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What’s the deal with football nicknames ?


Major Isewater

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Now I can understand it a bit if during the rage of battle that a player may call out ‘ Al ‘ instead of ‘Alexander ‘ but when someone in the game has a one syllable name , hello Dean Holden , why does it get changed to ‘ Deano’ ?

I have heard references to Deano and Simmo for our coaching staff, though I wait to hear  Downo or Keitho . I personally can’t see him lasting long as his name just doesn’t fit.

 

In the transfer forum there is a perfectly good two syllable player going out on loan who , for some incomprehensible reason, is referred to as ‘ Haks ‘ and not ‘ Hakeeb ‘ or even ‘Hako ‘

I can’t find any rhyme or reason to it .Have any of you got an ideal ? 
 

 

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9 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Now I can understand it a bit if during the rage of battle that a player may call out ‘ Al ‘ instead of ‘Alexander ‘ but when someone in the game has a one syllable name , hello Dean Holden , why does it get changed to ‘ Deano’ ?

I have heard references to Deano and Simmo for our coaching staff, though I wait to hear  Downo or Keitho . I personally can’t see him lasting long as his name just doesn’t fit.

 

In the transfer forum there is a perfectly good two syllable player going out on loan who , for some incomprehensible reason, is referred to as ‘ Haks ‘ and not ‘ Hakeeb ‘ or even ‘Hako ‘

I can’t find any rhyme or reason to it .Have any of you got an ideal ? 
 

 

When Saturday Comes had an article on this yonks ago, and I recall one example being the abbreviation of a 2 syllable surname, and the addition of -y to a single syllable surname, giving the daft situation where Kevin Sheedy and Peter Reid would be known as Sheeds and Reidy. Even back then, they concluded it was nonsense.

Off on a tangent, I recall a friend telling me about the stupidity of nicknames in the armed forces (he was in the marines): as an example anyone with a surname Webb got called Spider, even if there were multiple Webbs, meaning a whole load of people got called Spider, defeating the very point of nicknames.

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I think it's just sheer laziness as nobody can be bothered to think of a better or more appropriate nickname. Journalists do it all the time as Robson inevitably becomes Robbo etc, although they do swap endings sometimes as Gascoigne becomes Gazza. What I hate it when journos and commentators don't bother with a teams perfectly adequate nickname but just refer to the colour of their shirts such as Ipswich, Peterborough and Gillingham being called the blues. I've even seen Leeds referred to as the Lilywhites, which is just plain wrong and upsetting for Preston fans. 

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34 minutes ago, Major Isewater said:

Now I can understand it a bit if during the rage of battle that a player may call out ‘ Al ‘ instead of ‘Alexander ‘ but when someone in the game has a one syllable name , hello Dean Holden , why does it get changed to ‘ Deano’ ?

I have heard references to Deano and Simmo for our coaching staff, though I wait to hear  Downo or Keitho . I personally can’t see him lasting long as his name just doesn’t fit.

 

In the transfer forum there is a perfectly good two syllable player going out on loan who , for some incomprehensible reason, is referred to as ‘ Haks ‘ and not ‘ Hakeeb ‘ or even ‘Hako ‘

I can’t find any rhyme or reason to it .Have any of you got an ideal ? 
 

 

I would suggest that a nickname is as much about demonstrating trust, acceptance and friendship as it is about the efficiency of communication. 

Calling someone by a nickname, and allowing someone to call you by a nickname is a public way of declaring that you see that person as a friend, or are trying to be accepted as such. I'd give the example of shouting a child's full name at them if they are in trouble, but calling them by a pet name when you want to show affection.

The level of formality you use when addressing or referring to another human is important in conveying the respect in which you hold them. 

I say this as a man who has an incredibly persistent nickname, one with exactly the same number of letters and syllables as my real name. I've been nicknamed for decades, teachers even used my nickname at school, and the nickname itself is now shortened by my closest friends.

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1 hour ago, Major Isewater said:

Now I can understand it a bit if during the rage of battle that a player may call out ‘ Al ‘ instead of ‘Alexander ‘ but when someone in the game has a one syllable name , hello Dean Holden , why does it get changed to ‘ Deano’ ?

I have heard references to Deano and Simmo for our coaching staff, though I wait to hear  Downo or Keitho . I personally can’t see him lasting long as his name just doesn’t fit.

 

In the transfer forum there is a perfectly good two syllable player going out on loan who , for some incomprehensible reason, is referred to as ‘ Haks ‘ and not ‘ Hakeeb ‘ or even ‘Hako ‘

I can’t find any rhyme or reason to it .Have any of you got an ideal ? 
 

 

Your first sentence has most of the answer.

In football its due to the simplicity of communication. Names and gamespeak are shortened in an effort to create triggers. Hello Dean Holden can you please apply pressure to the player in possession becomes DEANO PRESS. The former is inefficient as a means of communicating on a football pitch, the latter is far easier for the brain to process via pre frontal cortex and cerebellum to the motor cortex.

Unwittingly this process becomes habit forming and an accepted norm. 

 

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2 hours ago, Major Isewater said:

In the transfer forum there is a perfectly good two syllable player going out on loan who , for some incomprehensible reason, is referred to as ‘ Haks ‘ and not ‘ Hakeeb ‘ or even ‘Hako ‘

I can’t find any rhyme or reason to it .Have any of you got an ideal
 

 

Beats me.  Almost as much of a mystery as Bristolians adding an 'L' to the ends of words....  ?

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