I hate stupid nicknames

It seems that everyone is always trying to come up with clever nicknames for everything all the time. This irritates me. I don't know why. I guess because I'd rather you just call the thing or person or whatever by its real name, then make whatever comment you think the clever nickname makes separately. Also, I don't think they would bother me as much if any of them were at all original, but they always seem to be overused, and then just make me think that someone is just trying to sound clever when they actually are just copying something they saw or heard somewhere else.

Now, specifically, I'm talking about nicknames for political figures. Like Chimperor, Shrub, and Darth Cheney or mAnn Coulter, the Governator, Slick Willie, things like that. But that's just because I read a lot of blogs. It also bothers me when people do this for tv shows, like Press the Meat (although, I did find it funny when I read a Rude Pundit post, which referred to Hardball as My Balls are Hard) or stations, like FAUX News, or stores like Tar-jay and Wally World, or restaurants like Pizza Slut or Taco Hell, or companies like MicroShaft, or AOHell.

Another reason that this bothers me is that while people seem to come up with a never ending supply of stupid nicknames that annoy me, but the one place where I think nicknames are great seems to be all out of good ones. In sports these days, you won't find a decent nickname like, The Bambino, The Iron Horse, The Admiral, The Say Hey Kid, The Round Mound of Rebound, Crazy Legs, or even a Prime Time. Now, all the nicknames are directly realted to the person's name, King James, KG, AI, TO, A-Rod, crap like that. Even when you find a half decent one here or there, Big Diesel or The Answer, it's one the person gave themself. I should also note that as much as I like a few of Chris Berman's nicknames (Like Eric Slepping with Bienemy), most of them suck, and again, they're all related to the person's name, even if more creatively. And his all time worst, that I couldn't stand everytime I heard it: Thermal Thomas. I don't even know what it's supposed to mean, and it sounds stupid anyway.

So what are some nicknames that you guys like or hate? Anyone think of any good current sports ones that are eluding me? I know there must be a few, but they're never commonly used anymore. Anyone care to defend the use of nicknames for political figures? I know a lot of the people I read use them, so I'm probably alone in my hatred. But please, no one try to defend using Tar-jay or Taco Hell, or my opinion of you will immeadiately plummet.