Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
Subscription Form

Get notified of the best News

Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn 0
22K Followers
25K Likes
5K Followers
1K Followers
Mountain Life
Mountain Life
  • Daily Content
    • Trips & Expeditions
    • Climbing
    • Mountain Biking
    • Mountain Lifer
    • Multiplicity
    • On The Trail
    • Paddling
    • Photography
    • Skiing
    • Snowboarding
    • Stay & Play
    • Surfing
    • The Great Outdoors
    • The ML Interview
    • Travel
  • GEAR
  • VIDEOS
  • STORE
  • Magazines
    • ML Coast Mountains
    • ML Rocky Mountains
    • Vie En Montagne
    • ML Blue Mountains
    • ML Annual
    • ML Subscriptions
  • ABOUT
    • What is ML?
    • Our Team
    • Newsletter
    • Adventure Grant
    • Distribution
  • Podcast
  • Contests
  • CONTACT
    • ML Agency
    • Advertising
    • Contribute
  • The Great Outdoors

Vague Identities: What’s in a Nickname?

  • May 1, 2015
  • Editor
Total
0
Shares
0
0
0
0
0
0
Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0

What’s in a name? How closely is your given name tied to who you really are? This fun piece ran in the February 2015 “Tribe” issue of our Coast Mountains magazine and is a great examination of an odd natural phenomena that seems to occur in mountain towns everywhere. People arrive and fall into new identities, new roles and new, often cringeworthy, names. Take it from me, I know. – Feet Banks, editor

 

Vague Identities

Punchy? Bushrat? Man Wagon?! — Does anyone have a real name in a mountain town?

By Pat McKinnon

Illustrations by Dave Barnes
Illustrations by Dave Barnes

In 1989 the resident Grade 6 alpha-male at my new elementary school decreed that I was henceforth to be known as “Patches”, and the nickname caught on faster than Milli Vanilli. In high school I was christened “MacTavish”, after the legendary helmet-less Edmonton Oilers grinder, Craig MacTavish, because of the strikingly similar nature of our tightly coiffed ginger-blonde curls.

Then, over the next decade, aside from the obvious corruptions of my given name (Patrice, Patricio, Patty, Patty Mac), I managed to live a nickname-free existence….until I moved to Whistler, where, within an astonishingly brief amount of time, I inherited a heaping handful of new handles, including White Lightning, Man Cat, and Party All the Time. And I wasn’t the only one. Whistler is a place where iconic nicknames are crafted, earned, and given, often with lingering lifelong consequences. This beloved local custom was best exemplified In John Zaritsky’s 2001 Whistler ski-culture documentary film, Ski Bums — where the world was introduced to such legendary characters as Johnny Thrash, Crucial Mike, and Red-Eye Lisa — but shedding an old name and starting anew has been a fixture of the town’s folklore throughout its history.

kel-feet1
One of these artist renderings may or may not be employed by Mountain Life.

In Whistler, nicknames are often derived from one’s physical attributes, personality traits, lifestyle habits, or place of origin. Sometimes they are used to embody spirit animals or personify drunken alter-egos, while other times they’re created in the aftermath of specific tales of misadventure. Unfortunately, unlike the glamourous epithets we bestow upon our idols, these manufactured monikers often illustrate our less-flattering qualities or commemorate events that we’d rather have forgotten. You’re unlikely to be dubbed “The Great One”, for your pow-shredding prowess, but if you happen to a single year older than the rest of your friends, you’ll be forever knighted as “Old Balls”. Or, if you have the misfortune of requiring a helicopter rescue to get yourself out of a poorly chosen ski line, you’ll quickly become immortalized as “Chopper Steve”. I once even went on an epic two-day mountain bike ride in the Chilcotins with a crew that included a guy who we knew only as “Shit Pump” (I still have no idea what his real name is).

However, despite their potentially undesirable nature, nicknames are fundamentally about being included and gaining acceptance within a community. “Nicknames are ancient and must have existed as long as human beings have walked the earth,” says Paul Peterson, a global scholar of anthroponomastics (the study of human names) from the University of Minnesota. “The main reasons for giving nicknames in small societies are to create a sense of community, to bond with one another, and to mark out one’s individual qualities in relation to an inside group. Nicknames distinguish an individual’s unique differences by applying a kind of tag to replace or supplement the person’s first name. Some nicknames are insulting, but even among these the context can be a friendly taunt.”

slack-god-1
To protect the innocent (and the guilty) artist renderings on this page may or may not resemble the actual people behind each nickname.

