You know, the people up the street who ...
Yesterday, while Mike and I were working on our backyard, we were chit-chatting about some of our neighbors.
Other than the people who live directly on either side of us, we don't know any of our neighbors by name or anything about them. We're rather private people and since I don't have an interest in getting sucked into the gossip mill that runs amuck on our street, we stick to ourselves and refer to all of our neighbors by nicknames or labels.
Most of these nicknames are based on something unusual or striking about the neighbor's house or yard, or habits of the owners that set them apart from our other neighbors. When you don't know the names of all your neighbors, it's the easiest way to refer to them in conversation so that the person you're speaking with knows to whom you're referring. For instance, the people who live across the street always sit in their wide-open garage and watch everything that goes on around them. Their label is, "the house where they're always sitting in their garage." Not very original, no, but accurate nonetheless. Another, "the guy who's obsessed with his car." Or, "the place where the slutty daughter lives." I have many others, too, but they aren't quite as nice, so I'm better keeping those to myself. But, I digress ...
Once Mike and I had finished our yardwork, we stood on our back porch to appreciate the efforts of our hard work. We gave each other an approving nod and smile as we gathered up our tools and equipment to head into the house. Then, Mike says, with a devilish grin, "Well, at least they [referring to our neighbors] can't say we're the ones with the shitty yard."
No, I guess "they" won't be able to say that, if they ever did in the first place. Somehow I'm guessing that our crappy yard isn't what our nickname would be based on anyway. Let's face it: Nicknames are formed by finding those things that make a person different in a not-so-good way, and Mike and I are different from our neighbors in a huge not-so-good way.
No, we won't have a shitty yard anymore. But we'll always be "the people whose baby died," even if our yard one day ends up on the cover of Better Homes & Gardens.
Other than the people who live directly on either side of us, we don't know any of our neighbors by name or anything about them. We're rather private people and since I don't have an interest in getting sucked into the gossip mill that runs amuck on our street, we stick to ourselves and refer to all of our neighbors by nicknames or labels.
Most of these nicknames are based on something unusual or striking about the neighbor's house or yard, or habits of the owners that set them apart from our other neighbors. When you don't know the names of all your neighbors, it's the easiest way to refer to them in conversation so that the person you're speaking with knows to whom you're referring. For instance, the people who live across the street always sit in their wide-open garage and watch everything that goes on around them. Their label is, "the house where they're always sitting in their garage." Not very original, no, but accurate nonetheless. Another, "the guy who's obsessed with his car." Or, "the place where the slutty daughter lives." I have many others, too, but they aren't quite as nice, so I'm better keeping those to myself. But, I digress ...
Once Mike and I had finished our yardwork, we stood on our back porch to appreciate the efforts of our hard work. We gave each other an approving nod and smile as we gathered up our tools and equipment to head into the house. Then, Mike says, with a devilish grin, "Well, at least they [referring to our neighbors] can't say we're the ones with the shitty yard."
No, I guess "they" won't be able to say that, if they ever did in the first place. Somehow I'm guessing that our crappy yard isn't what our nickname would be based on anyway. Let's face it: Nicknames are formed by finding those things that make a person different in a not-so-good way, and Mike and I are different from our neighbors in a huge not-so-good way.
No, we won't have a shitty yard anymore. But we'll always be "the people whose baby died," even if our yard one day ends up on the cover of Better Homes & Gardens.
posted by Sherry @ 11/08/2005 06:21:00 PM
1 Comments:
At November 08, 2005 11:03 PM,
msfitzita said…
Hey, we're "the people whose baby died" too! Small world. Small, sad world.
Funny thing though, we do the same thing. Napoleon Dynamite and her husband live two doors down from us and Bizarro Jeff and his wife live across the street. Then there's Carlos and his stripper wife, the crazy yelling house, oh, and Blondie and her brood.
I guess we should learn a few more names too...
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