Counting On: Season Four Part 3

[VelociRapture]

11 hours ago, MiddleAgedLady said:

Birthday cake for Bill Gothard Dec. 2013 

Correction - November 2, 2013. Erin and Chad Paine married on his birthday and had this cake at the reception in his honor.

ETA: Fuck you Kelly Bates! The internet is forever and there's no hiding that creepy ass sign on the cake! 

9 hours ago, MarblesMom said:

Is Spurgie worse than Choo Choo?

....asking for a friend.....

Absolutely. Choo Choo is adorable. Spurgie just... no. Something about it is just wrong. I actually prefer when he's called Spurgeon over Spurgie. Spur would be a good option too.

 

9 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

Even Josh and Anna gave their first a name with an unusual spelling--Mackynzie--and then followed that up with the more traditional Michael, Marcus, and Meredith.

They apparently picked that spelling to honor a family member (if I remember correctly.) And Israel is a common name in some cultures (though I doubt the Fundie community in the American South is one.) So I don't know if those names really counts as being unusual in the same way Spurgeon is unusual.

1 hour ago, singsingsing said:

I don't get the Choo Choo hate. It's a silly nickname for a one-year-old. None of you call your kids goofy nicknames? My family had all kinds of ridiculous nicknames for my sister and me and they never got us beat up on the playground, I promise.

By contrast, Spurgeon is the kid's legal name and the only nickname options sound even worse. I know I tend to play devil's advocate, but I just can't with this one. Spurgeon is an awful name and Spurge and Spurgie are hideous nicknames. At least he can switch to Elliott if he wants to when he gets older.

Israel has always seemed like a perfectly normal name to me, so I never really got the hate there.

Same. I get people criticizing Israel's name because appropriation of Jewish culture is kind of the Duggars' thing. But in general, I think Israel is a really nice name and Choo Choo is an adorable nickname for a little kid. 

[Mayluka]

20 minutes ago, Glasgowghirl said:

Choo Choo is not the worst nick name I've heard, Amber from Teen Mom still calls her daughter Boo Boo, Leah is almost 9, it is past being cute it's embarrassing. 

One of my mom's nicknames for me as a child was Boo Boo Bear, or just Boo Boo. It was just a nickname, and I didn't think it was that bad. She called me that intermittently into my teens, and she had many other random (and sometimes more embarrassing) nicknames for me as well. 

[Million Children For Jesus]

41 minutes ago, Glasgowghirl said:

Choo Choo is not the worst nick name I've heard, Amber from Teen Mom still calls her daughter Boo Boo, Leah is almost 9, it is past being cute it's embarrassing. 

This Amber comment inspired me to google "adults who use baby talk." It's not uncommon, and there are some pretty interesting and complex reasons why. Dopamine is released when a woman uses attachment behavior with her child. Think Jinger's "baaaabbbbyyy." 

[Carm_88]

Families do tend to have odd nicknames for kids. I do find Choo choo particularly odd because it's the noise for a train. Perhaps he liked trains. Spurgeon has gotten to the point that it just is, I find Ignatius* a very ugly and the nickname of "Niesh" is just bleck. There are plenty of ugly names in the world. Spurgeon is not the first or the worst. 

*Alphonsus, Aloyusis, Adolphusus. I spelled those wrong but I don't care, all fall in that same category as well. Awful!  

ETA: If any of my list of ugly names are your name/you like that name, no offense meant. I'm totally on team "Give your kid a decent name", I've had to explain mine enough that as said before, when asked where I got my name from I deadpan "My parents." 

[Jana814]

My friend calls her sister Rita or Rit. Her name is Julie. Don't know why she does it she's been doing it for years!!  The funny part is she will respond to Rita more then Julie when my friend calls her by that name. 

[melon]

My mother hated nicknames.I found ironic that she had one.My father rarely used my name.He called me "Sweetheart".My brothers were "Son".My father and mother called each other "Dear".There was a family that lived on our street.The oldest son was named after his father,but neither of them like their name so the Dad was "Yogi" and the son was "Boo Boo".I think the child didn't care for "Boo Boo" so he started using OJ.For the first name and junior.

