nickname nation

yesterday i was out with heather and rob who have both spent time in Aus. i came up with the term nickname nation. we all agree that australians often shorten names.
the thing they don't realise is how seriously us aussie are into nic names. there's the whole 'zza' nicname. for example, kerryn becomes kezza, darren becomes dazza and then of course everyone knows a shazza.
or if a person has a short name, then due to our obsessive nickname nature, we lengthen it. take my dad, ross becomes rossco, or my friends, beth becomes betho, annie becomes fannie (or better yet, fannie mac), jayne becomes jaynus.
or then there's the whole adding an 'o' on the end. ask any aussie and i guarantee they will know a jono, a robbo and a stevo. i just realised beth fits into this category as well.
anyway, this is just a short snippet on the nickname nation.
we won't even get into regular words like sunnies or arvo. well, save those for another blog.

by the way, i am now is LA. i am here for a few days, then out to phoenix and the grand canyon - or a dad calls it, the big hole in the ground. my flights here got a bit delayed but it all worked out pretty much, i got in to LA about 2 hours after i was supposed to. unfortunately i was greated with the news that kez isn't going to be here. she wasn't too well last night and so that is a bit sad. hil might still bring daniel down, but we'll just wait and see how she is tomorrow before they decide whether they will come or not. good news is my uncle is coming over to the states for a conference so we will get to see him on monday. funny thing is his conference is in seattle - where mum and dad live, but of course they are down here right now. pretty funny. alright, it's been a long day and so i am going to go to sleep now. i think mum and i are going shopping in the morning. i haven't bought a thing since i have been in toronto, so i think i am due. goodnight.