I have found in my conversations with people that there is a rich story behind their nicknames, sometimes richer than their real names.

People generally love the stories around their nickname, even if they sometimes hate the nickname.

The most interesting nicknames are more than one word. I know a guy called “Cool and Calm.” He’s a security expert, and anytime he’s asked how things are going, his first words are always – “Cool and Calm.”

I did not know him by this nickname before. I was having a conversation with a mutual friend when he said, “I will join “Cool and Calm” home today.” It made me stop, because I knew there was more to the story.

As the story goes, “Cool and Calm” used to offer detailed briefs on the security situation of his community, but it was triggering more fear than care, making him get quite a bit of discomfort from the interrogation that always followed. When he realised not much of his security alert affects anyone in his care, he decided to always just tell everyone that things are “Cool and Calm.” From the day he made that decision, he also started experiencing cool and calm, even though the security situation got worse.

Someone might be shot right beside him, and he will start his speech with, “Everything is cool and calm.” It made the uninitiated feel like he was on top of everything, but many things were out of his control.

What is your nickname? Tell me the story.

– Osasu Oviawe