Like many parenting bloggers, I use nicknames when I write about my kids.
I employ these nicknames in a half-hearted attempt to protect the privacy of children that I already wholeheartedly exploit every single day. (And it would be even more wholehearted if someone would actually pay me to exploit them! My door is always open.
As you probably already know, when writing about them online, I refer to my five-year-old (he’ll be six in two weeks!) as Detective Munch and I refer to my baby as The Hammer. I get asked about the origins of those names fairly frequently, but I don’t think I’ve ever explained them (on my blog). So if you’re curious, today’s your lucky day.
But there’s a catch. I need your help!
Let’s start with Detective Munch.
No, I don’t watch “Law and Order SVU” because I think it’s gross and I’m not just talking about Ice-T. So despite appearances, my son’s nickname has nothing to do with that show. (My favorite “Law and Order” is “Criminal Intent”. Deal with it!)
Detective Munch’s name is a result of a few things. Lots of people call their young kids “munchkins” but I’ve never been big on that. And I’ve been aware of Richard Belzer’s cop character for a long time, back when he was on “Homicide”, but the nickname doesn’t really have anything to do with Belzer, or even the shows he’s been on. I’ve just always thought his last name was funny, and it was a handy alternative to “munchkin”. But, most importantly, it came with a title.
Everyone knows giving kids titles is funny, and for the same reason that giving animals human names is funny: IT JUST IS. It’s like putting a monkey in a tuxedo. PURE HILARITY.
When I first started my blog, I am pretty sure I referred to my kid as Lieutenant Munch, because I remember seeing an episode of one of the 300 shows Belzer’s character appeared on (it’s a record, check out the third paragraph!) in which he got a promotion or something. Then I realized I was wrong about that – or else I realized that Detective is a funnier (and also more bad-ass) title than Lieutenant – and so I made the switch. Hence, Detective Munch.
As for The Hammer? Well, that origin story is a little more straightforward.
When we told the Detective he was having a brother, he wasn’t thrilled. Then, at Christmas, when we told him The Hammer’s (real) name, he wasn’t thrilled. To console him, we told him that his little brother was going to have nicknames, and that he could come up with his own, to which Detective Munch IMMEDIATELY replied, “Can I call him Hammer?” to which I immediately replied, “YES!” (I was thrilled.)
After all, “Hammer” is much better than “Toilet,” which was another name that he’d put on the table (but that we quickly flushed).
Unfortunately, we’ve reached a crossroads, and I need your help.
Mom and Buried has never been a huge fan of the Hammer’s nickname, and, as luck would have it, Detective Munch has recently come up with a few new ones. (Thankfully, he’s a big fan of his baby bro so none of them are toilet-related.) One of them is the delightful “Mister Baby” which, while hilarious and lots of fun to use around the house, obviously has a short shelf-life.
Should I change The Hammer’s nickname?
I feel like King Handsome is like saying he is the King of handsome, but you have an equally handsome older boy, so there’s that. And also, I like “The Hammer” because I think of him as this iron fist, laying down law, breaking the mold, breaking hearts, breaking expectations, just steamrollin his way onto the scene and stealing the show.
Why can’t he be the Hammer King? It has whiff of the Brothers Grimm about it. Also, Nintendo.
The Hammer fits the second child regardless of sex—the help hammer the nail in the coffin.
The Hammer always made me think of Thor and his hammer, which is cool. so I say stick with it.
I second the Hammer King idea
Yep, I like Hammer King as well!!!
It’s not so much liking the hammer as it is voting against King handsome. I’d go with whatever MaB wants.
It’s gotta be The Hammer. How can you mess with perfection.
Leave it! When I was pregnant with my second, our first wanted to name the baby Deadpool. Since we clearly couldn’t do that (thanks a lot, polite society!), we named the baby Wade. Number one still calls him baby deadpool. It’s cute and will be badass once he can know more about the actual (uhhh, fictional) deadpool… You know, minus the murder and insanity.
Our younger daughter’s name is Lillian, which we have shortened to Lilly, which we have elongated to Lillyhammer, which we have shortened to Hammer. And she answers to it. And she IS the Hammer. Embrace the Hammer for who he is.
Do you want an eventual teenager called King Handsome?
No.
Family nicknames gotta last.
Hammer is Hammer and always will be. Why change it? He is the most adorable child ever, makes my day with his smile and his name is Hammer!
Much as Detective Munch was promoted from lieutenant maybe the hammer can be promoted to King Hammer? Mister Baby really is delightful though.
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this fantastic blog!
I guess for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my
Google account. I look forward to new updates
and will talk about this website with my Facebook group. Chat
soon!
First of all I want to say awesome blog! I had a quick question that I’d
like to ask if you do not mind. I was curious to find out
how you center yourself and clear your thoughts before writing.
I have had difficulty clearing my mind in getting my ideas out there.
I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15
minutes are usually lost just trying to figure out how to begin. Any ideas or hints?
Appreciate it!
Haha um… usually i force myself to write. A lot of times I end up deleting the first stuff that comes out – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written blog posts and then before I finished them totally deleted the original opening paragraphs. Sometimes you just have to kick the rust off! Not sure if this helps but good luck!
This website really has all of the info I needed about this subject and didn’t know who to ask.
This is a topic that’s near to my heart… Take care!
Where can I find the contact details for questions?
Actually when someone doesn’t know after that its up to other visitors that they will help,
so here it occurs.
Pingback: Is it Wrong To Call Your Kids 'Buddy'? Of Course Not! - Dad and Buried
Pingback: Going Father Than You've Ever Been Before - Citybase Apartments