The Big Yellow Joint

What is it about small towns, in particular, Scobey, Montana circa 1956, and nicknames? We were at lunch today with my two aunts and two uncles and my uncle from Spokane was saying he saw Skag Ryland the other day. My husband could sense the Scobey stories about to flow. I swear, turns out Skag's brother was Slug. Then there was the Hammer family whose kids were known as Ball Pein (although I'm sure no one knew how to spell that; I just looked it up), and Sledge. My mother's family lived across the street from the Gerard family who had nine kids, all with nicknames, it seems. My mother to this day still can list them off, no problem. I know there was a Mouse and a Specie. It's just hysterical. My mother has a friend who was driving around Arizona and came across a car with Montana license plates. She saw the driver and asked him if he was from Montana and he says, Oh a little town called Scobey. Since her friend doesn't know her maiden name, She says to him, Oh, do you know Jeanne Rae? What do you think. Of course he does.