A highly unique phone book in Rustico, P.E.I.
Nicknames paired with numbers made sense in a place with scores of people named Gallant
Good luck finding the right Gallant if you weren't from the Rustico area.
Because there were almost 100 listings for Gallants in the local phone book for that part of P.E.I., back in 1985.
And that's why a local resident had created an alternative phone book that sought to help sort out one Gallant from another.
"Five of them are named Jim, eight of them are named Joe," the CBC's Jim Cluett told viewers in a report that was broadcast on Midday in April 1985.
"So how do they tell 'em all apart? They give each of them a nickname."
From 'Paul Freddie Joe Charlie' to 'Phlegm'
Cluett's report suggested the nicknames varied and, in some cases, were based on who one's parents were.
"I'm Paul Freddie Joe Charlie," a local man told Cluett. "My father's name was Freddie, his father's name was Joe and his father's father was Charlie, so I'm Paul Freddie Joe Charlie."
However strange the system may have seemed to outsiders, it worked for the locals.
Cluett asked a bearded man in a plaid jacket if the nicknames were hard to get used to.
"No, it's harder to get used to the real names. We know the nicknames, mostly everybody has a nickname," he explained.
The man gestured over his shoulder.
"The guy over there, we call him Phlegm. His real name is Gregory."
