#2 ACTIONS
9-16-14

Hey, Welcome Back.

In getting started with category two, my homework brought me to the conclusion that the vast majority of the guys in the category don't have any problem with nicknames that get designated to them. Of the ten examples I've given, only one really had any problem, and I'll admit, if guys were calling me "Lollipop" I'd be a bit unhappy too. But, that's what can happen if you're someone producing and selling little homemade morsels of candy on a stick and there's already a guy who was doing it before you with the nickname "Candy Man".

Lets say a guy is a bit of an electronic whiz and knows how to repair and sell radios and headphones. Then he'll many times pick up the nickname "Radio Man". Or, if he's an overall peddler of just about anything he can get his hands on, then the nickname "Hustle Man" is bound to be his new identification title. So as we see so far, our salesmen tend to pick up nicknames that are simple, straight to the point and make for good advertisement.

Some other reasons for the designation of a simple nickname in this category can be just as simple. I mean, what are you going to assume when you're told a guys nickname is "Checker Bill"? Gee, I wonder. Or maybe the type of art work he does. There's a guy at this camp who draws these incredible looking mazes freehand. Plus, when you solve them, a picture or words will appear that you couldn't see before. So everybody just started calling him "Maze". "Money", I'm guessing, is a nickname a guy might like, because he wants to show off the fact that he is loaded and is constantly coming back from canteen with a bag or two full of goodies. But the problem with that is he constantly has to put up with guys he barely knows all of a sudden becoming his best friend and looking for a handout.

On the "has done" side of the fence, a nickname like "New York" comes to mind. Which sometimes will be designated to a guy, because he was born in N.Y. and he just thinks the place was so great. Naturally, my question is this. If N.Y. is such a great place, then what was he doing down here to begin with?

Also on the "has done" side are the guys who's nicknames are in retaliation to the crime they committed that got them put in prison; like "Shotgun" or "38". Now I'll admit that due to my ignorance in firearms, the nickname "38" didn't indicate to me as of being any kind of reference to a gun. So, after getting to know the guy and finding out that he didn't have a 38 year sentence, (and he did appear to be in his upper 30's) I finally had to ask, "On your birthday, will your nickname change to "39"?".

So now we've finished with the next 25% of the 40 nicknames. To read about the next 17% in category 3, and later read about nicknames that are given to the officers, keep visiting my blog. Hope you've enjoyed everything so far.

Maze