{"id":20112,"date":"2022-01-21T13:22:05","date_gmt":"2022-01-21T18:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=20112"},"modified":"2022-01-21T15:00:25","modified_gmt":"2022-01-21T20:00:25","slug":"tim-giago-memories-of-nicknames-and-hard-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/01\/21\/tim-giago-memories-of-nicknames-and-hard-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Giago: Memories of nicknames and hard work"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Tim<\/a>
Tim Giago. Photo courtesy Native Sun News Today<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
Notes from Indian Country<\/div>\r\n
What\u2019s in a name?<\/div>\r\n
Friday, January 21, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji \u2013 Stands Up For Them)<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nRichard \u201cSonny\u201d Torres loved to give people nicknames. This was one of the habits he acquired even as a teenager.

<\/P>\r\nFor instance, his younger brother had a nickname since he was a small boy. His name is Andres Torres, but his folks named him \u201cBuzzy.\u201d Well, Sonny didn\u2019t think that plain old Buzzy had much pizazz so he renamed him \u201cPoker Joe.\u201d It was a great nickname, but most of his friends and cousins sill called him \u201cBuzzy.\u201d

<\/P>\r\nSonny thought it over for a few years and then he changed Buzzy\u2019s name to \u201cPasquale\u201d Even that name didn\u2019t last for long so Buzzy is still known as Buzzy.

<\/P>\r\nMy older brother came into this world with the first name of Anthony. The family called him Tony. Sonny thought that Tony was a bit tame so he named him Tuna. That nickname caught on so that even some of Tony\u2019s closest friends started to call him Tuna. But of course names and nicknames don\u2019t stay in Sonny\u2019s mind too long so the next thing we knew Tuna had been re-Christened \u201cTuna the Bass\u201d by Sonny.

<\/P>\r\n \"Weld<\/a>

In Weld County, Colorado. Photo: arbyreed<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nMany years prior to that my sister Lillian, sister Shirley and I lived with my Aunt Mary, Sonny\u2019s mom, while my father and older brother Tuna were working on a farm in Greeley, Colorado. One day my Aunt Mary and her sister, my mom Lupe, called us all together and said that my Dad had sent some money and he wanted me, my sisters and my cousin Sonny to hop a bus and join him and Tuna on the farm in Greeley.

<\/P>\r\nWe were all excited about getting out of Rapid City and seeing some new sights. Buzzy was standing there when we got the news and he wanted to come with us so bad that he started crying. \u201cI haven\u2019t even been to Pine Ridge,\u201d he spluttered. He is very thankful to this day that he did not come with use because the place my Dad called a farm was one big sugar beet field and that is where we were headed.

<\/P>\r\nWhen our bus arrived in Greeley we disembarked and stood in front of the bus station looking like lost pups. Just then a pickup truck pulled up and a man got out, walked up to us and started speaking Spanish. Sonny immediately replied, \u201cI\u2019m sorry sir, we don\u2019t speak English.\u201d The man looked a little puzzled, but he herded us into the back of the truck and we were off to the sugar beet fields.

<\/P>\r\nWe worked in the blazing sun for about a month without a day off. And then one Saturday Sonny said, \u201cWe are going to the movies tonight in Greeley and I don\u2019t care what your Dad says.\u201d Well, Dad was quite cooperative and in fact even gave us the money for a movie, popcorn and a coke.

<\/P>\r\nThe movie we saw starred Loretta Young. She had taken in a bum off of the street and gave him a plate of food. As the man chowed down on his food Loretta asked him if he want more. He said, \u201cMore meat.\u201d That was enough for Sonny because he realized that the man in the movie was a dead ringer for the owner of the farm we worked on and his name was Mr. Sweet. He would never be Mr. Sweet to us again because from then on he was \u201cMore meat.\u201d

<\/P>\r\n

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