Grrl Power #1312 – Epiphonym
“…that was about the hardest thing I’ve ever done and I’ve ________________”
• sat in a meeting with the joint chiefs without rolling my eyes.
• resisted the urge to punch out a sexist MTI* during basic.
• had to learn how to put on a bra in my adolescence with wildly fluctuating super strength. Come to think of it, just pulling up my jeans was often a real potential disaster until I learned how to control my strength and speed. I can tell you I learned very quickly to keep a few changes of outfits in my locker at school.
• didn’t break one guy’s hand who grabbed my boob during drills. Oh, wait, I absolutely crushed his hand. No, Sydney! Not with my boob! How would that even… Hmm. Maybe if I squeezed his hand between my boobs then maxed out my armor…
*Military Training Instructor, basically a Drill Sergeant.
I don’t know how often first names are used in the military. I assume when there aren’t any officers around and you’re lounging in the barracks or out digging a ditch somewhere, people revert to first names for the squadmates they know. In a military hospital? I can see a doctor referring to a patient by rank, just cause it’s easier than learning a bunch of last names, or maybe it’s more formal, especially if the doctor is an officer. But I also figure there’s an even chance that when you’re convalescing in a hospital bed, someone might roll up with a gregarious bedside manner too. And probably a nurse or orderly might not be so formal, but then Peggy might not have wanted to correct a parade of hospital staff as they came through to check on her. I’m just saying, it might have been like a week or two between when she lost her leg and the first time she actually said “Peggy” outloud to anyone.
I think I’ve already done all the “Eileen/Irene/Peggy” jokes, so I’ll leave that be for now. And I know I’ve said it before, but I myself didn’t even realize naming my one-legged female character Peggy was a pre-existing joke. I think I named her Peggy because I had just learned that Peggy was shorty for Margaret, the same way Dick is short for Richard and Bud is short for Aloysius. Okay, obviously Bud is not short for Aloysius, but apparently people can just make up whatever shit they want when it comes to “X is short for Y.” Dick isn’t short for Richard, it’s a shorter and completely different name. Same thing for Peg/Margaret. Hell, I could say Riboflavin is short for Dave, even though it’s longer, because there are no rules and nothing matters.
Anyway, I thought the Margaret/Peggy thing was interesting, and I had to call her something, so here we are.
The new vote incentive is up!
Dabbler went somewhere tropical, in a very small bikini. As you might guess, it doesn’t stay on for long, which of course, you can see over at Patreon. Also she has an incident with “lotion,” and there’s a bonus comic page as well.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like.
So, on the name thing, Dick as a nickname for Richard seems to have come from rhyming slang in the middle ages for Rick. But this also just means the use of the word for someone’s junk is actually a couple HUNDRED years younger than it’s use as a name. Originally it was just a way of saying “the lads”.
And Aloysius is the Latin form for many more common names used today like Louis, Luis, and Luigi. And Louis and Bud are actually a fairly common combo for names. But traditionally, Bud is more commonly a nickname for Donald, which makes just as much sense.
But the Margaret to Peggy is actually very similar to the Richard to Dick etymology. First, there’s the more obvious (but a little weird) version of Meg or Maggie as nicknames for Margaret, which happened because nicknames want to drop certain phonemes per Grimm’s Law. And once they had Meg/Meggy, jumping to Peg/Peggy was just more rhyming slang. As well, there is the issue of Margaret and Megan actually having some shared etymology, with Margaret being more Greek/Latin and Megan being Welsh, but both coming from the word for “Pearl”. And getting that connection, Meg makes a lot more sense.
I’m guessing Sydney doesn’t know that Avalanches tend to have a lot of trees, rocks, dirt, and other ‘stuff’ mixed in with all that snow?
Also, a hurricane is a natural disaster, and that’s just a whole bunch of water moving very quickly, so also technically edible.
hurricanes are also notorious for picking up debris
Those are edible.
and random animals.
Those are also edible
Not vegan tho
She should have gotten a magic marker and wrote her name on her prosthetic. It seems like the kind of thing a marine would do.
Pretty typical for Jarheads… and Squids… also soldiers.
I can’t comment on Airmen.
I used to work with a guy who called everyone “DUTCH” when he forgot your name.
That face is being saved as a reaction image.
In basic and tech school they encouraged us to learn each others’ first names and use them when instructors weren’t around. Around the shop it was all last names with those equal to or below you, and rank with those above you (or sir or ma’am depending on the situation). Nicknames eventually come into play – especially with common last names. When higher-ranking people want to let you know they’re really trying to connect they’ll use your first name.
As an aside – all doctors and nurses are officers so they can give any enlisted person orders. This requires you to follow their medical advice because they were lawful orders coming from an officer. It gets trickier with higher-ranking officers, but by that time it’s hoped the person is smart enough to just listen to medical professionals and not need to be ordered.
Served for 8-ish years, never even heard some of my battle’s first names. When we got comfy with each other, we’d just drop the rank off. So instead of specialist Baker, he’d just be called Baker until/unless he earned a nickname.
Ok just got to say this, I IRL once knew a woman with one-legged named Peggy. Lived next door to my gran.
You didn’t include the old one: Where does the one-legged waitress (Eileen) work?
IHOP, of courses.
Max and Peggy’s faces in that interaction are some of my favourite things you have ever drawn.
Good thing she didn’t lose that eye or she’d have a patch, too.
Ok, I am sick and perverse but it needs said. She is a one-legged LESBIAN named PEG-gy. The name hits one more than one level!
Actually, she’s bi. She’s admitted to being attracted to guys on occasion because hormones.
Anyone else thought she was named peggy cause she liked to use strap ons? Anyone? no?
Y’know, back in the day, The Beatles used to introduce the song “Till There Was You,” by saying it was by their favorite singer, “Peggy Leg.”
Not gonna lie, I thought she got the nickname ‘Peggy’ AFTER losing the leg. Typical military humour, y’know?
Mary Dague and the her cavalcade of shirts referencing her lack of arms come to mind.
Embarrassed and instantly regretful Maxima is easily the cutest she’s ever looked. And that face was absolutely perfectly drawn
Err… You do realize the joke here is that it’s an ava-_lunch_, right?