It is a well known secret that rock stars, such as myself, like to use an alias when checking into hotels or making dinner reservations. It is a way to keep our personal lives personal, and avoid unwanted attention from fans and the media. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE attention! But there are times having a little privacy is nice. That is why it is the responsibility of my inner circle to protect my alias, and not shout it for all to hear. Such was the mistake Dad recently made.

First the backstory on my alias. It all began as a nickname given to me by my trainer, who called me “Slappy McHappy,” due to my goofy approach to commands. Much to his amusement, I always managed to put my own unique spin on responding. Over time, that nickname got shortened by Dad to Slappy, then Slaps. Which by the way, all the cool kids use “Slaps” to say something is excellent, amazing, or really good, so that nickname is a favorite of mine. However recently, Dad started calling me “Slapilicious.” I admit at first I wasn’t sure I liked it. Even Dad can’t explain what drew him to that odd sounding nickname. However a quick Google search, and I learned that it is actually a term used by a barbecue pit master. According to Harry Soo who coined the phrase, Slapilicious, it is a playful take on the idea of delicious food that is so good, it makes you slap your mouth. Now that Slaps!

However, that alias is useless now, because while playing fetch in the yard, Dad called me over by yelling, “Hey Slapilicious!” To be honest, neither of us thought anything of it at the time. But this morning, when out on my walk, a neighbor stopped her car on the way to work, rolled down the window, then put on the biggest smile and said, “Hey Slapilicious!”

AWKWARD! Although it was funny to see Dad’s face turn all those shades of red.