Company Blog

The Name Game

by Adam Zack — December 20, 2017

Susan was just too lazy to pass those potatoes to Pa.

Nicknames have been part of our culture forever. John Smith was called Smitty. His son, John Smith, Jr. was just called Junior, or sometimes “Little Smitty”. My brother John, who likes to play football, is Moose. I have a brother who is sometimes hard to find nicknamed 007. We used to torment my youngest brother until he’d get so ticked off at us we’d start calling him Ticker, which ticked him off more. My youngest daughter was small, so she was Teenie, and her sister was bigger, so she was Biggie. My wife is funny and weird sometimes, so she’s “Weirdo”, which I suppose are traits we both share so I am “The Weirdest”. Like most stereotypes, there’s some kind of truth or connected story with the nickname and the actual person or thing. I never really liked to have a nickname, but if I was “Ace”, “Chief”, “Boss”, “Megatron”, “The Hawk” or “Black Mamba” I suppose I’d be on board. So I got to thinking just how did the Lazy Susan get its name? I imagine a big family sitting around a table and Pa saying: “Susan, pass me the potatoes.” Susan goes: “But pa, my arms tired. It’s too far. I’m too weak. I don’t have the energy.” After years of the same excuses, Pa gets fed up and takes a round platter, puts it on some ball-bearing gadget and proclaims Susan off duty from passing anything at the table forever. Her cursed namesake the Lazy Susan was born. Even when she got older and showed some initiative and started passing food left and right at the dinner table, she could never shake her nickname, for her eponymous revolving self-server became a household staple of the 50’s and 60’s. All because Susan was just too lazy to pass those potatoes to Pa.

So where’s this going? Wasn’t this week’s blog supposed to be Christmas related or somehow inspiring? The inspiration is that your firm, your store and you yourself are constantly evaluated by our customers and peers. We want to earn our nickname “Champ” or “Top Gun”. We earn our nicknames by what we do and how we perform, so let’s aspire not to be the next “Turtle”, “Stink Butt” or “Lazy _ _ _ _ _ _.”