Tim McGee's McNicknames on NCIS

Because I have posted about the linguistics aspects of the television show NCIS quite a few times, a reader requested that I compile a list of the various McNicknames that have been given to the character Tim McGee. I love the creative word play involved in these nicknames so putting this list together was a blast.


McGee has had some non-McNicknames too, but the McNicknames are much more abundant and more fun in my opinion.

Here are the names that I came up with (if I missed any, please send me a comment and I will add to the list).

Major McTom
McBarfbag
McCheat
McCool
McCranky
McDetail
McEgghead
McFlabby
McFlower Power
McFlubber
McFreaky
McGarnagle
McGeek
McGeekle
McGeeko
McGiggle
McGnome
McGonigle
McGoo
McGoogle
McGoon
McGPS
McGruff
McGullible
McKilljoy
McLawyer
McLover
McLovin
McMotherboard
McMuse
McNerd
McOz
McPinkerton
McPower
McProbie
McProbius
McRanger Rick
McRomeo
McRuff
McScout
McShipmate
McSneaky
McSoftie
McTardy
McTim
McTimex
McTracker
McWriter
McZero


McBarfbag, McFlower Power, McGoogle, McGPS, McKilljoy, McMotherboard, McPinkerton, McRanger Rick and McTimex are my personal favorites.

Top Ten NCIS Linguistics Posts (minus five)

Number 1 Lost in Translation
Number 2 Ziva's Linguistic Traits
Number 3 DiNozzo's Humor
Number 4 Ziva's Phonological Error
Number 5 McNicknames
Numbers 6 - 10 COMING SOON

NCIS - Ziva's Linguistic Error

Another observation from last week's NCIS - I am pretty sure that I heard the actress who plays Ziva make a phonological error that is common to native speakers of English but would not be common to an Israeli (like the character of Ziva) that struggles with the syntax of English.

Often times I will start to use the contraction don't but for some reason my brain switches mid- contraction to do not. The phonological result of this psycholinguistic phenomenon is that the normal /o/ or "o-sound" found in the contraction don't cancels the normal /u/ or "u-sound" found in the do of do not.

Do /du/ not you agree?

Here are some additional linguistic traits of Ziva's.

The Linguistic Aspects of NCIS - Part II

I just caught last week's episode of NCIS and I still can't stop laughing about Agent DiNozzo's comment to a witness that he was driving to the office. He was talking to the witness (who happened to be a call girl) about the new director of the NCIS and he was so distracted by her attractiveness and demeanor that he re-emphasized his wording by stating, "I said 'new director' not 'nude erector'."

DiNozzo then said something about the two phrases being homonyms...well, kind of...but to be more technical they are actually oronyms (a string of words that sounds the same as another string of words but they are spelled differently and composed of different words with different meanings). Either way, the writers of NCIS sure do know how to have fun with language.

*more on NCIS linguistics and oronyms.

Reader's Favorites - The Linguistic Traits of NCIS Agent Ziva David

Call me behind the times but I just discovered the television show NCIS this year (even though it completed its fifth season Tuesday evening). I immediately fell in love with the show not only because it is a quality show but also because I love listening to the character Ziva's use of the English language. Ziva David is an Israeli Mossad agent who speaks many languages, though English is obviously not her first.


Ziva's linguistic traits include:


A lack of the use of contractions.


Tony: How long have you been in this country?
Ziva: Why?
Tony: Well you never heard of gypsy cabs. You don't use contractions. Assimilate already.
Ziva: What are contraptions?


This is quite accurate for an ESL speaker as it is very hard for foreigners to grasp the use of contractions. I, personally, think that the lack of contractions in her speech make Ziva sound very sophisticated - plus I find it amusing.


Mixing up suffixes.


In an episode a week ago when McGee (as he is playing Scrabble with Ziva) tells Tony that he is working on a linguistic developmental exercise to bolster her English vocabulary. Ziva responds that it is not her vocabulary that needs bolsterment.


Mixing up idioms.


Ziva : It'll be like trying to find a pin in the haystack.


Ziva: Ducky, drip it!
Ducky: You mean drop it or zip it?
Ziva: American idioms drive me up the hall!


Ziva: I feel like a donkey's butt.
McGee: Donkey's butt?
Tony: I think she means horse's a** probie.
Ziva: Yes, that too.


Ziva: Kody was covering his plates.


Ziva: McGee you look like you saw a goat.


Each one of the above examples of Ziva's language characteristics falls under the category of either morphology errors or syntax errors.


As for the season finale which has Ziva, Tony and McGee leaving - I don't believe it will happen, I think it was just the writers' version of a cliffhanger, or should I say bluffhanger.

The Linguistic Traits of NCIS Agent Ziva David

Call me behind the times but I just discovered the television show NCIS this year (even though it completed its fifth season Tuesday evening). I immediately fell in love with the show not only because it is a quality show but also because I love listening to the character Ziva's use of the English language. Ziva David is an Israeli Mossad agent who speaks many languages, though English is obviously not her first.

Ziva's linguistic traits include:

A lack of the use of contractions.

Tony: How long have you been in this country?
Ziva: Why?
Tony: Well you never heard of gypsy cabs. You don't use contractions. Assimilate already.
Ziva: What are contraptions?

This is quite accurate for an ESL speaker as it is very hard for foreigners to grasp the use of contractions. I, personally, think that the lack of contractions in her speech make Ziva sound very sophisticated - plus I find it amusing.

Mixing up suffixes.

In an episode a week ago when McGee (as he is playing Scrabble with Ziva) tells Tony that he is working on a linguistic developmental exercise to bolster her English vocabulary. Ziva responds that it is not her vocabulary that needs bolsterment.

Mixing up idioms.

Ziva : It'll be like trying to find a pin in the haystack.

Ziva: Ducky, drip it!
Ducky: You mean drop it or zip it?
Ziva: American idioms drive me up the hall!

Ziva: I feel like a donkey's butt.
McGee: Donkey's butt?
Tony: I think she means horse's a** probie.
Ziva: Yes, that too.

Ziva: Kody was covering his plates.

Ziva: McGee you look like you saw a goat.

Each one of the above examples of Ziva's language characteristics falls under the category of either morphology errors or syntax errors.

As for the season finale which has Ziva, Tony and McGee leaving - I don't believe it will happen, I think it was just the writers' version of a cliffhanger, or should I say bluffhanger.