I yelled over the din to the bartender. “Gimme two more rounds! One for me and for Skinny Matt.”

Kat nodded and brought up a pair of rum and Coke’s with a flourish.

“I hate that nickname.” Skinny Matt said.

“What? Why?” I was taken back. Why would you hate being called skinny?

“Look you all started calling me ‘Skinny’ back when when B.G.H. was still called Matt. I get that calling me skinny was better than calling him fat, but he doesn’t even hang around any more, not to mention that he has another nickname. Plus I’m not even that skinny.”

“Yeah I dunno about that. We’ve been calling you ‘Skinny Matt’ for more than ten years. I don’t know if I can stop that kind of momentum. Inertia, ya know?” I said. “If I just start calling you Matt, no one’s gonna know who I am talking about. Then I’ll have to explain it.”

“This isn’t about you!” Matt exploded. “It’s about me!”

“You hang around a bunch of people who could charitably called ‘plus-sized’. You want a different nick name? Get fat!”

“That’s ridiculous.”