What's in a Name?

So the other day, my human was talking to someone and she said something about us PONs doing something.  Her friend said “PON?”  “What’s a PON?”

OK, we PONs know that P.O.N. comes from Polski Owczarek Nizinny – the Polish words for Polish Lowland Sheepdog.    In an almost English sounding translation – polskee   ahv char-ek   ni szhinee.   Clearly, PON is easier!  But honestly, while I am very proud of my Polish heritage, I’m wondering who thought up our nickname.  I mean think about it – many, many breeds have shortened versions of their names that…well…are kinda easy to figure out.  Dobermans are sometimes called Dobes,  Labrador Retrievers are Labs,  Golden Retrievers are Goldens, Shetland Sheepdogs are Shelties,  Bernese Mountain Dogs are Berners, Saint Bernards are Saints, Keeshonds are Kees, Scottish Terriers are Scotties, Yorkshire Terriers are Yorkies…the list goes on.  So why aren’t we Polies?  Or Pols??  Really why not?  Wouldn’t that be easy?  We’re clever dogs – who thought this up?

Mind you…then I guess if all dogs' names were shortened then Airedale terriers would be Airies,  Beagles would be Beas, Boxers would be Boxes, Pointers would be Points, Poodles would be Poos… and Shih tzus would be….OK.  Maybe this shortening idea isn’t such a good one after all.

I AM thinking though, that it would be nice if our human knew a few words in Polish.  She does know a couple – like “Good Morning” – which she rarely uses with us when we jump repeatedly on the bed - and “sit” – which we pretend not to know.  Beyond that, although her grandmother tried to teach her some Polish, her repertoire is pretty limited.  I mean we’ll still keep her but I do think that if she did speak to us in Polish, we would be much, much better behaved…

So for all those people who are wondering what PON means – now you know.  It’s different than other nicknames.  But then so are we.  And you know – now that I think about it…we ARE very unique – and I’m thinking we should keep PON after all….

 © 2014 Linda Wozniak