Sailors I Have Known
Rachel got me thinking about all the nicknames I gave and heard in Port Hardy. I like nicknames. They tell us a little something extra about the person in question. Although usually that information is trivial and/or wrong. That’s okay. I like nicknames anyway.
The nicknames we gave and heard were combinations of boat names, hometowns, endearing or annoying quirks, physical looks, amusing incidents, and sometimes completely random. There is a reason writers like Jack Hodgins and other West Coasters write about people like these: They are characters even before they grace the pages of books.
We knew:
Mitchell Bay Mark
The Man With No Shirt
Jungle Dan
Cedar Isle Jim
Chicken Tonight Steve
Johnny Quest
Pious Bill
Rhett
The Campbell’s Soup Kid
Odie
Lady J
Big Willie Style
Newfie Jim
Night Flight Mike
Heather The Diver
Whistling Man
Our Jesus
Esso Lady
And probably a bunch of others I am forgetting.
Some Stuff | Liz January 10, 2009
By rachel, January 10, 2009 @ 1:35 pm
Yeah, like Anti-Refrigeration Jason!
By Liz, January 10, 2009 @ 1:38 pm
Exactly!
By rachel, January 10, 2009 @ 7:08 pm
Also: How did you stop yourself from saying, “Hello, sailor!” to each and every one of these guys? Or did you?
By Liz, January 10, 2009 @ 7:13 pm
If you have ever stood downwind of a coked-out gillnetter who has been up for 72 hours, you would understand the bounds of my restraint.
“Hello, sailor!” would have been tantamount to “Hello, I am a free prostitute. Please feel free to molest me on the bait freezer.”
And for some of the elderly trollers, it might have caused a heart attack.
By Beth, January 10, 2009 @ 9:21 pm
When I lived with my grandparent’s I went to a French Catholic school. It was grade 6. I had a great crush on the tough young man who probably grew up to be a motorcycle riding criminal, a very young James Dean. He was 11 years old and he swaggered, I swear.
Anyway, I loved his nickname. He was Jean Cameron, but so was his dad, so he was known as “Tit Jean”. That’s not the english pronunciation of tit. That’s the short form of the word petit so it’s more like- tsee. and Jean isn’t like blue jean. It’s the French John.
So, Tit Jean sounded tough and cool. sigh
By Liz, January 10, 2009 @ 11:16 pm
So it was more like Tsee Zhan? Okay, sexy.
By Beth, January 11, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
Yeah, that’s it. quite sexy – for an 11 year old.