he had a nickname for everyone.

An older fellow he worked for was Pappy Baker. Another Grandpa. A young whippersnapper with more go than sense was Hotshot. A guy named Hendershot that drove a truck for him was just Shot. One hand who was infamous for asking for a payroll advance was known as $20 Johnny. Another hand whose home state was Oklahoma was Okie.

Perhaps the strangest and longest nickname I heard my dad use over the years was Dead Man Finder. The guy got tagged with that handle because he actually found a dead body — possibly more than once.

Most of his nicknames he used in the person’s presence but others he didn’t. Either way, those were the names he used when we were around so often we only knew these people by their nickname, good or bad.

I’ve got to say that I don’t use nicknames as much as my dad but when I do I’m usually not sharing them with the person I’ve given the name to. That might make me a mean person, or maybe I’m just wise enough not to get slugged by someone bigger than I am.

We had nicknames for teachers that mostly weren’t very nice. I won’t name those either because some of my teachers are still alive. I don’t have time to spend in Principal Clyde Kadiddlehopper’s office.

We’ve had a lot of nationally recognizable nicknames that we don’t even think of as nicknames because they’re so widely used. For instance, Billy The Kid, Babe Ruth, Sugar Ray Leonard, The Duke, The King, Chairman of the Board, The Greatest and Sweetness.

If you don’t recognize all of those nicknames, chances are you’re a little uptight and wouldn’t like it if I came up with a nickname for you, so I’ll just keep it to myself.

Karl Terry writes for Clovis Media Inc. Contact him at:

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