A friend told me that she once felt like she was getting odd looks from people in her local grocery store. After she got home she realized that she still had a button on her lapel that she had borrowed earlier in the day. It said:
I’m not very good with names. Can I just call you shithead?
I’ve always thought it pretentious when grown men say, “Mr. Smith was my father. Call me Bill.” Puh-leeze. Grow up. Of course, in my profession I had to get used to being called Mr. VanSant [or Mr. V or more and more often just Mister...] when I was still in my early twenties.
One of my friends in high school and I called each other by our first names even though we both normally used our middle names. Other than that I rarely use my first name except for legal stuff — contracts, insurance, and such. When I go for physical therapy on my shoulder they call me by my first name. [Yeah. Still going to TP twice a week. 'Sucks. But my shoulder is improving.] When I started there I naively hoped it would be for just a few weeks. Since they needed my first name for the insurance claims I just let them call me that during treatment too. Even though this has gone on much longer than I anticipated, I don’t ask them to use my middle name. They’re likable people, of course, but I hope that soon I’ll never have to see them again.
Most of the time I use my middle name. Well, the first syllable of it anyway. People rarely use my full middle name. [I don't know why, but women are much more likely to call me Timothy than men are.] When I was very young my family called me Timmy, but thankfully I outgrew that.
Online I am usually ~Tim or DigiTim, but I have a couple aliases. Having multiple identities online seems pretty common as does wanting to keep them separate. On FaceBook recently one of my college roommates referred to me by the nickname I used back then. I quit using that nickname after college, but to the people that knew me then it has stuck. I find that oddly reassuring — as though it validates who I was.
I’m not very good at remembering other people’s names. Maybe I have too many of my own?
4 Responses to “Like the Pine Trees Lining the Winding Road”
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Let's do Something Cheap and Superficial 
hmmm…you have multiple ids online? i think there is a psychiatric diagnosis for that condition!!
When I was growing up, my nicknames ranged from Aymski to Aymo. Now when writing, I will shorten it to “Aym”, but then I get people telling me I spelled “Amy” wrong. I have to remind them it’s spelled “Aymiee”. I’d be one of those calling you Mr. V. It sounds cool!
i always wanted a nickname but only had one when i lived in trinidad
My given name is Rebecca and I usually just go with it for the formal occasions, like you use your real first name. I kind of wished my parents had just called me Rebecca and made it a little easier. I tried to convert later in life, but it just sounded too weird to me — everyone said I seem more like a Becky anyway.