dropzone here and on Randi’s board.
Michael to my mom, who insisted that the whole thing should be said. I prefer it, but accept that I’m…
Mike, my nom de guerre. It makes things easier.
Cotton to college friends and my in-laws. As always, a long story. My life is built of long stories; I’m Irish.
To preserve my privacy, I will replace my actual name with an anagram.
My proper name is “Arnold”, but nobody really calls me that any more, since the old lady next door died. I do identify myself that way over the phone (as part of my full [first and last] name), because the extra time spent on the additional syllable is more than compensated for by the increased likelihood of my being understood properly on the first try.
Some close family call me Arnie, but only if they’ve been family a long time. Also, a few foreigners who don’t know better.
To just about everybody else, I’m Arn. Aside from the aforetreated diminutive and shortened forms, I never really had a nickname in any circles.
Got a friend to whom this is handy. If someone yells hi to her, before she even turns around, she knows where she knows them from.
Current friend? Lizbeth. High School friend? Bethie. College? Beth. Work? Liz. Teaching gig? Elizabeth.
And her parents always called her E.J., so their friends and all her relatives do, too (even though her middle initial wasn’t a J. They can’t explain it!)
You, luv, are and will always be “Kid.”
2 variations of my real name, and 3 online pseudonyms.
This is the upside to the pain-in-the-ass it can be when you go by your middle name. If I get a phone call for Richard, I just tell the caller ”He’s not available, can I take a message?” I dodge a lot of bullshit calls that way, mostly from people that have gotten my name off a list somewhere.
I am terrible at remembering faces and names of people I met briefly. So if someone sees me out and about and calls me Richard, that’s a clue that they were from the car dealership, or the dentist office, somewhere that I didn’t have expectation of an ongoing relationship worth the hassle of explaining my name. The exception is if someone calls me Rich or Dick. That mean I knew them in a two year window at years ago where I gave up on my middle name. Sadly, I run across those people so rarely these days
Everybody else knows me as Andy. Don’t believe I’ve ever been called Andrew, which is kind of surprising to me as most of my formal documentation lists me as ‘R. Andrew’. Which is a goddamned battle to get done. Computers can’t deal with that.
Every once in a while, I’ll be expecting a call from the doctor or the insurance company. I’ll answer the phone “Hi, this is Andy” and they’ll then ask to speak to Richard. It always throws them for a loop when I say “That’s also me”.
Online: always Pork Rind or some variant. It’s amazing to me that even these days, it’s almost always available. In fact, if I go to sign up for a new site and it tells me that name is taken, that’s a big sign that I’ve already signed up there and have forgotten.
Again i am one of those “use my middle name” people.
If you call me first name, you are the government, a bank, or a doctors office. We do not have a personal relationship.
If you call me Julia you could be anyone.
If you call me Julie you are a relative I dont lnow well or you knew me before age 5.
If yoy call me Jules you are most likely my brother. Maybe my dad.
If you call me J then you are my Dad.
If you call me Mom you are my bio son. If you call me Mum its either my birthday or mothers day, and you are my step son. (Normally he calls me Julia though).
If you call me nuuuuuurse I will be there in a few minutes. I promise.
And of course I am always Mona Lisa Simpson.
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I am Jenny to most people.
I am Jen to my brother (for some reason).
I am Jennifer to doctors, the DMV, my bank, etc.
I am Jennifer Marie Anne [Surname] to David Kern.
I am Aunt Jenny to a few of my friends’ kids, and even some of my cousins’ kids.
I am Misnomer – or variations thereof – online. (Except on my very first message board, back in 1997-1998, where I was str8fwd.)
I am Googs to my dad (from “googly goo” baby talk).
I am probably That Bitch to certain people sometimes. 