So, even though you might have to live with being called Squirrel, or Foxy Butthole, or The Beaver Zombie, take solace in knowing that your new identity signifies that you have officially been woven within the fabric of this remarkable “Land of Misfit Toys” that we call home. This bizarre blend of ridicule and affection is actually our way of saying that we like you and that you belong here as part of our clan. Even you, Shit-Pump.

nickname list2

Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Share 0
Share 0
Related Topics
  • Culture
  • funny
  • identities
  • mountain towns
  • nicknames
  • Whistler
Editor

Previous Article
  • Paddling

British Columbia’s Backyard Booty

  • April 29, 2015
  • Mountain Life Media
View Post
Next Article
  • The Great Outdoors

Family Taking Canada’s Waters By the Horns

  • May 7, 2015
  • Ben Osborne
View Post
You May Also Like
View Post
  • On The Trail
  • The Great Outdoors

Helly Hansen Presents: Adventure Planning 101 with Squamish SAR

  • Sarah Bulford
  • May 16, 2022
View Post
  • Skiing
  • Snowboarding
  • The Great Outdoors

Blower Pow and Disappearing Pants

  • Sarah Bulford
  • April 26, 2022
View Post
  • In This Issue
  • The Great Outdoors

ML Launches Mushroom Life

  • Sarah Bulford
  • April 1, 2022
View Post
  • Leslie Anthony
  • Skiing
  • Snowboarding
  • Stay & Play
  • The Great Outdoors

Spring at Sun Peaks

  • Sarah Bulford
  • March 8, 2022
View Post
  • Mountain Lifer
  • The Great Outdoors

Backcountry Skier John Baldwin Headlines VIMFF’s 2022 Best of British Columbia Night

  • Sarah Bulford
  • February 22, 2022
View Post
  • FALL GEAR
  • SPRING GEAR
  • THE GEAR SHED
  • The Great Outdoors
  • WINTER GEAR

The Legend of San Poncho

  • Editor
  • December 9, 2021
735990496 1280x720
View Post
  • The Great Outdoors
  • Videos

Friday Flick: Island of Plenty

  • Sarah Bulford
  • July 2, 2021
View Post
  • On The Trail
  • The Great Outdoors

Win Adventures to the Filming Location of the HISTORY® Channel’s “Alone” Season 8!

  • Sarah Bulford
  • June 8, 2021

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Featured Posts
  • Skiing at Hudson Bay Mountain in Smithers 1
    Where Eagles Dare
    • March 27, 2023
  • Mountain-Life-20th-showreel 2
    20 Years of ML
    • March 24, 2023
  • Mustang-Survival-WOMENS-HELIX-CCS 3
    Gear Shed: Our End-of-Winter Picks
    • March 23, 2023
  • natural-selection-Redbull 4
    Friday Flick: Natural Selection Tour Highlights
    • March 17, 2023
  • Powder-Highway-BC-ski 5
    Powder Highway Revisited
    • March 21, 2023
RECENT POSTS
  • AleTrailsSouthernInterior_Vernon_MikeGamble_LookoutTrail_BenHaggarPhoto
    Ale Trails: Southern Interior Part 1, Vernon + Shuswap
    • March 20, 2023
  • Elements-Outfitters-Filson-cabin
    Elements Outfitters Partners with SALTS to Protect Alberta’s Incredible Landscapes
    • March 16, 2023
  • Bora-Boreal-Quebec-winter-cabin-stars
    Bora Boréal: Frozen in Time and Ice
    • March 14, 2023
Social Links
Instagram 22K Followers
Facebook 25K Likes
Twitter 5K Followers
Pinterest 1K Followers
Vimeo 34 Followers
LinkedIn 0
INSTAGRAM
mountainlifemedia
22K Followers
No one called me Feet Banks back in 1987. In those days, most people called me by my given name—except for my ski buddies, to whom I was known by the most badass moniker to ever schuss the slopes: Twinkle Toes.
We’re celebrating 20 Years of Mountain Life!
From The Gear Shed: Last Monday was the official start of spring, but we know there’s still some winter to be shredded. So ML staff and partners have picked the latest jackets, lanterns, bindings, mugs and drysuits for winter-spring.
Exploring the sights around beautiful Sutton, Quebec with ML creator @adv_bird ❄️🫶
Back on the road with three generations, dancing lifties, best-on-planet pizza and elusive-but-exquisite pow days.
Live It Up EP 24 is out now!
The Southern Interior region of BC holds an ecological cross-section of the province with alpine meadows, arid Douglas fir grasslands, damp cedar and hemlock forests of the Columbia Mountains and the warm expanse of Shuswap Lake.
Do Not Disturb mode activated ✅ #mountainlifer
Conceived by superhuman snowboarder @travisrice, the @naturalselection Tour highlights earth’s premier riders, from big-mountain mavens to Olympians, all competing on the most stoketastic—and unpredictable—terrain known to humankind.
Built upon a shared desire to enjoy, respect, and advocate for Alberta’s incredible landscapes, it was a natural fit for @elementsoutfitters to work with a local conservation organization @saltslandtrust to highlight the province’s rugged beauty and outdoor apparel to match.
Follow

Subscribe

Subscribe now to our newsletter

No one called me Feet Banks back in 1987. In those days, most people called me by my given name—except for my ski buddies, to whom I was known by the most badass moniker to ever schuss the slopes: Twinkle Toes.
We’re celebrating 20 Years of Mountain Life!
From The Gear Shed: Last Monday was the official start of spring, but we know there’s still some winter to be shredded. So ML staff and partners have picked the latest jackets, lanterns, bindings, mugs and drysuits for winter-spring.
Exploring the sights around beautiful Sutton, Quebec with ML creator @adv_bird ❄️🫶
Back on the road with three generations, dancing lifties, best-on-planet pizza and elusive-but-exquisite pow days.
Live It Up EP 24 is out now!
Mountain Life
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Advertising

Input your search keywords and press Enter.