Mum mortified as 'cute' nickname for son backfires during supermarket trip

28 January 2024 , 09:00

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The mum had a nickname for her young son Charlie (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

We all know someone who has an embarrassing nickname or a cutesy pet name they'd rather keep under wraps.

While some are bestowed by romantic partners or friends, others stem back to childhood with parents often adding their twists to their child's moniker.

But one mum saw that decision spectacularly backfire when she went food shopping with her little boy.

Years after the incident, he recounted the funny incident on LuAnna: The Podcast, which is hosted by pals Luisa Zissman and Anna Williamson.

Anna read out his message - and the two women couldn't stop laughing as the story drew to its conclusion.

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"My mum always called me 'Charlie Sausage'," it began. "No idea why, but she never called me by my actual name. You know, the one she chose…

"I used to go with her to do the weekly big shop, and I absolutely loved it. I get very excited and always run off down the aisles. Probably distracted by fresh bread and the sweets aisle, and remembering my mum's advice, off I trot to customer services.

"I find a worker and tell them my name, and sure enough my mum was right. They put out an announcement to find her 'Bing, bong, bing, Good afternoon shoppers. We have a lost child in the store today. We are looking for a Mrs Sausage. That's a Mrs Sausage. Your son Charlie is waiting for you at customer services."

And that's not all. "Not sure when she stopped calling me Charlie Sausage, but at 32 she now publicly calls me Greglet, which in my opinion is much, more worse!"

While nicknames can be embarrassing, some people are desperate to change their birth names.

One woman recently took to Reddit and explained that her mum named her Ethereal, an adjective to describe something "extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world".

She said: "I asked my parents why they named me an adjective and my mum said she loves the meaning and pronunciation. Growing up teachers would always giggle when they heard it and it made me feel self conscious so I went by Ethy for the most part."

Ethereal recalled how her name once cropped up as a 'word of the day' at her middle school, leaving her mortified as everyone came to understand its meaning.

"It was one of our vocab words and everyone laughed," she added. "Ethereal is just too much. I’m too introverted for that name.

"Everyone in my personal and professional life calls me Ethy, and I’ve been considering changing it to that legally."

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