Becky? Is that you?

On Sunday I was at Vinnie's and someone ordered a pizza to go under the name Becky. When Sparks called out for Becky to come pick up her food, I was immediately teleported 17 years back in time, to my grandmother's living room, the first time I saw the video for Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back."

If you don't know, check the intro:



That's when I realized that every time I hear the name Becky, I immediately think, "Oh my God, Becky, look at her butt."

For some reason, the name Becky is inextricably linked with middle school, maybe because that video hit when I was 12 and it made me pay more attention. I seem to remember more Beckys in 5-8th grades. By high school, they had all become Becca, for the most part, or Rebecca, if they weren't into the whole brevity thing. By college, there was not a Becky to be found.

Maybe the drastic reduction of Beckys has something to do with the wild popularity of the "Baby Got Back" video. Maybe there was too much torment — too many tired jabs of valley-snob-toned-astonishment whispering "She must be one of those rapper guy's girlfriends." Maybe it's just that with age comes an inclination to drop the cutesy long 'e' sounds at the ends of nicknames. Either way, Sir Mix-A-Lot has permanently altered my reality, which is almost as weird to think about as the fact that I first saw that video at my grandmother's house.