Would you rather be european or mucus?
This week I have been thinking about nicknames, at university I knew people from Stephenson hall (awful place in Sheffield, for wanna-be-at-a-redbrick people, football, lager, shouting - sorry people who this applies to):
Pies (eats lots of)
Big Tom
Little Tom (self explanatory)
Stove (because he stole one on the first night)
Chewy (from Chu bacca)
Mumra (thunder cats duvet cover)
Camp Ben (skinny knees)
Stinio
Sexy Dan (true)
SG
the Silver Fox
PA (Paul-Andre, hon hon hon, that was supposed to be a French chuckle)
All fine and good.
Do you know what my nickname was?
Flem, that’s right Flem, or if someone was being extra friendly flemWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, flemwah.
Why am I annoyed? Because the first thing that springs to mind is not this:
The term Flemings (Dutch: Vlamingen) denotes the majority population in Flanders (the northern half of Belgium). The exact definition of who is Flemish, and the nature of the Flemish people are controversial issues, in the context of Belgian politics. Identification of the Flemings as a separate ‘people’ (I don’t like the sound of this we are “people” too) is what the main Flemish separatist party, Vlaams Belang, wants to achieve and to separate from Belgium. OO ER, I never knew just being me was making a political statement, lest said soonest mended.
No, what makes me cross, is that my nickname reminds people of this:
Phlegm (pronounced flem) is sticky fluid secreted by the typhoid membranes of animals. Its definition is limited to the mucus produced by the respiratory system, excluding that from the nasal passages, and particularly that which is expelled by coughing. Its composition varies, depending on climate, genetics and state of the immune system, but basically is a water-based gel consisting in glycoproteins, immunoglobulins, lipids, etc.
In Hippocratic medicine, and for hundreds of years until about the 19th century, phlegm was counted as one of the four bodily humours, possessing the properties of coldness and wetness, and was responsible for apathetic and sluggish behaviour. This old belief is preserved in the word phlegmatic.
