Butte, Montana has been known as a city of nicknames. It’s been called The Mining City, The Richest Hill on Earth and Butte America. But the penchant for nicknames goes deeper, all the way to the individual person.
To counter gigantic families, various ethnic neighborhoods and to just have a laugh, many Buttians (another nickname) from the 1900s to the 1930s used nicknames all over the place.
The nicknames’ tone really varied. Some were not very nice. Some were ethnically or racially motivated. Some were given out by schoolmates and they just followed a person through life. Some were found on the football field. Some were based on physical characteristics. And some were given in the copper mines.
But as the mines closed and time went on, they filtered out. So, what happened?
In this special, Keely Larson, a special projects producer with Montana Public Radio, aims to find out.