My son is doing an appreticeship as a vehicle mechanic (my dreams of him joining the RAF didn’t pan out, unfortunately). Friday evening, he was regaling us with a tale of something that had happened that day at work: “… and so my mentor was under the truck and he said to me ‘ Oi, Wankstain, pass me a 32mm socket willya’, and so I went over to his toolbox and…”
“Hold on”, said Mrs Masher, “What’s that he said?”
“Pass him a 32mm socket”
“No, before that. What did he call you?”
“Wankstain”
“Mrs. M wrinkled her nose up and gave that indignant look that tells us all that she isn’t happy about something. “Well, that’s not very nice!” she said.
“It’s just a nickname”, said Son. “Everybody there has nicknames and, being the lowest of the low – an apprentice – I get all the horrible ones. Last week I was ‘Shit-for-brains’ most of the week. It’s just banter. Doesn’t bother me.”
“Well, I don’t think it’s very nice. Do you want me to come down there and say something?”, said Mrs. M, not really grasping the social dynamics that reside within an all-male workforce.
“Errr… I’d rather you didn’t”, he said..
But this got me thinking. Most every place I’ve worked, people have had nicknames… especially when I was in the GPO / BT. I got away quite lightly with it: my nickname being a bastardisation of my own name… as it was for many others. We had an Abbo, a Clippy, a Pedro, a Bazzer, a Smithy, etc. Others got handed names like Spud and Biffo and Walrus, for various reasons. And yes, the lower ranking guys – the trainees and apprentices – were often saddled with more derogatory names. I can’t remember them all, but I do remember we had a Slug-guts and a Shit-legs.
Although some of these names weren’t particularly nice, there was never any malice attached. Well, rarely. It was – as Son pointed out – just male banter. I’m sure that if he had joined the RAF, he would also have been given a nickname of sorts.
But, I’m pleased to see that the woke brigade haven’t yet managed to infiltrate every British institution – the humble car mechanic’s garage may well be the last bastion for men to be able to talk like men.
Which makes me think (Again! That’s twice today!). When I was much (much) younger, I worked for a short while in a factory, where most of the workforce were women. I don’t remember any of them having nicknames. Do women give each other nicknames at work or is that a male thing?
I worked in a bank for many years ( cashier), so a mix of men and women and I don’t remember any ” nicknames” nice or otherwise!
Yeah, I work in a similar office environment now, with a mixture of men and women and no-one has nicknames.
Maybe it only happens in male-dominated workforces.
in your shoes and knowing what I know now, I’d be glad he didn’t join the RAF. It’s not the place it used to be and all of the really good overseas postings are now closed. However, the RAF is nickname-happy. Not usually the kind of nicknames you might be able to share with your nearest and most expensive. But nicknames a-plenty. Wankstain is pretty tame by comparison.
I guessed as much.