Words/Meaning: Marcello/Turco Family Style

Cousin-Auntie Helen/Cousin-Uncle Paulie: As I mentioned in class, my family has been doing strange things with names for a long while. These phrases evolved when I realized that my cousins (about the same age as my Dad) were not actually my aunt and uncle. The confusion had been cusaed by the fact that we referred to my cousins as, well, cousins. I thought this meant that they were the children of my parent's siblings when they were, in fact, children of my Dad's cousins. Then I realized that I saw these people more often than my acutal Aunts and Uncles,and the name stuck. My Dad first developed this term since I think he used to call one of his elder cousins this. This means (to me) that I always have some relation to go to within the state if I need help, and that I can use thier connections and help if I need it. As an aside, my C-U Paulie is like the honorable rabbi in that HE TALKS LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME.

Nikkie-poo: This is my Dad's current term for me. It evolved from when he used to call me "Pookie" a whooping 3 months ago. When I told him it was a bit embarrasing for him to be calling an almost-18-year-old that on the Field Hockey field in front of pretty much everyone I knew, he decided to stop....for a bit. It then moved on to "Nikita," as in the kick-ass assassin (try saying that 5 times) of the same name. I appreciated this because I like the "stong-girl" steryotype (that we have this steryotype at all is a sad thing: Joss Wheedon interview Q: So, why do you write these strong female characters?A: Because you’re still asking me that question.). Then Dad forgot that he was calling me that name and called me "Pookie" on the FH field again...this time in front of Mr. Mendola. I corrected him and he had the brilliant idea of combinging the two. This apparently cracked Mr.M up, so attention-***** that he is, he kept on doing it.