Stories where people have Stanford sometimes calling Stanley “Lee” are the best stories ever. Ford’s character highly revolves around his intelligence and his desire to be the most important person in the room. He is very well spoken, he doesn’t use slang and always uses proper grammar. He also has a large vocabulary. So for him to call someone by a nickname is very important, and would show how much he cared for someone. It would also likely only come out when he is upset, scared, tired or feeling overly affectionate.
Stanley on the other had is always giving people nicknames and using other terms of endearment to refer to people he cares about. For him to NOT call someone by a nickname says that he is angry with the person or doesn’t like them. Stan is a people person and also seems more willing to give affection, both verbal (via petnames) and physically (hugs, an arm around the shoulder).
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Aww, I love the idea of Ford only using a nickname when he’s scared or upset. ;u;
BUT, I’d only change to the part about Stan using nicknames versus real names – Stan uses nicknames for the people he is close to almost all the time except when the situation is incredibly serious. So it’s basically when HE’S scared or upset (what a perfect counterpoint for Ford).
Stan basically ALWAYS calls Dipper “kid.” This is the only time I can remember him using Dipper’s name, and it’s when he’s terrified about the kids getting hurt and they are literally surrounded by zombies.
Mabel’s nicknames evolve from “Little Gremin” to “Pumpkin” and “Sweetie,” but he DOES use her name when he’s pleading with her to keep the portal operational.
And Stan has SO MANY nicknames for his brother (Sixer, Poindexter, Ford), but when things look incredibly dire, he uses his full name.
FINALLY, the BEST part of this, the SADDEST PART about Stan’s avoidance of real names is that STAN HIMSELF doesn’t get called by his real name in almost 30 years.
He hasn’t been able to use his name for half his life.
Is it any wonder he’s not particularly fond of proper names?
And who is the first one to call him by his proper name (over and over again): FORD
Which, at the time, probably feels like Ford is taking away the life he’s built over the last 30 years (…give me my house back, give me my name back…). But it’s really powerful and meaningful. Ultimately, Ford gives him back his identity in more ways than one: his acceptance of Stan at the end of the series allows Stan to heal and be truly himself again.
Of course, lots of great stuff has been written about him finally being able to reclaim his identity (and name) at the end of the series. It’s all just really meaningful and cool in the context of the names/pseudonyms/nicknames used in the show.
And there’s some interesting meta that could be written about the importance of names (and false names and nicknames) in Gravity Falls and the long cultural and literary history delving into the power of real names. (But that’s another post…)
If I can just add one tiny thing:
Stan was present at Dipper and Mabel’s birth and apparently has maintained at least some connection to their part of the family, so he almost certainly knows Dipper’s real name. But, for as hard as he often is on Dipper, and as much as he loudly enjoys making fun of people-
-he never uses it. He could easily use it to torment Dipper if he wanted to, but instead he respects Dipper’s desire to be called by the name he prefers.