I know we have broken down the nerd/geek/dork element but what we haven’t talked about (and you know, by “we” I have no idea who “we” are. Whoever feels like answering, I suppose) those strange titles we may have had as kids. It’s not just me, right? I mean this haa come up in my office and we (different “we” here for a moment) have come to the conclusion that there are THOSE kids in every school. You know, the dinosaur kid, the shark kid, the Garfield kid, the dig a hole to China kid…did you have those? Were YOU one of those? Why do kids do that? Become obsessed with one particular idea to the point that it identifies them? I guess adults do it too. I’m sure you have the wine friends, the art friends, the movie friends. But I think it’s more fun in kids because…well really, how many adults are obsessed with digging a hole to China and would you really want to be friends with them anyway?
I don’t know exactly where I fit into that pattern. I was voted “most-dependable” in first grade. Looking back now I realize that that is a really lame-ass award. It’s pretty close to “biggest suck-up” I think. A little later I think I was probably the “reading girl.” I read whenever I had free time in school so I pretty much always had my nose in a book. But on the playground it was a whole other story. I was the “kiss ‘em or kick ‘em” girl. The one who would corner the cute boys and either kiss them or kick them, depending on how I felt that day. Actually this would be an excellent way to live my life now but I suspect that there would be a lot more kicks doled out these days.
So from what I remember, we had Stephen, “the Snoopy boy” who I think was also “the shark kid”. Odd combination, that. Later he would become become “the dude that wears that Dr. Who scarf all the time”, there was Chrissy, “the Woody Woodpecker girl”, who was so obsessed with Woody that she carried around a stuffed Woody doll well into grade school. I know there were several digging kids, but I don’t remember their names, probably because they were always down that hole. I do clearly remember at one “dinosaur kid”. A few “ballet girls” and OH! We had a lot of “horsey girls” in my school. They played with horse figurines the way other kids might play Barbie’s and they even played “stables” rather than playing “house”. Like they were racehorses and if you played with them you could be the new foal in the paddock or something. Looking back, that one is pretty creepy.
2 comments:
In elementary school, I guess I was "comic book kid" or "bookworm" (not because of studying, but because I read so much). I was also "Palm Tree" in a vague attempt at a witticism based on my last name. I couldn't figure that out much since it wasn't really an insult, wasn't that funny, and I wasn't like tall and skinny with long weird hair or anything.
In high school, it was "band nerd", "band fag", or "D&D guy"
My senior year in high school, I was voted "Most Studious", which was a joke to me because I never "studied". Somewhere along the way, I realized that if I vaguely listened in class, did my assignments in class, and did as little homework as possible, I could still make a high B or a low A in most subjects and that was fine with me. Nearly killed me in college though since I never developed any study skills.
I wasn't really labeled (as far as I know). Probably "the quiet girl that no one really knows," if anything. I don't think I was given too much thought by others (and I don't mean that in a 'oh, feel sorry for me' way at all). I never went to one school long enough to have more than a couple of good friends.
Now in college, before we met, Eric labeled me as "the cute girl who sits in the front row and probably has a boyfriend." I didn't have a boyfriend at the time, until a few months later when Eric and I got together. 16 years ago. Geez.
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