Monday, June 1, 2009

what's in a name

i wonder why unlike some people, i have had so many nicknames before such that when friends from different points of my life converge at one time to talk about me, chances are, they will be confused.

my father and my relatives who helped raised me as a child called me Saling. that's my official nickname- a derivative of my full first name, Rosalina. consequently my playmates and most of our neighbors called me by that nickname. but we had some sosyal neighbors in the early 60's who called me Sally. and i responded well to them, too. that was a nice nickname, anyway. when i entered high school, i introduced myself as Sally to my newfound friends. towards the end of our first year in high school, my best friend pearlie started calling me Rochie. according to her, i have similarities with a certain rochie andres who was due to graduate that year. the name stuck so when i went to UP for college, i was known as rochie in the academe but was called saling at home. however, my Filipino group in college preferred to call me Saling instead of Rochie so when they ask for my whereabouts from my dorm mates, there was some sort of confusion. at st. mary's academy, most of my colleagues, who were younger, affixed the word Ate, hence, my new name has becomeAt e Saling ( a sign of old age slowly creeping in).

perhaps behind my back, my enemies or those who do not like me for no reason at all, have called me by some other nicknames. that's a possibility because i do that too, - i baptize people i dislike with names they probably will hate. hehehe!

but the name i love the most is the name Leng. only two people call me such- my late father and my husband, whom i call Ding. our nicknames for each other rhyme. maybe it's the sign that we are stuck with each other, no matter what.

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