Through An 'Old Timer's' Eyes
By Howard 'Mac' McDonald

The Fourth of July: our Nations birthday, and a time of celebration.

Summer time is really here and the picnic season is in full swing. Patriotism is at its highest peak and we pledge to stand behind our flag. The fireworks thundering sound has echoed down our valley and we are proud of our heritage.

Our heritage in Cameron County covers a multitude of subjects that not many of the rest of this nation can claim.

Nicknames that are common to the rest of the country are common place with us but that is as far as the similarity goes. We share "Old Glory", "Uncle Sam", "G.I. Joe, etc., but I bet there is not a community in this whole wide world can conjure up a list of nicknames like is found here in the "Land of the Endless Mountains".

Even the referral to our hills is a nickname and from what I can gather came from a colloquialism uttered one day by Jack McAulay. I can not validate this statement but Ken Gerg told me this and he is a man of honor and truth.

I do not have the luxury of having a research staff, so to collect this list I ask a lot of people to delve deep into their memories and give all the nicknames that they could think of. Some of the nicknames that was presented I can not put into print as they cast some dispersion on the people's character.

The publisher of this paper, Mr. Robert A. Hooftallen, has given me permission to offer to the person who can take the list of nicknames, put a last name to them and get the list to the Endeavor and a $10 gift certificate to the Cabin Kitchen.

The one with the most correct last names will be the winner. I will attempt to put them in alphabetical order but if some are out of order, please don't let me know.

My spelling of some of the names may not be correct but spelling was not my best subject and I apoligize if they are not familiar to you. So just like being at Bingo we will start by saying, "Under the "A" we have, "Artie", "Auggie" and "Alky."

We came up with quite a few under "B" and they are, Barney, Beaver, Beezer, Bones, Bony, Boo, Boots, Boxy, Brake, Bub, Bubba, Bugsy, Bull, Bunny, Butch, Bugger, and Buzz". "C" was not too popular and six was the final count and they were: "Chintz, Cheyenne, Clutch, Cookie, Corkie and Crooked".

"D" was as difficult as "C" but we managed to come up with five and they are: "Deputy Dog, Dipstick, Dogger, Drummy, and Dutch". Doc covers alot of territory and any of the sawbones or teeth jerkers you want to use will be O.K. "E" and "F" didn't make the list and neither did "I", "J", "K", "Q", "V", "W" and "XYZ".

"G", caused much chin rubbing and head scratching and only two came to mind and they are "Gizz and Gloomy". We only fared two better on the "H" and "Ham, Hank, Hicky and Hotdog" was on the menu. The 12th letter in the alphabet is "L" but five names was the magic number so "Lefty, Linkie, Lizzard, Lobber and Lunch" made the grade. "M", brought to mind, "Mick, Moe, Monk, Mouse and Mutt".

By the time "N", came into play, the nick names were getting pretty scarce and the only one that came to mind was "Nick".

Now "S" was the winner for the most nicknames and probably the easiest to put the last name too. We start off with "Salty, Scoop, Skinny, Slick, Slugger, Snook, Starvin Marvin, Stretch and Stubby.

Time starts with "T", and I have to say that I had a good time compiling this list. In the Cabin Kitchen over the coffee was where most of the information came from and I was surprised how many people who were interested in this project. I believe a lot of memories were scrubbed clean of the cob webs and these names were produced. "T" names that we same up with are: "Tag, Take, Timmer, Toot, Turkey and Tweet."

Last and the least was "U". The one "U" that came to the surface was from a family that has two other names on the list. These names were the names of three brothers and was conjured up by their mother. Seems that the East Enders were blesses with this strange affliction of being hung with a nickname. Maybe it was their parents nationally that nurtured this odd custom. "UGH", you are long gone but I bet you are still carrying the mail.

Listening to the weather channel and their explanation of how hurricanes were named jogged my memory and one more nickname came to light. Under the "H", "Hurricane Donna". I hope the exposure of these nicknames don't offend anyone, just remember it was all just for fun.