the names we go by
my dad’s name is Merwin. my mom calls him Mer and sometimes uses this neckname when talking to other people and referring to dad. but he has always been PAPA not only to us, his children, but also to all his neices and nephews, grandsons and granddaughters. while my cousin’s dad remained uncles and titos, my father got stuck to being the PAPA.
my mom’s nickname is thel, but most people call her Ka Thelma [haha sounds so abu-sayyaf-ish]. she is "mang" to her family. i know these sound hilarious but they’re actually much much better than the name my grandma intended to gisve her: DEBUTA.
my eldest brother, Arnel, has Nel for his nickname. but we rarely call him that. to me he doesn’t sound lika a Nel. his wife calls him Nel. maybe he sounds like a nel-kind of person to her.
Jayson. he’s probably got the weirdest nickname: Jing-Jing. i know it sounds girly and it seems to be a sissy’s name, that is why i think it is weird because he is anything but those things. my parents and kuya arnel call him Jing. his wife sometimes call him that too. heck, my whole clan calls him Jing. all but me. he has always been Kuya Jayson to me. hmm, maybe not always as i call him by his other nick, HAPON. our friends in Lipa know him by that name. it’s because he has got these japanese eyes. he used to hate it but later got fond of the name.
to his highschool and college buds, he is JAY.
now on to ME. hoooraaah.
i remember people calling me Kayin when I was younger. my mom said i couldn’t get my R’s right and always answered "Kayin…" when people asked me my name. my grandma and aunts call me Yin-Yin. nah, I don’t look like a Yin-yin, but i get a warm feeling when they call me that. my other aunt calls me Ren-Ren, which i used to hate by the way.
later on during hiskul, i decided i wanted to be called Kai. took it from Kayin. i was Kai til I graduated from college. most of my family and friends still call me that.
i became a kat, a katkat, a katie, and a kate in Thailand. it changed as i changed employers. Karen is a difficult name for the Thais. they’d always say Kalen instead of Karen. that is why I am a Kate now.
it sometimes weirds me out when family and close friends call me Kate. i prefer to be Kai to them.
but i have two nicknames i like best, Mhey and Bie.
only two people are allowed to call me that.
my hubby and my dad…err my papa.
