Pee Problems

Nicknames.

Where they came from and why usually gets a bit clouded and obscured in later life.

Take my childhood nickname of Thomp or often amended to Thump or Thumper.

The former became my label when I was about 12 years old in the Scouts. My surname is the Scottish version of the English Thompson, therefore without the 'P'.

You would not think that a single consonant could cause so much trouble but it has and to such an extent that just for a simple life I have often contemplated taking up the spelling from south of the border.

In every situation requiring my surname , be it written, verbal or in any other form the 'P' almost always creeps in.

I have, over my 50 plus years, spent a great deal of time correcting application forms, on-line documents and the like and this has included important, fundamental  documents including Drivers Licence, Passport, Bank details, employment data and just about every thing revolving around and impacting on my identity.

My nickname was obviously derived from someone's observation of my attempts to rectify the mis-spellings.

In my younger years I will have been enthusiastic about correcting what I took to be disrespect or just plain sloppiness on the part of administrators, teachers and those in authority and will regularly have been overheard to say 'without the p', 'without the p', 'without the p'.

Peers can be quite cruel when they pick up on something that grinds the gears and so Thomp it became for much of my teenage existence.

Perhaps I should have persisted in my protestations but the sheer effort became quite exhausting and demoralising after a few years.

If I had stuck to my quest I would not, today, have the extensive collection of Certificates of Achievement, Cycling Trophies and Newspaper Articles belonging to some high flyer by the name of Peter Thompson.

That poor sop Peter Thomson- he has nothing much to show for himself. Loooooooo-ser!