What’s in a [Trailer Park] Name?
My real name is not Annie. It is Annette but I have been Annie since Day One. Im not even sure why they bothered to name me Annette. Mom and Dad just should have put Annie on the birth certificate.
When I started college, I thought that I would try out Annette for awhile. It sounded more mature, or so I thought. It was funny because whenever my family would call my dorm and ask for Annie, my roommates wouldnt know who they were talking about. When they found out it was me they said, You dont look like an Annie.
When my twins were born, we gave them regular old names, spelled the regular old way. We never had the need or desire to call them something for short or give them a nickname.
As they got older and started talking they started referring to each other as Bubby and Hey. Bubby, we understood. They were trying to say brother, but it took us a while to figure out where the name Hey came from. Then I realized that whenever I wanted their attention I would say,
Hey, followed by a command.
For example,
Hey, get that out of your mouth. Or,
Hey, dont put your hands in the toilet!
So, the one twin just assumed his brothers name was Hey.
Their nicknames wore off when their language skills improved. We didnt hear about Bubby and Hey for a while.
Then we moved to the trailer park. When we sold our house, our new house was still being built. We spent one long, hot, interesting summer in a single-wide trailer.
We wanted to blend with the neighbors so we decided to come up with trailer park names. Bubby and Heys names were resurrected and by that time we had a daughter, so we called her Sissy. I cant tell you how much pride I felt to open up the screen door of the single wide and yell out,
Bubby! Hey! Sissy! Get out of the galdarn street and get some shoes on! What is wrong with you?! You wanna step on some broken glass or get hit by a truck or something?! Cheese and rice, yall are giving me heart attack.
We fit right in.
Ahh…..Bubby, Hey, and Sissy…..such adorable names. I would have loved to be across the street with Bubba, and Kiki, listening to you holla!
“Cheese and rice” Wow, how did you learn to be fluent in Trailer Trash Talk so soon? I guess immersion learning really is the best =)
SoDak- Our next door neighbor was part of highway flag crew; her name was Rita.
The president of the homeowners association was named Jose. Yep, that’s right, we had a HOA!
Lizzy- You are right about immersion. It was all too easy to slip in the “y’alls” and “whatfer’s”.
There must be a little trailer park in all of us. I love the nicknames. reminds of Bill Cosby’s Himself comedy. However, his kids names are not repeatable here, unless you use cheese-and-rice!
A trailer park HOA. Can’t imagine living in one of those uppity places where the trailer has to be skirted to hide the tires, and major appliances aren’t allowed on the front porch.
“The man” just keeps pushing me closer and closer to moving off the grid.
LOL! My parents named me Anna Victoria, but I’ve ALWAYS gone by Tori. Why name me something and then call me a nickname out of my middle name??? And now I have to remember to sign Anna on credit card slips, etc… Ugh.
Anyway… this post made me smile, laugh and think of you.
But I bet your were still hawt.
My trailer park anme would have to be “Oye”.
“Oye! Bring me those chalupas, will ya?”
Would you be surprised to know my name ain’t just b.?
Hey! I gotta Sissy Girl at my house! And a Hoss, and…..I don’t live in no stankin’ trailer park though. *gumsnap*
Kayleyn- Our familyroom faced the street. I miss watching all the action. You can take the girl out of the trailer park…
Bad- Jose was the best HOA prez ever. He arranged to dumpster brought in each spring and fall so we could do a seasonal clean up. I wish my new HOA did that.
Tori- I had no idea. You don’t look like an Anna.
NCS- I came up with the idea of “Hot Fruita Moms” in that trailer. Ahh, good times.
B- I wish you would have been my neighbor!
ps. One of my angel friends is named Annette.
My trailer park name is Bertha, as in “Get your stinkin hands off my Twinkies, Doreen, before I use my big Bertha butt to crush you flatter than a Bud can.”
Oh, and I’m not a big fan of ‘ETTE’ names. That would include Annette, Cosette, Suzette, Chevette, Nanette, Luncheonette, Moist Towelette…..Well, you get the idea.
I LOVE the name ANNIE, though.
I love how your son got his nickname, Hey!
HeyAnnie,
your the apple of my eye..you make us all so proud down here in the holler. Can we get a special tour of your former digs? Can’t wait to check out your single wide trailer next summer when we make our treck to your home town of Fruita. I shirlie does hope we can get a picture of you standing at the door with your adorable kids named Hey, Bubby and Sissy.
My childhood nickname was Spike…I still don’t know why, but I liked it because it wasn’t a girlie nickname…of course my Mom had her own nickname for me…it was actually variations of a nickname…Lumpy, lump-lump or Heather Lump, and now you know why I chose Heffalump as my blog name!
Hee hee hee. I’m afraid my little Peanut thinks her name is “Hey,” too. For the same reason. Makes me proud.
I remember being so surprised when you told us your real name was Annette. As in, Funicello? You didn’t look Italian to me.
My grandma’s favorite trailer trash saying is, “Get yer shoes on! What were ya, born in the Ozarks?” And my other grandma’s was, “What’s wrong with yew? Ain’tcha got no family pride?”
It’s funny you should mention the trailer park names…my children’s screen names are Bubba, Missy and Buster.
And then I realized what people might assume when they read those. The thought just makes me laugh!
Perfect trailer names for us:
H.I. and Edwina (Ed) McDunnough
So many gems to be found in Raising Arizona!
What a funny picture I can conjure up of you standing in the doorway of a single wide, in a trailer park, yelling all of that at your children. L!O!L!
That is hysterical! I used to know 2 kids by the names of Muffy and BooBoo. I have no idea what their real names were, but I wouldn’t put it past their parents to have *actually* named them Muffy and BooBoo.
Cheese and rice. I’m dying over that one!
I grew up in a trailer park, it was all we could afford. I will agree that there are some interesting characters that usually live in a trailer park, but there are also normal people just trying to get by. ” What is your trailer Park name?” theme is a little bit mean and insulting. I grew up in a trailer park, yes…. I also went on to become a succesful M.D., am I trailer trash? In my opinion, you can be “trash” anywhere you live.
Doc AMY- Lighten-up! Doctor Proctor, you’ll get over your humble start in life.
Wow.. that is really funny. It’s almost funny how we live like our surroundings.
And because I’ve had people leave weird comments on my blog… just a note to the people that can’t laugh or smile at something harmless…. lighten up… seriously, lighten up.
I have a cousin that reminds me a lot of you, she purposely named her kids Ben and Anna, so she could stand on the front porch and yell, “Banana.” Oddly enough, we both put some time in living in the trailer park. I was lucky enough that my Dad sold “mobile homes” so we had a sweet model with the wood paneling and a only a little bump where the two halves joined!
My kids’ names all form a complete sentence when put together.
‘
I’m an English major. I couldn’t help it.