I draw the line at nicknames that are actually job descriptions, and “supervisory” jobs at that. You want me to call you “Coach” or “Boss” or “Chief”? Unless you are actually one of those persons to me, not happening.
And something really stupid, like “Wardog”, (a current Survivor contestant), would just make me laugh.
I’m typically okay with nicknames, but I hate the ones where the person is making some lame attempt at an image change with new people and you know no one really calls them Butch or Nuke or Consuela Bananahammock.
I’ve only once refused to use a nickname, and that was a 20-something white kid at work that wanted to be called Puff Daddy because his real name was the same as the whatever-Sean-Combs-is. First, I’m not calling some suburban white kid “Puff Daddy.” Second, I’m not calling anyone Puff Daddy. Telling another grown-up in all seriousness to call you something like that is basically introducing yourself as “dumbass,” and I’m going to pretend you were joking until you come around.
If there’s one name the person wants everyone to use I would use it. A lot of times people with further out kind of nicknames though accept some other people not using them. In fact sometimes you have to be part of their inner circle for the nickname to be the right way to address them.
But if you meet somebody socially and they say ‘hi, I’m Catherine, but everybody calls me Cat’ and you say ‘pleased to meet you, Catherine’ that does seem a bit obnoxious. In other cases there’s some room for choice in what you call somebody without being obnoxious.
Also this seems to assume purely social peer interaction. I don’t think teachers have to use nicknames for their students for example. Some people of a very ‘modern’ mindset might dispute that. And there could probably be lots of dispute whether superiors at work are obligated to pretend their subordinates are their pals when addressing them, lest they be ‘asshole bosses’. But seems to me practically if your boss can fire you or decide not to give you a bonus or raise, it’s kind of superfluous to complain that they called you John when you want to be called Johnny Boy.
I briefly worked in a construction-related field and my shop foreman’s boss had the habit of never calling anyone by name, only nickname. Taking it up a notch, he only had 2 nicknames, and he just recycled them throughout the day. Consequently, you might be “Rambo” in the morning and “Chainsaw” in the afternoon. Unlike my previous post in this thread, those are not stand-in names. Those are the actual 2 names he used.
Call me by my given name or one of my preferred nicknames (there are two). You make a cutesy nickname up, I will give you the stinkeye. Keep it up, and I will tell the world what I think of your sense of humor.
“Hi, I’m John, but everybody calls me cockknobbler.”
“…what?”
“Cockknobbler. See, it’s a really funny story-”
“Right, well, see you later, John.”
Sean Combs’s real name is Sean Combs.
My nephew- and niece-in-law have young sons named Samuel and Ezra. I think old-man (and old-lady) names are kind of in right now. I’d much rather hear them than some of the cutesy “creative” names a lot of kids have (including every possible name that rhymes with “Aidan.”)
This is what I came in to reference. And everybody on the show rolls “Wardog” off their tongues like they’re saying Bobby or Jimmy.
mmm
“Cat” doesn’t seem at all weird to me, but I had a college roommate named “Cat” (or “Kat” in her case) so it seems perfectly normal. Calling her by her full name is odd, as I’ve never heard anyone address her that way (though the last time I saw her was when she was in her early 30s. Still “Kat,” though.) Nor do I find “Mimi” nor “Moose” all that odd. One of photography’s great mentors/educators is a guy named Moose Peterson. I actually have no idea what his real first name is (though, looking it up now, it’s apparently Brent. Moose is so much better for him.)
The “whatever” referred to his occupation. That seems to change every time he’s mentioned. I’d honestly be surprised if some kid barely in his 20s admired Sean Combs for his rap skills.
I should clarify, “Moose” and “Cat” are both professional finance industry colleagues… not personal acquaintances.
Now who would you take more seriously… Moose and Cat? Or John and Catharine?
My friends call me “Endo”, but if that nickname ever somehow crept into my professional life, I assure you I’da put the kibosh on it right quick. This ain’t no keg party.
I would take ‘Cat’ equally seriously because I interpret it as a standard abbreviation for Catherine, the same way that John is a standard abbreviation for Jonathan. Now if I find out that Cat’s actual name is Harriet then I’d start looking at her askance, but until then it’s just a name.
Moose, on the other hand, is a casual nickname only.
And I bet “Wardog” is a diminutive of “Warthog.”
~VOW
Yes. If the OP had written this nickname as the more common variant “Kat” for “Katherine”, I don’t think anybody would have noticed anything even slightly odd about it.
If the OP just can’t bear to address a colleague as “Cat”, then I suggest he call her “Kat” instead, at least when speaking to her.
And if a professional acquaintance is widely known by their “normal” given name as well as by an informal eccentric nickname, then using the nickname in a work context suggests that you’re on terms of personal intimacy with them. If you don’t want to be mistaken for one of your co-worker Jim’s old frat brothers, then don’t call him “Jimbozo” at work, no matter how much he likes that nickname.
But if you meet someone in the workplace who goes exclusively by “Jimbozo”, and everybody who meets him calls him “Jimbozo” no matter how formal or dignified the context, then you should be calling him “Jimbozo” too, no matter how much you dislike that nickname. (How would you even know it’s a nickname, anyway? Maybe it’s Ibibio/West African or something else you don’t recognize.)
Pretty much this. The one caveat is…I’m really terrible with names. :o Not sure why it’s so hard for me and so seemingly easy for others, but I can remember faces really well, but I have a hard time associating a name with a face, or even just remembering a name. That goes for nicknames as well as real names.
But, if someone wants to be called by a nickname, I’d call them that (assuming I remembered it at all) if that’s what they wanted. Generally I have a whole host of things I do to make it SEEM like I know someone’s name without actually haven’t to say their name.
Heh, my preferred nickname for people is “you”. Or in a pinch “whatever his/her name was”, though that earns looks and/or mockery when you use it for somebody you’ve worked with for over a decade.
‘Man’ is one of my standbys, or ‘vato’, ‘jeffe’ , ’ ‘mano’ or ‘friend’ depending on the company. ‘Ok man, I’ll catch you later’ or ‘that’s cool, man, take care’ are stock phrases for me. It takes, literally, years for me to actually be able to absorb someone’s name and associate that with them. It’s really embarrassing when it’s family…I have a huge extended family, and while I know all my uncles, aunts and cousins and such, knowing my cousins kids is…really, really difficult. But they all know my kids names! Hell, knowing my brothers and sisters kids names has been a real trial. :smack:
How about this? “If I don’t like the nickname you decided to give me, I will tell you so, and ask you to stop calling me that. If you don’t, I will kick you in the crotch and then punch you in the nose. Sound fair?”
This is the more reasonable response.