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Have you noticed that in recent years, nicknames for sports personalities have practically disappeared into oblivion? It's enough to go back one or two decades - and what masterpieces of wit have we seen on the court or the turf? Megatron, The Big Ticket, White Chocolate, let alone Beast Mode or Black Mamba!

Nicknames are not only disappearing from sports - they are gradually disappearing from our everyday life, from our language, making us poorer. Of course, the first name and last name are wonderful, but there are a dime a dozen of conditional John Smiths around the world, and a nickname aptly reflects some of our unique qualities or an event that once happened to us.

A nickname can be incredibly funny or cynical, ridiculous or cruel - it can replace our name, or we can try our best to get rid of it. But anyway, this is what reflects our essence, or some of its sides, whether it is light or dark.

A few days ago, there was a thread on Twitter where user @NoContextBrits asked one simple question: "What's the best nickname you've ever heard?" The thread almost instantly went viral, having collected not only around 13K likes and almost 1.5K replies, but also a real treasure trove of human wit and cynicism.

Bored Panda has put together a selection of the wittiest, most unexpected, and simply the most popular tweets from the original thread for you, so now feel free to scroll to the very end of this list, mark the best submissions and if you've heard a funny or incredibly well-aimed nickname as well, please be sure to write about it in the comments.

Image credits: NoContextBrits

More info: Twitter

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    Initially, nicknames were given to people in the old days, when there were no last names, to emphasize some unique trait. In ancient societies, there were not many available names, so to distinguish people, they were given nicknames. Moreover, over time, it was the nicknames that turned into our last names - so in fact, today we still use them.

    It's interesting that by last name, you can investigate exactly what specific feature one of your distant ancestors possessed. By the way, nicknames were often given in the opposite way, so a short person could well have, for example, the nickname "Long". Yes, sarcasm in the old days sometimes went off the scale.

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    In fact, the psychological effect of nicknames can be both positive and negative. For example, Alfred Kuranchie of Catholic University College of Ghana ten years ago specifically studied how the nicknames given to students affect their academic performance and learning process in general. "Identifying people with names other than their real names has the tendency to negatively or positively affect the bearers of fad names," claims Kuranchie.

    "The respondents whose nicknames emanated from their personal features reported that they felt humiliated and embarrassed when their colleagues addressed them by such names. They intimated that because their classmates hilariously and comically scream and shout their nicknames when they contributed to discussions, whether they were right or wrong, they found it extremely difficult to participate fully in class," the researcher says.

    "Similarly, those whose nicknames emanated from the mistakes they committed in class indicated that their class participation had been very minimal since then. They claimed that they abstained from class contributions in order to avoid more frosty nicknames," sums up Alfred Kuranchie.

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    As for sports, here nicknames often become a kind of part of the athlete's personal brand. Suffice it to recall, for example, Michael Jordan and the Air Jordan brand, created in collaboration with Nike. In any case, nicknames still remain with us - the main thing is that they are not offensive, but effective and beautiful.

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    #11

    Best-Nickname-Ever-Heard-Twitter

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    Jen Hart
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Three of us in an office for a few months. Two of us are "Jen." The third lady called us "Jen" and "other Jen." (I was "Jen" because I was there first with the other lady). "Other Jen" thought it was funny and started calling herself "OJ."

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    #12

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    #15

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    kitten levels tokyo
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I worked with a guy called “Johnny New Boots” because he showed up on the first day at that job with…a Mohawk. No, just kidding. He had new boots on.

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    Vishy
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Spilled my lunch and still laughing. Had a guy in training who never qualified weapons. Two DWD. Nobody stayed around him during wep maintenance. He was called the Terminator.

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    #20

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    kitten levels tokyo
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    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I once worked for a construction foreman who was proud of his skill of coming up with nicknames for workers. He named one slightly chubby young new guy “G***y.” It seemed to fit. (And the kid didn’t mind.) EDIT: From the comments I found out this name is not nice. I didn’t know that. In the US it is a goofy green cartoon character made out of Play Doh or something like that. I apologize.

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    #23

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    Geoffrey Scott
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    IT guy where I work was drilling a hole for a projector screen, drilled right through adjoining wall, I JUST painted (about 1 ft thick) I now call him "Happy Drillmore"

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    UKGrandad
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    2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I used to work with a guy who was into the Sex Pistols; he also had very oily skin so he was known as Sid Viscous.

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    #32

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    kitten levels tokyo
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I was called Rodney in primary school because one of the other kids had a lunchbox with a cartoon character on it with that name. Eventually even some of the teachers thought that was my name.

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    Headless Roach
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    When offices were a thing before the pandemic, we always loved when Coffee Guy or the Sandwich Lady came around

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    #34

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    ShaZam Beaubien
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I've worked around a lot of guys and it seems their nicknames are the opposite of what is true ... For example someone ugly would be called Handsome.

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    #38

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    BasedWang12.7
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    2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And after posting this I hope Emilia gained the nickname "highschool"

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