(10-28-2018 11:52 AM)tanqtonic Wrote:  

(10-28-2018 11:42 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(10-28-2018 11:39 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(10-28-2018 11:28 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(10-28-2018 09:30 AM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  OO, there are Hispanics everywhere (unless you're saying it's a Texas thing). I've been here since 1986, and I've never heard of that abbreviation and I would also think you'd see it in athletics (baseball or soccer somewhere). Are there any famous athletes who use Beto as their nickname?

Lots of it in soccer. It seems to be more common in Brazil and Portugal than in Spain or Spanish-speaking countries,
Wikipedia lists 41 at least moderately famous ones, 12 soccer players (11 from Brazil), 7 others from Brazil, 5 others from Argentina, 4 others from Portugal, 2 others from Mexico, 6 others from the USA (including O'Rourke), and 5 others from elsewhere.
It's clearly an effort by a non-Hispanic to curry favor with the Hispanic community. It's a weirdly contrived affectation. Doesn't the left call that cultural appropriation? Then again, pretty much everything he does for politics is a lie, so why shouldn't that be too?

Again, Beto has been going by that nickname since he was a kid. It seems to be such a silly thing to be hung up on.

I don't know the O'Rourkes well, but I know enough about them to know that they don't do anything without considering the political impact. My guess would be that when he was a kid, they said, "Hmm, when he grows up he's going into politics in El Paso, and he could probably use a Spanish nickname. So let's call him Beto."

It's a silly thing to be hung up on, except that it's a metaphor for how they do almost everything. Young Robert has run a senate campaign almost without touching on any substantive policy issues. "Look at me, I've got a cute grin, and I've had selfies made in every county in Texas. So I'm obviously the perfect person to bring us all together." His idea of unification is, as I used to say about Obama, "Hey, let's all meet at the left end of the political spectrum." That is not a way to unify people. It's a way to divide them.

I went to the same grade school and high school as O'Rourke. Knew (and know) at lot of his 'compadres' (he is younger than me by 6 or 7 years). He was typically known as Bobbie.

Knew his family decently. His dad was known as Pat, not Patrick. When Pat changed from Democrat to Republican to run against an incumbent he was referred to by some of his ex-party as "gabacho chingon de la O".

Charlotte and Erin didnt have nicknames.

Only after he got back to El Paso after college did the full fledge Beto come to the fore. I will grant you that he has used Beto for 23-25 years or so, maybe more if used in college.

Again, Lad, perhaps you care to share some of your first hand experiences on this. You state the case so exceptionally you must have some. You state that so defiantly you must have some first hand knowledge of this. Or is this a case of defiantly restating something you have read?

I’ve posted the photo that Beto has shown of him wearing a handstitched sweater with the name “Beto” written in big, bold letters.