Call Me Red

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Daily writing prompt
What’s the story behind your nickname?

The closest thing I’ve ever had to a nickname would be “Red“. When I was very young, I had red hair. I mean, it was almost orange. Lots of freckles, fair skin, stereotypical, redheaded, Irish temper, the whole ball of wax.

My parents even taught me that it would be funny to answer the question “where did you get the red hair from?” With “the milkman.” People would laugh hysterically, and as a young kid under the age of 10, I didn’t know why the hell that was so funny. I really started to resent that question after a while. I always felt like people were laughing at me instead of with me. 

With all due respect to Mr. Freeman‘s character… 

Obviously , I understand the joke now. But it’s like got older, my hair actually got darker. So much so, that, even though I still referred to myself as a redhead, my students are like “you don’t have red hair.“ The nickname originated from The Old Man. I’m sure that’s a big part of the reason why I even remotely hold onto it still.

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6 responses to “Call Me Red”

  1. MaryG Avatar

    The ginger gene is wild – the way it skips around . When an entirely dark-haired family has that one red-headed daughter.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. rebuilding rob Avatar

      Right?

      Both my parents had dark hair. When he was younger, my father had a beard that came in red. But the red hair itself actually skipped a few generations, going back to my great-grandfather.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. MaryG Avatar

        GREAT grandfather – that’s wild. Can definitely see how the milkman joke became ubiquitous!

        Liked by 1 person

  2. Gary Trujillo Avatar

    The character in the book was named “Red” because he actually had red hair although I’m not complaining about the Morgan Freeman choice in the role. He was brilliant.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. rebuilding rob Avatar

      Actually, I never read the novel, but I figured it came from there. I thought I would be remiss if I didn’t mention The Shawshank Redemption.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Gary Trujillo Avatar

        You should check it out, it’s actually a short story. Good stuff….Steven King (although you prob knew that)

        Liked by 1 person

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