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Michael Phelps Needs a Nickname
Michael Fred Phelps needs the perfect nickname. He has dozens of them, but nothing quite suits him -- nothing, except, his swimsuit. What can we call a superhuman who eats 12,000 - 14,000 calories a day, has double-joined knees and breaks records like snap peas?
There are two nicknames that keep splashing around the news: The Baltimore Bullet and Flying Fish. According to Wikipedia, The Baltimore Bullet is his official unofficial name. But does everyone agree? The Chinese, "fei yu," supposedly, sounds a bit like “Michael Phelps” and also means Flying Fish. The name was used by several local newspapers in Beijing.[1] An additional influence for the name, of course, was Phelp's famous dolphin-like kick, and his invisible gills.[2] Well, does he swim like a bullet or a fish?
Still, Phelps hasn't been confirmed as Flying Fish or Baltimore Bullet -- and his teammates call him Gomer. He reminds them of Gomer Pyle, from the Andy Griffith show -- that good-natured, country boy, played by Jim Nabors. Supposedly, Phelps is as friendly as Forrest Gump. [3]
Meanwhile, fans are struggling to find a nickname to laud his swimming skills. Yahoo answers, a marvelous source for random and opinionated information, suggested that “the” nickname for Michael Phelps was one of the following: Aquaman, Walrus and Weishing Young (meaning “alien” in Chinese.”)[4] Another, more ambitious group of users proposed their own suggested nicknames, including The Sea Monster, Sharkboy, Sea Cucumber and my personal favorit, Roid Muncher. [5]
Baltimore Sun Reporter Kevin Cowherd made a concerted, professional effort to find a nickname for Phelps by quizzing readers. He proposed the following names to Phelps – the favorites: Phlish, Phlash and Phlipper. He asked,"Do any of those, er, do anything for you?" Michael Phelps forced a smile, and said, "They make me excited. I'm ready to get back in the water." And with that, the flying Baltimore roid munching bullet fish jumped back in the water, where he belongs.[6]
Author: Clarissa Caldwell
NOTES
- ↑ http://farfromfrostburg.blogspot.com/2008/08/olympics-short-michael-phelps-chinese.html accessed August 26, 2008
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1711727/bio, accessed August 26, 2008
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_phelps, accessed August 25, 2008
- ↑ http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080817095947AAZl1vO, accessed August 26, 2008
- ↑ http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080816150727AAvtmlS, accessed August 26, 2008
- ↑ http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/olympics/bal-to.cowherd13sep13001642,0,1423544.column?page=2 accessed August 26, 2008
