Netnet Camomot IT could all start with a piece of cake pops at the first coffee shop. Or should that be cake pop if it's only one piece? The sugar rush revs up your adrenaline for a while. But then the rush morphs to mush, and you're craving again for something, anything, thus, there's the pizza, panini, cakes at the second coffee shop. Sugar rushes through the veins again in the second cafe, and once they're gone, there you are, raiding the bedroom fridge for peanuts. Or did it all start with the rice for the dinner at home? The cake pops, er, pop was supposed to be dessert--and for not wanting to stay at the first cafe without ordering anything. It has become the high school classmates' assembly place before proceeding to the funeral homes across the street, and on Friday night, there you were again, about to pay your last respects for the uncle of a classmate. Ulaw man to sit there without at least checking out the goodies on display and asking the cafe's owner, Unsa na? She replied, Cake pops. And the rest, as they say, is history. Wink wink. The classmate's uncle was also the father of a friend whose nickname belongs to a group of names that sounded alike so that if you'd blurt out a syllable, say, Net, more than one head would turn and reply, Yes? The daughter's name is Bernen in your Jaycee chapter that also had Nennen, Netnet, Manette, Nenette, Nitz... And there were two Lindas, thus, the need to add C or D for the first letters of their surnames. And two Joys who I guess had to be called as Joy Tabs and Joy Lim to avoid confusion. The first three letters of the first Joy's surname is Tab, while Lim is the full surname of the other. In the Rotary club where some of those names have "graduated" to--Jaycee age is up to 40 only--Netnet still gets called as Nennen in these groups of names that now have two Bongs whom you've christened as Bong Bu and Bong Pa using the first two letters of their surnames. Had the Jaycee Kim decided to "graduate" to the Rotary, too, there would also be two Kims: Kim T and Kim D. But when you do mention the Rotarian Kim nowadays, there's at least one Jaycee who would ask if it's Kim T. And there's now the need to say, Nope, it's Kim D. Kim T's first name is Nena while Kim D's is Kimberly. One would think Nena should be a Nen or a Na, but she is and will always be Kim now. Kim for Kimberly is obvious, though, no need to ask for its history. Pinoys are fond of nicknames. Using all the vowels in the alphabet, you then have Bang, Beng, Bing, Bong... Well, I'm not sure if there's a Bung. But when someone with a first name like Orland or Rogelio has Bong for a nickname, it could prompt a curious historian to investigate: Why Bong? Where did that come from? And then, there's the tendency to repeat that one and only syllable: Bengbeng, Bingbing, Bongbong. That last one is now running for vice president here in Pinas. But when they write their nicknames, they could be Beng2x, Bing2x, Bong2x. Or simply Beng2, Bing2, Bong2, in case the "x" is making their nicknames complicated. And then there's the Fe whose nickname is even longer by two letters--Bing. There are American parents who have given their children names like North, South, and Dakota, and they're not exactly referring to the North and South Dakotas. And then, there's the Pinoy parent whose daughter is named Luzviminda for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Anyone named Junjun or Jun is definitely a Junior unless there is a John whose nickname is Jun like as if his parents decided one day that John is way too long for a nickname. Both John and Jun have one syllable but their spellings do make John more complicated, no thanks to that h. But there are Pinoys who do add h to their nicknames: Bheng, Bhing, Bhong. Imagine a world where people have no names. Even Stormtrooper FN-2187, whose nickname is Eight-Seven, now prefers Finn, the name that was suggested to him by Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. As for the cute BB-8, is his name meant to make you think of a baby? But if an item in a resto's menu is katdereta and the waiter insists it's not a typo, get outta there fast, now na. Hehe. Thanks much to Da Nephew Keato for that katdereta joke. I said this before and I'm saying it again now: I'm the least talented member in our family of writers and comedians. Family dinners at my bro's house and in restos are served over a menu of jokes, and my only contribution is to laugh like a hyena. Yes, hyenas don't laugh but that's how I sound like when I laugh. Keato, by the way, is Francis Vincent. But why Keato? Well, it all started with this bunny that her mom gave to his dad for the latter's birthday when they were still dating. They named that bunny Kiwi. Thus, the conscious choice to give their kids nicknames that start with the letter K. Once upon a time, there was Juliet saying, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Which now makes you wonder about the history behind the sweet cake pops. Could it be because it looks like a lollipop? Hmmm.