You might be wondering how patafea got her name! Well way back in 1967, she left Freeport, Grand Bahama to go to the University of the Pacific (UOP) in Stockton, California. When I left, I was called by her family and friends, Pat or Patty…not particularly liking either one but just accepted it. My mother always called me by my ‘given name’, Patricia (pronounced Patrēsha), which was preferred.
Upon arriving at UOP she met a group of students from South America, one of which she started dating…thus, also becoming part of a group of friends. Everyone had a nickname, i.e., Loco, Flaca, Queso, and Alfie. One day at Davenport Beach, South of San Francisco, I came waddling from the shoreline of the ocean, flapping my arms, as the waves were splashing on the back of my jeans, and thus came the Spanish nickname……patafea pecosa (ugly freckled duck)! Someone even snapped a photo of me at that exact moment! Sadly, the photograph is no longer with me, but the image is imprinted in my brain, which I have sketched out! Though I seldom use the name 'pecosa' the duck in the Logo does have freckles, my hair style, my jewelry, and my body (more of a then, then now...though not too far off! lol)!
While I was mostly called just, Pata (pata fea is actually two separate words (duck ugly)), I preferred combining them and writing them as one. There are some, when finding out the translation, take issue with my name being, ugly duck, and say, ‘But you are not ugly!’ Or, if they need glasses, they may add, ‘You are a beautiful Swan!’ My response is always that I prefer to be the ‘ugly duck’ rather than the beautiful Swan because Swans are mean birds, as I discovered cruising on the canals and rivers throughout England on the Narrowboat that I lived on for 2 1/2 years!
And so, over the years, though I went back to Pat after moving away and getting married, when I was fifty, a friend suggested that I take back my name Patricia, because it was a beautiful name…and so I did! That said, I always used my nickname, patafea, in various iterations of business ventures over the years.
I also had the name put on my personalized License Plates in three U.S states that I lived in. There are two Minnesota plates because one was a mistake and had to be redone, but they didn't recall it, they let me keep it. As the Spanish language often identifies, male and female with the use of an 'a' or 'o' at the end of the word, pata is a female duck and pato a male duck. Thus, making, PATAFEO, incorrect! I had a good chuckle, called the License Plate Bureau and they sent out a corrected License Plate!
When I started publishing my work again in 2020, I decided to use, patafea, as my ‘Nom de Plume’ so that I wouldn’t have an issue of my last name changing on the spines of my books! Hmm, am I saying that patafea is open to finding.... ‘un pato guapo’!! ¿Quien sabes? ¿porque no?
And in setting up a new Company name, patafeaCreative was chosen, using the same signature, but with an updated, patafea Logo!
And so, now you know how I got my nickname/Nom de Plume, patafea pecosa!
(If you came from the 'About patafea' page, Please CLICK HERE to go back!)