I thought that Nadya Suleman had started a trend with the media's willingness to call her "Octomom," but, if you think about it, the news and pop culture commentators in general have embraced "the nickname" for a long time, making our reality that much closer to the worlds depicted in comic books. Consider the following aliases for prominent public figures; you know exactly who I'm talking about, and most legitimate news outlets have no problem using these monikers.
A-Rod
Brangelina
Dubya
The Gipper
The Governator
J-Lo
The Juice
Magic
Sir Charles
Wacko Jacko
Tell me that doesn't sound like a superhero's rogues gallery -- and I haven't even considered the self-proclaimed stage names for rappers! "Ice Cube?" "Slim Shady?" If only these people used their powers to annoy for good instead of evil . . .
That list was just off the top of my head. Who did I forget?
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Octomom and the Nickname Syndicate
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4 comments:
My personal favorite:
Bennifer, Parts I & II.
Jack the Ripper
Billy the Kid
So how far back does this nicknaming thing go?
Honest Abe.
Did anybody call George Washington ol' Splinter Gums?
The nicknames even extend to the economy:
First Reganomics
Now Obamanomics
And don't forget...
(Wacko) Jacko
Kid Rock (though I personally call him Dillweed)
Madonna
Bono
Sting
And what about stage names? Do they count?
The fascination of nicknames in the media I think shows too things... One the lack of originality it started with A-Rod and has extended to K-Rod, C-Rod, T-Rod. Nothing knew out of all that. Also I think that the media plays to our short attention span. If they took the time to Say Alex Rodriguez we would probably have switched the channel. Or to explain Reaganomics or Obamanomics we wouldn't listen. This fast pace culture we live in feeds to the perpetual shortness of society. So from now on.. I wanna be called E-Gie!
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