What's in a name
( a self-centered blog entry)

Hi my name is Antonio but people call me chaps or chappy. When I was a 1st grader, though most of my friends called me through my given name, some guys preferred to call me Negrito and Sunog. How come? Susunod, isang rebelasyon, ang istorya sa mga nickname ni Antonio Ongchap Jr, ilalantad na na!

Nung Ako'y bata pa

Jun-Jun - The first-ever transformation of my name. Dahil junior ako, tawag ng magulang ko sa akin ay Jun-Jun yan ay pag mabait ako. (Ngayong matanda na ako, di na sila redundant. Jun na lang)

Kulot - Eto ang tawag sa akin ni Papa, Mama, Bro, Sis at Yaya ko dati pag mejo asar sila sa akin ( Kulot nagkalat na naman ang laruan mo, Kulat maligo ka na). Kulot kasi kulot talaga ako, kaya nga ako kalbo ngayon.

Negrito - I earned this moniker when I was in grade one. As most of you know, I studied elementary and high school in a Chinese school. Most of my classmates were really mestiso, Kutis labanos. I was the only one who was kutis tae or brown. So when my teacher, the evil Mrs Dela Rosa, would discuss the ancestors of Filipinos, she would always call my name.

Dela Rosa: Class, isa sa mga ninuno natin ay ang mga Negrito. Nakakita na ba kayo ng Negrito?
Class: Di pa po
Dela Rosa: Antonio Halika rito.

I would go in front of the class and stand beside Mrs. Dela Rosa. She would then start describing the Negritos while pointing at me.

Dela Rosa: Kamukha ni Antonio ang mga negrito. Kulot, Maitim ang balat, etc
Class: Ha ha ha!

(Same thing happened when I was in first year high school. My teacher also used me as exhibit a while discussing the negritos)

Because of what Mrs Dela Rosa did, everyone started calling me negrito. This was a very traumatic childhood experience (I'm crying now). I could still remember the name of my classmate who was relentless in calling me Negrito. He's Andrew Yuen, a fat bully. Everyday, he would call me negrito and laugh out loud.

Sunog - It was the name that a group of bullies from section 1-D gave me, again, because of my skin tone. Di kasi nila alam ang tunay kong pangalan kaya Sunog ang tawag nila sa akin.

Alberto Sunog - Sunog eventually evolved and became Alberto Sunog. How? They played a trick on me. While in the CR, they approached me and said that they "came in peace"

Bully1: Oi bati na tayo di ka na namin tatawaging sunog.
Bully2: oo nga
Antonio: Thank you
Bully:1: Ano bang tunay mong pangalan
Antonio: Antonio
Bully all at the same time: ahhhh Alberto Sunog

Nagkamali sila ng dinig kala nila alberto ang sinabi ko ayun.

I'm tired of writing na. Anyways. Chappy came from my blockmates in College. Then Chaps nung nagwowork na ako. Screen name ko din chaps when chatting.

My name continues to evolve until now. Sa Starbucks yun sinusulat nilang name sa receipt ay Chabs, Chubs. (putang ina, mataba na ba ako) tapos latest sa Bo's they wrote it as SAHPSE galeng no. Bye. Till my next entry