By John Leaf Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Jul 30, 2011 at 11:01 AM

Ever hear the phrase "You just can't make this stuff up?"

Nicknames are not immune from the Twitter frenzy. In fact, far from it. There are about 7,200 Tweets every 24 hours, seven days a week with the word "nickname" or "nicknames" in it.

One on the many advantages of social media mediums like Twitter, is the ability to get your hands on tons of data, personal or otherwise very quickly. One of my favorite features of TweetDeck is the ability to search and follow a key word, in any tweet, sent anywhere around the world, at any time.

So, I thought for today's blog entry, I would share with you, anonymously, some of these tweets that I found interesting, goofy or nothing more than lame, in less than 24 hours.

A bit random? You bet. But like I said, you can't make this stuff up. These tweets are as they appeared; and are unedited.

Think if I had a baby, his or her nickname would be Tater Tot.

I GOT SO MANY GIRLS AROUND ME, MY NICKNAME IS SHOE SALE!!!!!;)

My nicknames : Mari, Marty, Big P, Big Pizzle, Dookie Lowe, Leap Frog, Pizzle, Pistol P ,HotSauce, The Fundraiser, Bo Diddley, Bo, The Galactus
All da contacts in my fone are Nicknames

One day, I want to be a frequent guest on Dennis Miller's radio show & get a nickname from him.

Voldemort and I share a birthday, so do I get any cool nicknames? He has a bunch of them.

need to stop makin fun of my childhood nicknames or else

My co-workers are now calling me Farkas. I don't know why. I think it's a cool nickname though, so I'll allow it.

Zambrano refers to himself in the 3rd person on tweets, using nickname. nice!

the term 'gerrymander' itself is a nickname for a salamander-like district drawn by Mass. gov in early 1800s.

Ok. I'm getting fussed at on here. I'm gonna go shower. And think of a nickname for #oomf. I get inspired when I'm wet n naked.

i have so many nicknames but my favorite is the one my mommy calls me since i was born : )

Never associate nicknames from a past relationship with the next relationship

My favorites from this list? "Tater Tots" and "Shoe Sale." What an opening line at a party. So, what's your name? People just call me "Shoe Sale." Let the fun and games begin. It's interesting that some people only use nicknames to identify friends in their cell phone. And it's probably not bad advice to never associate nicknames from a past relationship with the next relationship.

With a list like this developed in less than 2 hours via Tweet Deck, it looks like Twitter will continue to provide some good humor and be a quick snapshot of just how how popular and intriguing nicknames are.

John Leaf Special to OnMilwaukee.com

John Leaf was born in western Illinois, a mile east of the Mississippi. College in Chicago. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy. Leaf was goalie on the soccer team and captain of the golf team in college. He cut class to ride the "L" to see Cubs games, hung out for hours at the Art Institute and bent the brain doing graduate school in Theology.

He spent three mind-blowing summers in coastal British Columbia, as a resort photographer. He worked and lived in Minneapolis. He did hard time at a bank on LaSalle Street in Chicago and learned about PR, working at big firm a block off Michigan Avenue, while living in Evanston.

Now Leaf is just living the dream, under the radar, in Cedarburg. He's passionate about nicknames and launched his website three years ago.

He dabbles in yoga and cycling. Fishtailing as always, and taking a whack at life, like everyone else.