My first name is James. I don’t usually go by it, using my initials for common everyday correspondence. However, in environments like college and work, official lists need your actual name, not your preferred name. That’s fine. I don’t mind being called ‘James’ … that’s what it says on the birth certificate and all.
But who the devil told anyone they could call me Jim? :mad:
I’m not Jim. Yes, Jim is a common shortening of the name James. But I object to you using it in reference to me … and just assuming that I go by the shortened form.
If someone tells me their name is Lawrence, I don’t call them ‘Larry’ unless A.) I hear from them that they prefer it… B.) everyone else seems to do it… or C.) I know the person in question well and I’m being funny.
Why do people just start using the short form without so much as a by-your-leave?
I have this same thing happen to me every now and then. My first name is Janet, and people tend to shorten to to Jan. It really catches me off guard when someone calls me that. I find it rather annoying at best.
Stick me in that boat. My first name is Robert. I keep getting called Bob by people I don’t know.
My friends call me Dave… mostly because that’s what I go by.
Wellnow, people named James have gone by Jim for lots and lots of years. Yes, I’m too lazy right now to look it up. And many, if not most Jameses have gone by Jim for at least part of their lives. I use my middle name IRL, and many people automatically shorten Michael to Mike. I don’t mind Mike, but if I did, I’d either A) resign myself to politely correcting people on a regular basis, or B) use a name that doesn’t shorten easily. :shrug: Sucks to be us. Yes, people should always call you by the name you introduce yourself with. But they won’t.
“If you put a fish in water
Chances are it’ll swim.
Meet a man named James,
Folks’ll probably call him Jim.
Some folks are gonna be with you,
And others just won’t understand.
And Black Sabbath was never the same
After Ozzy quit the band.”
It sometime seems as if certain brains cannot process more than one syllable at a time. And if you’re just trying to be friendly, it mostly comes off as presumptuous.
Well, we’ve all heard of the King Jim Bible, after all.
My normal name is Colin; I’ve never had a nickname. Any time anybody tries to give me one, I just stare at them like they’ve just spouted horns and they stop calling me weird names.
My name is Kelly. My brothers name is Dale. My mother has told us MANY times that she gave us those names because she hated names that could be shortened.
See, now, a nickname I might not mind, because at least that’s personal. Well, assuming I knew the person in question for a little while. ‘Jim’ is just like a generic shorthand… it says to me ‘Well, obviously, I’m not going to take the effort to find out what you prefer to be called, and everyone else I know with the name James likes ‘Jim’, so if you correct me, you’re the jerk.’
My husband’s name is Jaime. That’s “hi-may”. <I>Jaime</I>. Not James. Not Jamie. Not Jim. Especially not Jimbo. Why is it so fucking difficult for people to call him Jaime? BAH!
One time, a friend of his said “Why do you call him Jaime?” as though I was the insane one. Cuz that’s his name, dipwad.
My name is Haley,so I don’t really have any problems, except nobody knows how to spell it, apparently.
This sort of thing used to really annoy me. It seemed vaguely insulting, like people were assuming an unwarranted level of intimacy. Over the years, things seem to have flip-flopped in my mind.
I now don’t care a fig if everybody and his brother call me “Dave,” but the only people allowed to call me “David” are my mother and my girlfriend.
I’ve never minded my name being shortened to “Val” instead of “Valerie,” though when I say my last name too I always introduce myself as “Valerie.” It just sounds better to have a three-syllable first name followed by a one-syllable last name, rather than a one-syllable first name and last name.
I have a friend, however, whose name is Annie and has always gone by that, yet people somhow find the need to call her “Ann.” Drives her nuts.
I have to admit, Pepper, that seeing Jaime’s name in print only, I WOULD pronounce it Jamey. I’ve never heard of that name being pronounced hi-may. I assume the name is of Spanish origin? Which would be why I’m not familiar with it.
My name is Jennifer. My nametag at work says Jennifer. People insist on calling me Jenny. My name is not Jenny. There are three people in the world who could call me Jenny with my permission: my father, my fiance, and my friend Vinnie who refuses to call me anything else. I’d really MUCH prefer it if people OTHER than those would call me by the name given on my nametag, thank you.
My mom’s given name is Peggy. People are always writing down “Margaret” as her name.
My father (Jack) and my uncle (Joe) have always had the opposite problem. Those are their actual given names and people are forever making assumptions about what their “real” names must be–several different ones, in the case of my father.
I try to accomodate people’s preferences, although I’d rather call my boss Tom than Tommy, which is how he sometimes refers to himself. It also took me several years to actually speak the name of my husband’s serious and dignified, 70-something friend, “Punky.”
I’m on the other side of the fence. I have (IRL)a first name that everyone instantly converts to a nickname. I hated it.
I quit using it (when I was very little), and started using my middle name. For some reason, even though there are as many nicknames for Andrew as for my first name, they don’t bother me.
It’s the formal “Mr. Brackett” that always throws me.
Someone once said, “Just once, I’d like to hear the words ‘Mr. Brackett’, without the additional comment ‘you’re making a scene’.”
When my grandmother was in the hospital, the nurses insisted on calling her Lucille. No, her name is Lucy. It has never been Lucille. (Then again, traditionalists will argue that they should have been calling her Mrs. Surname, and I’m inclined to agree. When my “pseudograndpa” (elderly neighbor since I was 2) was in the hospital, Pseudograndma would call the nurses’ station and say, “Mr. Surname would like to get back into bed now.” Appropriately formal and professional, I think.)
And yes, I know a Robert who is always called Bob, regardless of his wish to be known as Robert. (I always called him Mr. Surname, because he is a friend of my parents.)
