Why all the nicknames?

We actually have one known as "Dump". Meet my friend Dump. The looks are priceless.

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Its actually tradidtion

It's a holdover from the old days when brunswick ran pro pool. Every single player got an official nickname. Mosconi was Free willie (not joking) when he played in his first world championship. As part of the press materials they would supply the player list and next to each one was a nickname. I believe charles ursetti had one of the lists on his site but his site is gone now.
 
pt109 said:
Yep....that's the word...'forced'
Over the years, some acquired nick names and some didn't.
Harold Worst was always Harold Worst, to most of us.
But Cornbread Red was a constant also.

Somewhere between the Hustler and the Color of Money, many started clamoring for their
own nick name to establish a bogus stake in the hierarchy of pool players....
....and some were forced on them by promoters and writers.
Kinda difuses the 'sorta glamor' and turns bold colors into pastels.

I was known as Caradine in a bunch of action spots for a while in the 70s....
...I kinda liked that one...and it was necessary 'cause I told no one my name.
Unfortunately. the moniker was for the way I dressed, not the way I fought....:o
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Speaking of nicknames I worked for many years in a very high crime area - North St Louis. A lot of people don't want to be called "outside their name" because they don't to acquire a nickname which might cause them to be confused with someone else. If you call someone a nickname they might tell you in no uncertain terms to stop.
 
measureman said:
Its traditional.
Thru the years I have known
one poke
Richie from the Bronx
the ern
mouse
guitar bobby
choo choo Larry
mental mike
Neptune Joe
one eyed mike
dog biscuit
atm
bugs bunny
chicken neck
Phil the fin
uncle mike
And a bunch of others that I have forgotten.
and most were characters.
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I would love to know how "Neptune" Joe Frady got his name.
 
Found this

I can't believe charles ursetti's (charlesursitti.com) web site is just gone wow that sucks. because of the way he built the original site you cant really even see the stuff on the way back machine. Anyway I found this related list of nicknames... http://www.onepocket.org/Nicknames.htm
 
RoadHustler said:
It's a holdover from the old days when brunswick ran pro pool. Every single player got an official nickname. Mosconi was Free willie (not joking) when he played in his first world championship. As part of the press materials they would supply the player list and next to each one was a nickname. I believe charles ursetti had one of the lists on his site but his site is gone now.
Click to expand...
Some really stick. It would be hard to fine a reference to Andrew Ponzi by his real name.
 
I don't see the big deal it adds a little flair to the pool world. Kind of like Boxing everyone needs a good ring nickname
 
bdorman said:
In other sports you have to earn a nickname; only the very top players get them. Can you imagine every member of your favorite baseball team (football, etc) having a nickname? It would become a joke.
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Actually, I find the opposite to be true. They try to attach nicknames to just about every rookie immediately. Sixers first round pick this year, exhibit A.
I like them in pool.
 
What if your real name is just fkd up, like Lipshitz or Slutsky..... something you just don't like?
 
Because nick names give the game and stories some color. A story about Italian Pete, The Rabi, El Pato, T-Bone, and The Captain, is much more interesting than a story about Peter, Eric, Bob, Tony, and Kirk.
...incidentally, I really like "Sam-no-good-nik"

Good stories are what gets the girls, c'mon Satin Sam, get with the program,
geeze.......
 
RoadHustler said:
I can't believe charles ursetti's (charlesursitti.com) web site is just gone wow that sucks. because of the way he built the original site you cant really even see the stuff on the way back machine. Anyway I found this related list of nicknames... http://www.onepocket.org/Nicknames.htm
Click to expand...

Charles ( bless his heart) is all but retired these days and is not in great health right about now, so with his blessing we have taken possession of his archives. ( to share with future generations)

That being said, " nicknames" are certainly not unique to pool and have always been a part of human culture from the beginning. Typically they are related to something you do very well, how you look, or something you might do that is annoying, that spawns these nicknames, and billiard/pool players have been blessed/cursed with them for as long as there have been players. In the mid to late 1800s, the French billiard superstar of old, Maurice Vignaux was known as " the lion" because of his long and often unruly hair. About the same time in the u.s. you had " gentle Joe" Joseph Dion. Nothing new and not surprising.

In the past, it was not a publicity stunt when a nickname came forth, it was just local lingo that stuck...no harm in that. Nowadays it's more often a marketing gimmick.
 
For quite awhile there was a guy in the room who I knew as Joe Deloya.
One night we were talking about a legal issue and someone said ask Joe he's a lawyer.
I said Joe who?
Joe the lawyer.
With the New Jersey accent Joe the lawyer sounded like Joe Deloya to me.
:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:
 
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