[KelseyAnn]

My dad used to call be Gurt and I have no idea where it came from. Personally , I'd have taken Choo-Choo over that anyday. 

[candygirl200413]

My sister couldn't say my name when I was born so she would pronounce it in two parts, until the beginning part dropped and then I've been called the second name ever sense. I used to hate it but now I'm like eh, it's an only family name (my lovely neighbor was the only non blood related person I would allow her to call me it but she died 6 years ago so I really haven't liked anyone else calling me it).

[Daisy0322]

I was born early and I weighed 3 lbs and 2 oz, so my family called me Runt a lot. I think my brother started it. Also they called me Baby B (my name starts with a "B"). I didn't really like or dislike either but they never called me any if that in front of friends or in public once I was older.

[nausicaa]

I am the official giver of weird nicknames in my family. My niece was "Eddy" when she was little and my nephews are respectively "Gerb/Gerbie," "Walter Berfel," and "Nervil." They're all little, I still wouldn't use them in front of their friends, and I think they'll be fine. 

So yeah, "Choo choo" fits right in around these parts. 

[Rachel333]

My grandmother and her twin got the nicknames Ticky and Tacky and people still call them that even though they're in their eighties. One of their sisters still goes by the nickname Twinkle. Her actual name is Zohna so I guess I can understand going by a nickname.

[JMO]

I'm in the boat that Choo choo is an ok name for a toddler.  At some point it will get dropped as he gets older and Izzy (which is what the rest of the family calls him) will stick. I call my son Boo Boo. At school he goes by his name and a nickname that one of his teachers came up with.  Spurgie is awful and the fact that my phone has Spurgeon in it's autocorrect is disturbing on so many levels. 

@Million Children For Jesus I can't believe someone violated your privacy like that. I'm in healthcare and I'm sometimes aggravated by how hard it is to get records for my patients when they go to unaffiliated hospitals.  This drives home why. I hope you reported her and that she faced consequences.  

[Flossie]

Regarding nicknames:

I tend to think of Jessa's firstborn as Spur.  I think he'd look adorable in jeans, a flannel shirt, and a cowboy hat.  I remember how Jessa and Bin delayed announcing his name, and for a time Jessa tried to call him Elliot, then started calling him Spurgeon, but with a pained look on her face.  I think that Spur's parents fought a lot about the name before Bin 'won', and so the name has a negative connotation for me.

I knew a man who went by Skeeter, because when he was a tot mosquitoes seemed to bypass all others to feast on him.  His mother often said that during the warm months that child looked like a walking mosquito bite.  

One of my kids went to school with a boy whose parents called him Hooter, because of a hooting sound he made when he was an infant.  When he was younger, the boy didn't mind so much, but as he got older he got pretty testy about it.  

I met a guy, just out of high school, who proudly called himself Alpo, an acronym for a sex act he wanted everyone to know he'd done, (A---- Licks P---- Out).  He made up a story for his parents and his girlfriend that his friends were calling him that because he'd eaten dogfood on a dare.  He also made sure to tell me that he now referred to his girlfriend as Liquor (Lick-Her).  I can only hope he eventually outgrew his douchiness, but I wanted to murder him on the spot.

One of my kids is sometimes referred to affectionally as "Baby Rambo" because she was such a tough little thing when she was a kid.  Still is, actually.

My Mom is sometimes called Mike by her siblings, and by her parents when they were alive.  Grandma was sure that she was having a boy and he would have been named Michael, so when a girl arrived instead, Mike became Mom's nickname.

[Dubiousclaire]

Both my grandpa and uncle had the same first name, different middle. Neither were ever called the first name by anyone in the family. They had totally unrelated nicknames, "Phil" and "Butch". My cousin has their first name as his middle, and lots of people call him by his middle name. I think mainly because there is a famous movie quote with that name in it. 

