What They Call Me

Amy Butt 2.27.12
I had a loud, hilarious, blunt, and surprisingly sweet boss at my old job with Jamba Juice. I worked with her a lot because she’d always put me on opening shifts with her. It’d be just us two for a couple of hours handling those obnoxious and entitled West LA clientele, since she knew she’d save money by maximizing the built-in efficiency of a young Chinese woman like myself. Those were hectic mornings, but her calling me this name along with a theme song she composed brought much joy to this minimum-wage job.

Amy Teacher 11.21.11
I don’t know why it took me so long to add this one on the list, but being called this name brings back wonderful memories of my time with the students of Ivy League Academy, a Korean after-school/summer program. I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of these quirky, funny, rowdy, and hard-working students’ lives as their non-Korean, “China” teacher. I taught a 4th/5th grade combination class, and loved every minute of learning their culture, inspiring them, and having fun goofing off while still constantly disciplining them. I still miss all the students so much, and I always get emotional thinking about them.

Huster 7.16.11
It happens so that the two Jessi’s I love so dearly in my life, Johnson and Pham, both holla for me with this nickname. The reason I love it is because I can be referred to by my last name with no confusion with any of my sisters, especially my twin. Also, it manages to sound fun and make me feel special at the same time.

Amylady 6.28.10
My best friend from high school, Katrina, began using such a name around my junior year. I can’t remember if it was due to factors of motherliness or simply nice-sounding phonetics, but I began to let it stick with me. It soon penetrated usernames of all sorts of web accounts for years, and I still use it to this day. It has a nice ring to it, but I guess you really can use it with almost any two-syllable name, and some three.

Ames. 3.5.10
I remember first hearing this name from Tammy, my twin sister. It was the first time I actually heard a nickname that at least sounded shorter than my already tiny name, though not spelled with less letters.

Ahu. 3.1.10 Going off of the popular way to refer to people in my InterVarsity chapter, my brothers and sisters in my fellowship have given me a nickname that has combined obviously the first letter of my first name and my surname. This works especially well if you have the letter “A” or a one syllable last name. Hence, mainly the East Asians have been called in such a way. And JLo of course.

Clown. 2.22.10 I was voted class clown in 5th grade, a time where I frequented the corner of the classroom and the eyes of Mrs. Whyte staring down at me in disappointment and frustration. And even today, for my past 23rd birthday, my Aunt Shirley and Uncle Carlos got me a clown cake. They said it was very “Amy.”

Dr. Who 2.2.10 The students I substitute teach for at Pacifica High decided to give me this “cool” nickname, based on my last name. This is one of the better uses of my surname.

Video Geek. 1.25.10 Some of my junior highers at Team Prime Time have created such a nickname for me. They tell me it is mainly because of how I look and what I do. Makes sense.

Dai Ngow (Big Cow in Cantonese) 1.1.10 Growing up, my family has always referred to me as “Big Cow,” which is actually more of a term of endearment, believe it or not. It’s supposed to be a way to poke fun at my chubby physique, as well as refer to my bad temper as a child. To this day, I am still Dai Ngow to my family and have indeed embraced it.