Tower Of Babel

Last year marked 20 years since I graduated from High School (man, I’m getting old) and since then, I have met up with far more of the guys that I went to school with on a much more regular basis. This is because we had an official 20 year Reunion, which I think we all thoroughly enjoyed. Many of my classmates have unfortunately migrated and live in the U.S, England or Canada. We have a fairly active list of e-mailers and I have only recently joined this list. Some have referred to me as, “Finally coming out of the Dark Ages.” On the first few days after getting on-line, Mad Bull (who I also went to school with) sent me a message that went, “Welcome to Cyberspace!” By reading a lot of the messages that we circulate back and forth, I have come to realise that although we are a lot older and more mature, those of us who receive the e-mail and reply to messages get great pleasure out of teasing each other, just like in school days. I guess, boys will always be boys. MB and myself go through this teasing with each other all the time, especially when having a few drinks.

This just got me to thinking about some of our school days. One of the things that I remember well was some of the nicknames we had for some of our school friends. Now those of you who went to other boys’ schools (and there really is only one, the BLUE and WHITE of North Street, of course) may know only too well how disgusting some of the names that you called your friends were. Many of these names stick with people until adulthood. A few that come to mind are as follows: BUDDYHEAD, SHITTY, COME CURLS, TWIN BATTY and MOTHER MAN. I will give the respective individuals the courtesy of keeping their real identities secret. After all, this is a blog!

Buddyhead was one of the larger and more athletic individuals in our class. He was well known for his football (soccer) abilities. His hair was usually kept low cut and hence it would outline the shape of his head well. Now his head was reputedly shaped like the glans penis (hood head), hence his name, Buddyhead. I remember when he used to play football and he was doing well on the field, we used to encourage him by saying, “Bud, Bud, Bud, Buddyhead!”

Shitty was a rather short fellow. He is also deceased, unfortunately. I heard that he was killed in New York quite a few years back. I hope his soul has found eternal rest. How he actually got his nickname, I’m uncertain. If any of the guys from school read this post and know, feel free to update me in commentary. I remember a certain Priest who used to teach English and play Tennis who was most disgusted when he discovered Shitty’s nickname. He wondered how on God’s earth we could look to call another human being this!

In my school days, Jherry Curling (I hope I have spelled it correctly) was only just beginning to come into its own. Back in those days, this type of hairstyle was not considered the masculine thing to do at all. This guy had gone ahead and ‘Jherried’, his hair. Now there used to be all sorts of activators and so on that were used to maintain the style. Some of these chemicals used to drip from the hair onto the person’s shoulders. Being the disgusting schoolboys that we were, we likened this to ‘come’, i.e. semen. Hence, COME CURLS, because it appeared that a man had ‘come’ in this guys head. His actual identity slips me, but the nickname is well cemented in the neuronal circuits of my brain.

Twin Batty, is actually one of the better friends that I have maintained contact with since High School, so I will try my best not to ‘diss’ (disrespect) him too much. Hush Twin Batty. This fellow is one of the larger individuals from my class. He was not FAT per se as he was fairly athletic, known for his prowess in Swimming and Water Polo. He also was a fairly bright fellow and was well known for his rather loud talking! He had (and still does have) a rather large abdomen (belly) and protuberant (for want of a better word) buttocks. So large were his buttocks as he appeared to have a pair!! Hence the name, Twin Batty. (P.S. One batty equates to the usual two buttock cheeks that NORMAL looking individuals have ) This nickname was actually given to him quite late, perhaps in 4th or 5th form, by a fellow in a much lower form. I can actually see his little face now mocking Twin Batty, his voice not yet even beginning to change, as he perhaps had not even began to discover that wonderful period of every young lad’s life, puberty. Naturally, Twin Batty was outraged by the teasing and being much larger than he was, started to chase him. However, this little guy was much too swift for him and he escaped the potential slaughtering. The nickname has stuck, however, but we tend not to use it too freely nowadays. We prefer to call him by more benign names.

Mother Man was a slim fellow who was noted for his rather pink and full lips. I can’t say that I know what has become of him, but this fellow is lucky to be alive today. He derived great pleasure in telling you about, “You Mother!” Every word or sentence used was ended with “You Mother.” Or even more disgustingly, “Go suck you Mother!!” I suspect if he tried this today he would be confronted by some serious fist fights or perhaps even the wrong end of a ‘NINE.’

This is a bit of a change from the usual type of post that I have been accustomed to making. But change is good sometimes. It breaks monotony and I was feeling a bit nostalgic thinking back on school days. I think that many of the fellows I went to school with have done fairly well, becoming productive citizens (whether here or abroad) and husbands and Fathers as well. Such was life on the REAL and ONLY side of North Street. There are times when I look back with fondness and wish that such memories could be relived. I guess I’m really getting on in my years.

Well, it seems as if the rain has decided to call it quits. At least seven lives lost in flooding. I guess we never know when our number will be called. Walk good ’till next time. COMMENTS??? PLEEEASE?! BLUE AND WHITE CREW IN PARTICULAR!!

This entry was posted on Monday, May 27th, 2002 at 6:09 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.