Post-Schna-ulations

Hippopotamus with Wings

A couple of nights ago, sometime around 5:30 am, I awoke from a bad dream and ended up swatting Jon awake (though obviously not COMPLETELY awake, as he remembers none of this). The cause of my swat? I had been having a dream that bugs - about the size of earwigs (*shudder*) or bees - were crawling all over me. So, upon waking up, I was still swatting. I got up, went to the bathroom (made Jon turn on the light when I got back so that I could check the bed for bugs - it was a freaky dream!), went back to sleep with only a miner case of the crawlies.
Yesterday, I was thinking back to the dream and remembering it. With some distance from the mild terror it invoked, I was able to think about the bugs more clearly. And this is where I give you all kinds of ammo to make fun of me; The bugs were hippopotamus (or hippopotami or hippopotamuses - all three ways are correct). But they were bug-sized, and they were crawling all over me. Sadly, I can't remember what color they were - I tend to dream in bland neutrals, if not black and white. However, in order to make my story more colorful, let's say they were purple. :)

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(the **** line means this is a totally unrelated topic)
I've been called many nicknames in my life by friends, family, and strangers. Schna is the most recent one to stick, along with Moose (the latter as a result of my moose collection, of course). Waitresses constantly call me 'honey' and 'dear' (fortunately, Jon NEVER calls me either of those - OR 'sweety', 'darling' (well, sometimes sarcastically), 'schnookums'...etc.).
Today, however, I had two totally unrelated encounters, both with middle-aged men, in which I was called by a 'nickname' of that sort that I have either never encountered before OR (as in the latter story) never been called by anyone who was not an over-75-year-old woman.
Story number one: This morning, as usual, I made my regular stop at Kiva Han, for hot chocolate and a carrot muffin. The gentleman working behind the counter, after taking my money and giving me my change, said the following to me (I must admit, this is actually the SECOND time this week he has said this to me, but I forgot about it earlier when I meant to post about it):
"Have a good day, Sister."
Can't say I've EVER been called 'sister' in that way before this week. It was an interesting experience. I could, of course, start postulating on why this would surprise me, what that means about society, blah blah blah...but that's tired and I don't care enough.
Story number two: I was talking to the gentleman in my office who is in charge of the money. We were trying to figure out when my boss would be back in his office (which is always a guessing game), when he said the following to me:
"Your guess is as good as mine, pumpkin."
Pumpkin? I mean, this guy is probably in his early 50's. Pumpkin? I still am having a hard time figuring out who calls people pumpkin? Have any of you every called someone pumpkin?
(Funny side note - there is a town in Arizona called Punkin. For some reason, whenever we drove through, that always made me laugh).
Anyway, I'm putting out a request to you sprawling masses out there (HA!) for good stories of 'nicknames' that you have been called by strangers or aquaintances (basically, anyone who is not intimately connected to you in some way or another).

posted by Schna @ 1:10 PM