The Name

The name: Cal is Soup; Owen is Chick…Chick and Soup (Chicken Soup)…witty.

Here’s how Caleb became Soup. First off, I have called Caleb everything from Bob Marley to Michael Jordan to Barney Rubble. This week, for some reason or another, it’s been Garfunkel. (Playing the role of the loyal partner, Owen has assumed the moniker of Simon for the week.) But back to Soup. Ya see, Caleb became “Cal.” Which anyone with any knowledge of Mary Poppins would readily expand to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I soon found that can be a mouthful—particularly when a warning is needed to alert the lad of oncoming traffic. The shortened version was “Super-Cal.” I liked that…it had a Super Hero quality to it. But calling your kid Super Cal may go to his head after a while. Next thing you know the kid’s wearing a cape and attempting to dive off porches expecting a draft of wind to propel him skyward. So the abridged version became Soup. Now, he’s still Caleb…when he’s not Little Bob Marley or Garfunkel. But he will respond to an occasional Soup. But that’s just between him and me.

Owen’s story is much simpler. A crabby baby Owen was once pacified by a lyrically innovative song I like to call “O-Chick.” It goes something like this…a-hem…”O-Chick-Chick-Chick-Chick-Chick; O-Chick-Chick-Chick-Chick-Chick; O-Chick-Chick-Chick-Chick-Chick; O-ch-ch-Chick-Chick-O.” Chick has several derivations including “Chicken” and “The Chicken.”

At some later time, while contemplating how people can possibly vote for Hillary Clinton, what types of Dorito-flavors would be successful, and why the word Light is spelled L-I-T-E on low-cal foods, I realized that I had inadvertently nicknamed my two best short pals Chick and Soup (Chicken Soup)…witty.