Because of my ancestry, my skin has a sallow-swarthy complexion. At school I was not only the darkest in the class I was also the only non-white face in the entire school at that time.
One day in our geography class our master (one of several Irish priests) picked me out to answer one of his questions, which I did correctly. His flippant comment was "Yes, that's right, you little khaki bomb!" Of course the whole class erupted with hilarity at this witticism, which I'm sure was meant to be jocular rather than offensive. I was more discomfited by the attention put on me than the words said. But that was the very moment when my lifelong association with khaki began.
Of course, boys being boys, they weren't going to let the remark be forgotten. In the ensuing recreation periods wherever I went I was greeted with the new nickname which was sometimes 'Khakibomb' but was soon transformed into 'KhakiBUM'!' I was asked several times - "Hey there, is it right that you've got a khaki bum? Ha ha!" . This sort of remark continued for some time to my annoyance. Now I ought to mention that up to that point, in the same manner that someone called Robinson will be called 'Robbo' , or a Smith will be called 'Smithy', my class nickname was already 'Carty', playing on my actual surname. As the sounds of that name and 'khaki' were very close, one quickly and easily got changed into another. The 'bum' part was dropped, and I began being called just 'Khaki', which, after a while, I started getting used to. This continued for the remainder of my school life.
After leaving school and starting work the nickname dropped out of my life apart from with the three of four school mates I'd continued to have contact with. After a while, when fully an adult, I decided to resurrect it and use it generally - and have been known as 'Khaki' by lots of friends and acquaintances ever since. I like the word, the stuttering sound of it, the spiky look of it when written, the musty male smell of it, the gritty taste of it, the rough feel of it, the blunt, work-a-day functionality of it, and its masculine colour - though its military associations I don't care to dwell on. The single word itself wasn't available as a name for this new blog of mine, which would have been my first choice, so for the sake of uniqueness I've reverted to the now gently self-mocking title of 'Khakibum'. So now you know.
Oh, I can just mention that back at school after this new name became established it was suggested that with a name like mine it would be especially appropriate if I should seriously consider joining the boy scouts and wear their uniform (hence the picture at the top of this entry).. I was initially reluctant, not being a very sociable animal, but the repeated suggestions grew in volume which eventually led me to join that 'illustrious' organisation - a decision that would seal my fate and get me caught in a particular khaki web of fetishism from which I've never been able to escape, though I enjoy it too much to really want to disentangle myself - and NO, it's emphatically NOT to do with boys!!! . Intriguing? I hope so. But details of what happened next in my development will have to wait for a future blog.......
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