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Nicknames 3

Normally, these nickname posts contain a bunch of nicknames for various people. Each one is like a one-liner, so I figure in order for there to be enough meat in the post, I should put several of them together. This post, however, is different. It contains a single nickname, for yours truly. That's because there are a couple of fun stories.

First, let's start with the fact that I am of the age where friends of mine are starting to have babies. Sure, everyone knows the girl who got knocked up in high school, but that was the exception, not the rule. These days, however, people are older, married and more established. It really isn't uncommon for people I know to have kids wandering around their households. It's actually kind of fun for me, because I like playing with munchkins.

Regardless, it means that conversations often involve all of us, both the adults and the children. And when that happens, the fact that I am a generation older than said kid kicks in. It's pretty common for some cultures to add some form of an honorific to denote this age gap, so they can't just call me by my first name. Hell, I remember being scolded as a kid for doing that. My friend's dad specifically told me to call him by his first name, so I obliged. My mom overheard, and immediately told me that I was to disregard any such requests in the future. So, yeah, I get it when people add in an "uncle" or "mister" to my name. In some cultures, "uncle" is pretty common.

Remember, I go by "Sam." In some cases, I've been called "Sam uncle," which I've been told is the literal translation of the honorific from the language my friend speaks. The grammar sounded a little weird to me the first time I heard it, but I've since heard it enough times that I don't bat an eye anymore. Still, the grammar sounds funny, so it's not uncommon for other people to tell their kids to call me "uncle Sam." It solves the problem quite neatly, as it both adds the honorific and cleans up the grammar question.

However, I live in the US, and I am being called "uncle Sam." The first time someone said this out loud, my buddy's Canadian wife was in the room. She immediately snickered. I have to admit that the correlation had not occurred to me prior to that giggle, but as soon as she laughed, I made the connection. Everyone then laughed. I found it particularly amusing because I wasn't born in the US (even though I am an American citizen).

Since then, I have met up with other friends with kids, and "uncle Sam" has come up more than once. And each time, I have remembered that scene with the snicker. It's gotten to the point where now I giggle a little bit when someone calls me "uncle Sam." I still gladly answer to it, but it almost always gets a laugh out of everyone involved.

So there you are. My latest nickname is awfully patriotic. Little kids sure do make life amusing.

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