A Snip by Any Other Name

The title of this blog, Snippets, was chosen because of the nature of its contents (little bits of everything) and because my long-time nickname is Snip.  When hearing the nickname, people always want to know where it came from. "Why Snip?" as if there's some easy explanation.

There are really only two kinds of nicknames, the obvious ones (Al, for Alison, or Scottie, for our Scottish receptionist at work) and the ones that came about in a bizarre way, after a bender in Vegas, or have evolved over the years.  Snip is one of those kinds of nicknames, minus the Vegas part. It came about in a bizarre way, almost 12 years ago, and evolved from its original form. And now that I'm an adult, retelling a story that happened when I was (ahem) 14 years old just doesn't seem appropriate.  Recently, I've been tempted to make things up.

Why do they call you Snip?
My teacher thought I had a snippy personality.

Why do they call you Snip?
I loved Rice Krispies so much--remember Snap, Crackle, and Pop?--that my parents joked I was the fourth Krispie elf, Snip.

Why do they call you Snip?
I work part time as a moile.

Are any of these the real story? No. Am I going to tell you the real story...