"Hi. Is Japan here?"
This is how I was greeted by a group of teens in the US upon opening the front door.
Me: Huh? Them: Japan. Is he here? Me: Who? Them: Japan. Me: Japan? Them: Yeah.
Me: You mean Ryan? Them: Who?
So it went until I finally learned that my Mexican-American son's nickname in high school was "Japan" and that many didn't even know his real name.
Sadly, I have never had anything as cool as a call-sign. But I was called "Whitey" by some of the guys on my high school football team and "guerro" ("Whitey" in Spanish) by some of my Mexican family and friends. Oh, and Omani kids in the mountain villages often pointed and yelled out "al-aHmar, al-aHmar" ("The red one, the red one") where "red skin" indicated a European. I think there's a pattern here.
__________________ Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. - Goethe
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