When I named my daughter, my MIL said she hated it, and wanted to use a specific nickname.  I firmly put my foot down, and said " absolutely not, she will not be called that" and it was never brought up again.  My husband and I had affectionate endearments we used with the kids when they were little, but no one else used them. 

If Spurgeon ever went to a real school, his name would present all kinds of issues(mispronounced, mis spelled, weird nicknames, teasing, etc).  Israel is not a common name, but most people are familiar with it. I would think the most common question would be if he were Jewish.  I don't think most people go to school with their "baby" nickname from their parents (choo choo). 

[Buzzard]

Looks like the uber boring episode pulled about the same numbers as last week

COUNTING ON     TLC       9:00 PM        1,379        0.3

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/daily-ratings/monday-cable-ratings-june-19-2017/

I guess that means that no one "extra" tuned in for the wedding.

[TeamDefraudinSquad]

Only the cats get cute nicknames in my family   My friends named our kitten "Ping" (from Mulan) because none of us could find his testicles when we first took him in, due to it being January and freezing outside at the time. Apparently Ping is Chinese for "duckweed" so we call him our "little ducky" most if the time, but we also call him "little merde boy" because he loves bothering our other cats when they're in their litter box trying to poop (and he always comes up to us for attention when we're on the toilet too )

[mpheels]

Cats are such weirdos. I'm moving in a week. I took apart my giant ikea bookcase today (it's 6'x6' and won't fit through the door, much less the elevator). My cat just spent 30 minutes pacing between the sofa (where I'm sitting) and the spot where the bookcase used to stand, talking the whole time. She also "tells me" every detail of her day - every time she eats, drinks, or uses the box, she spends a good 5 minutes talking to me about it. She frequently peers around the curtain and watches me in the shower. She is going to be really disappointed in the new apartment - it has a sliding glass door for the shower.

[MayMay1123]

Granddaughter #1 is still called bear a lot, even in front of friends, she's 15 and hasn't asked anyone to stop. Granddaughter #2 is named Elizabeth so she gets called every nickname to go with that and a few made up ones, including lil bit, or bit, because she is so tiny. My great aunt was also Elizabeth and her younger brother called her sibbet until he died in his 70s. I love little family nicknames as long as the child doesn't mind, choo cho is cute, imo 

[SapphireSlytherin]

22 minutes ago, TeamDefraudinSquad said:

My friends named our kitten "Ping"

HAHAHA - my cat's name is Matthew, but I call him Ping... (Matthew/Matt/Matty/MattyBatty/MattyBattyWingWang/WingWangPingPang/Ping.

 

Long progression, but that's how we got there...

[mpheels]

My granddad had a nickname he used interchangeably for my grandmother, mom, and me. We generally could figure out who he was talking to/about based on context and intonation, but he also would use the one name to address all three of us at once. He was a man of few words.

[MayMay1123]

My son and his wife look enough alike to be mistaken for siblings or maybe cousins ...but not as much as pris and tfdw 

[Million Children For Jesus]

2 hours ago, JMO said:

This drives home why. I hope you reported her and that she faced consequences.  

I couldn't. My ex is very wealthy and if I'm not in compliance of his demands, he finds reasons to sue me. I can't afford the legal costs to upset him. 

[ViolaSebastian]

I was "booger" or "garbanzo bean" in my family. I think Choo-choo is a very cute nickname for a one-year old. There's a lot to snark on with the Dullards, but this isn't one of them. 

[JMO]

8 minutes ago, Million Children For Jesus said:

I couldn't. My ex is very wealthy and if I'm not in compliance of his demands, he finds reasons to sue me. I can't afford the legal costs to upset him. 

This makes me pissed. I'm sorry you're caught in that bind. 

[Million Children For Jesus]

Just now, JMO said:

This makes me pissed. I'm sorry you're caught in that bind. 

That actually makes me feel better. Thanks!