Nicknames + Island 5

So I mentioned yesterday that I like to give people nicknames, remember? The picture with all the people and their names? But half of them had other things attached, like Future-Brother-in-Law (or FBIL, as I like to call him) or New Friend or Airport? Nicknames are certainly nothing new (heck, my name is a nickname...a frequently-misspelled-nickname, but a nickname nonetheless), but I like to think I have fun with them.

It started the senior year of college, when there were two Brians in my life, and we all worked for a certain supermarket chain - it could be confusing. So my friends and I just started calling them Brian1 and Brian2 to distinguish them. This kind of nicknaming takes a little bit of time to remember, because you really have to train yourself as to which one is 1 vs 2. My friend (also from the supermarket) later married another Brian...but she wouldn't let me call him Brian3.

Brian1 and Brian2 kicked off a, in my opinion, great string of nicknames for other guys who came and went:

• Bipolar Dave
• Dan the Armored Car Guy...abbreviated to Dan ACG
• Doug the Jiffy Lube Guy
• Saba the Milkman
• Walker the Stalker...called so because he would visit my friend religiously every day to flirt

Since then, I haven't had many pairs of people in my life, but when I do, I usually just fall back to 1 and 2, but I decided to try to be creative again. Plus, it's more fun than calling them Brian A. versus Brian B. versus Brian C., you know?

As for the Island Five, you remember here, when I explained the Island Five? Marek and I were talking about it the other day, and I was explaining to him why I picked each person on my list. He looked confused, because he thought the Island Five was about repopulating the earth, not spending eternity on an island with only five other people. Hence, why he picked who he did (and he promised to fill us all in on those selections soon).

But I thought I'd take a couple minutes to explain why I picked the people I did (because I know you are soooooo curious), because I think you need a nice balance of people if you're going to be stuck on an island with them forever - eye candy helps, but eternity is a long time. And before we get started, you should know I'm a linguist at heart and by training - I love picking apart language and listening to practically any accent.

• Peyton Manning: We can talk about football and Southern hospitality. We can giggle together and laugh at Tom Brady in cute Southern accents.
• David Beckham: He must wear a suit at all times. I will bore him by prattling on about the British monarchy, and he can't do fig about it. I will bring one of those telephone books they throw on my doorstep and make him read out of it.
• [Name Withheld]: We can talk about linguistics and language. He will fascinate me by being so terribly out of touch with pop culture. We can make linguistic examples out of everyone else on the island.
• Thomas Kretschmann: He's German. He's just coming for his accent and his good looks (lucky him!).
• Zac Efron: We can sing songs together and put on musicals (as the male and female leads, natch) together for the others.