What Do You Call Your Pet?

[LostInTheMist]

I mean... your pet presumably has a name. But do you call him/her by that name?

Our dog was named Lucy. And although we often called her that, we had multiple other names we called her. My sister called her "Wubbles." I called her "Thing" or "Wumpus Bunny," more or less at random. ("Lucy Bear," and "Creature Bunny" too.)

To be fair, she was completely deaf by the time she was one year old. (Not an uncommon affliction for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.) She wouldn't have known if we had called her "Toaster," and all commands to her were given by gestures that she could pretend not to notice if she was determined not to obey.

She always hated when Dad went to work. We often joked that if she had lived until the pandemic, she would have been convinced that she had finally convinced my Dad to stay home. Once clearance was given to go back to my office, my Dad did that pretty much every day. I wonder if he would have stayed home if Lucy had still been alive and objected to him going to the office. I mean... she had him pretty well trained. When he cooked meat, he held her ears back while she licked up the meat juice (assuming it wasn't too salty) to make sure her ears didn't soak up meat juice, so she didn't try to eat her ears.... I wish I'd asked him that. But it's too late now. I think he would have stayed home, whatever he might have said.

So... the question is simple... what do you call your pet? Do you call them by their name (and what is their name) or do you call them by something else? Does it vary like mine did? Does it depend on your mood or the circumstance?

[Oniya]

Her official name is 'Bean' (from the shelter).  This has resulted in numerous bean puns.  If she has the zoomies, she is Coffee Bean.  If she's laying in the sun, she is a Sunbean.  If she has been there a long time, she is Baked Bean.  Stretched out on the granite coffee table, and she is Cool Beans.

And of course, when she stretches out her paws, you have Bean's beans.

[Inkidu]

My kitty Hammer often just gets called Hamm or Hammy. Sometimes Hammerton. I call him Little Man or Little Boy. Hammburger. Yes, any variation must maintain the two Ms at all times. 

[Revelation]

Stinky cat, or hungry cat, or smelly cat. Usually a descriptor and cat. Or ugly beast. I love her I swear.

[Outcast]

Our dog knows that her name refers to her, and generally means that we want her to do something... so when talking about her in her presence, she tends to be "madame" or the like: she's never figured out that if we're talking about madame it relates to her.

But she also gets called stinky, monster, fartmonster, destructobeast, silly, you horror....  Lovely, beauty, fluffy, and snuggles are more flattering ones that also see quite a bit of use.