Things can get punchy in The Evening Sun newsroom around two or three in the afternoon. By then we’ve all been at it for 7 or 8 hours, and are trying to eke out that last bit of research, cram in one more phone interview or finish up one last story before heading home for a bit of a breather before we schlep off to whatever board of ed or town meeting is on the agenda for the evening.

During these times, when the thinking part of the brain has already moved on to greener pastures, any manner of conversation may occur. Usually prompted by a simple, random declarative statement or observation, topics run the full gamut from the strange to the strangely profound, not to mention anything in between.

Random is probably a good way of describing the subject of nicknames, which came up on Monday afternoon. Actually, we - Mike McGuire and I - were specifically focused on finding a nickname for Tyler Murphy, who had called in sick for the day.