Ding-Dong

My parents named me Casilda, pretty name, according to them. I grew up getting used to be called by name's shortcut like, Casil, Cas, or Sil.... so then, my nicknames.

As a little girl, my older... and bigger cousins would tease me, they would call me "Indang"... may I say, they murdered my pretty name. I would get mad and cry over it but soon I got used to answering to that monicker. Now, without hesitation, I can say that my name is Indang, call me Dang for short. Except for my parents, everyone calls me Dang.

This is my story. This is how I got my nickname, but every Filipino has one. The joke is "Filipinos have doorbell nicknames." My husband's name is Renato and his nickname is Bong. I would say it is an appropriate handle because he's a big guy and Bong sounds like a big bell. Kwing is one of my sisters and yes, her name sounds like a small bell... and yes she is small... small but terrible, that's what she is. Her size does not prevent her from fighting with anyone who gets in her way. Mirzi is my godaughter. Her nickname is Ting-Ting. Why? Only her mom has the answer. There are a lot of other doorbell nicknames.... Bingbong, Ding-ding, Kong-kong, Yang (my other sister), Bibang (my grandma), Peping (my grandpa), Neneng, Miming, Soling (my other grandma), Leoning (my other grandpa), and so on and so forth... Filipino strangeness!

I know a girl whose nickname is Klang-Klang. I guess it depends on how you say it... then you can see the semblance to the actual person. Can you guess?... big girl?... small girl?