# Dads: Do you call your kid's SO by the wrong name on purpose? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2005, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234 "2005-11-22T13:37:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234/21 "2005-11-22T20:35:59Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > When they’re _not_ around? You’re a better man than my girlfriend’s father, Bob. > > Well, more polite, at least. 😃 In actuality, they aren’t bad fellows. I could have done much worse and we really don’t call them names even when they aren’t around. Well, most of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Seren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@Seren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seren)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234/22 "2005-11-22T20:47:58Z")
Speaking of aim and such, I forgot to mention that along with the name thing, Dad likes to play other psychological games. He’s got a black powder rifle he made himself that he likes to show off to any guys I happened to bring home. He tells all sorts of story about how many matches he’s won and what types of guns he’s used. He also talks about how he’s great at throwing tomahawks, using a bow and arrow, etc. Those stories are followed by stories of all his martial arts training and then by how he was in the Navy and used to work with explosives all the time. It’s a long, but normally effective, approach to keeping suitors in line. If nothing else, they get extremely bored and don’t ever wanna come over again. (My sister and I took to “rescuing” each other from Dad when we were younger. If you don’t interrupt him, he’ll just never stop.) The funny part is when Mom joins in on the story telling, as she has the same experiences (minus the tomahawks and Navy) as Dad. She never manages to look as ominous as Dad though. Her preferred method is just to talk about how much she’d like the guy as a son in law. Short, and usually just as effective. ---
**Author:** ![Otanx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Otanx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otanx)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234/23 "2005-11-23T10:26:36Z")
If I ever have a daughter their boyfriends will hate me. I am thinking about handing them the paperwork needed for a TS clearance and tell em it has to be filled out prior to dating my daughter. Of course the gun rack will be right next to the front door. Subtle I am not. -Otanx ---
**Author:** ![sniperfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@sniperfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sniperfang)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234/24 "2005-11-23T11:19:47Z")
Well, **sniperdad** passed on when I was 21 and **snipersis** was 15, so the responsibility of striking fear into the hearts of her boyfriends fell on me, and 'twas a responsibility I grudgingly accepted (yeah, right!). Snipersis was seeing this one guy for a while, I’d met him a few times when he came over and knew his voice well. Hell, we even talked a bit when snipersis threw a major bash for her birthday at home. Still, that didnt stop me doing this: 😃 (Phone rings). Sniperfang: Hello? Snipersis’ BF: Hi sniperfang. Could I speak to Snipersis? Sniperfang: Sure. Who is this, again? 😃😃😃 Snipersis’ BF: Ummm…errrr… this is ‘BF. Sniperfang: Who? Could you repeat that? Snipersis’ BF: BF, (squeak)…its BF… Sniperfang: Ohhh, sure BF. Hang on. … I did this _every_ time the guy called, for _three years_! ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234/25 "2005-11-23T12:31:51Z")
My son in law is named Charles and that is how he wants to be known. I call him Charlie because I know he hates it. Can’t call him Chuck, that is the name his father uses and he ignores you if you call him that. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234/26 "2005-11-23T14:34:23Z")
> [@Seren](#): > > I’m pretty sure he’s not just teasing me, as he genuinely seems to think the guy’s name is something else. There’s never a wink or anything to show it’s just in fun. Oh, and weirdly, he always calls the guy the same wrong name, no matter how many times we correct him. Like, if the boy is Josh, and Dad calls him John…he’ll always call him John. I think this is a great idea. I’m saving it for when my kids date. ---
**Author:** ![Barrels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@Barrels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrels)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234/27 "2005-11-23T14:52:42Z")
Not exactly the same but my SO is Andy his brother is Adam. Adam is getting married to a girl that has my name 🙂 My dad tended not to be very observant and often called my current by an ex’s name. Then I had a streak of 3 Jasons’, that seemed to solve the problem for a while 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234/28 "2005-11-23T15:36:18Z")
The Bus Kid’s BF is named Billy. NOT William. And has the unfortunate middle name of Gene. Billy Gene. Around the Bus House he is alternately known (to her face)as : Not William Billy Gene Bob Thornton William Whatshisname This past summer, he came to visit, and took the BK to the batting cages, to show off no doubt. Unfortunately for him, he left his batting glove in the back seat of the car. A single glove. Left in the car by Billie Gene. I repeatedly hum a particular Michael Jackson tune, or do a moonwalk when she’s around me and on the phone with him. ---
**Author:** ![Hostile\_Dialect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e495f1/32.png) [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234/29 "2005-11-23T19:12:03Z")
> [@dangermom](#): > > My dad used to use reverse psychology, and say something like “He seems nice enough, why don’t you marry him?” --though he only did that with halfway decent guys, just in case! I used to think that my dad called all of my female friends my “girlfriend” (“Your girlfriend called”, etc.) and that it was motivated by his desire to see me finally have some dating success. I’m starting to realize he does this much more often with female friends of visibly non-Caucasian ethnicities, and beginning to wonder if he’s using reverse psychology to get me to stay in my social group. Oh yeah, and he misspelled my name in writing down a phone message for me yesterday. Now, I would expect him to misspell it by cutting out a particular vowel, because that (less standard) form is how he wanted my name to be spelled in the first place. But he’s never done that; yesterday he doubled a single consonant. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen him misspell my name, although (like most engineers IME) he’s always been pretty good at misspelling just about everything else. Now that I think about it, it seems like my dad tries not to use the names of my female friends (or SOs) at all, because he’s not very good at remembering them. He tends to refer to them by various other characteristics, which caused some trouble when I had two friends who were both short and lived with their respective mothers, as that was the way he described them both. > [@Barrels](#): > > Then I had a streak of 3 Jasons’, that seemed to solve the problem for a while This reminds me of a story I read in the newspaper recently about tattoo removal. One guy had “Colleen” tattooed on his arm, and went to get it removed because he’d been through three Colleens and was ready for a change of scenery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dads-do-you-call-your-kids-so-by-the-wrong-name-on-purpose/332234.md?page=1)