Tangentially holiday related, what with all the invites sent this time of year:
My name is Teresa. It has three syllables: “Tear-ree-sah”. That is how I introduce myself, how I address my correspondence, how my email address has my name. I am not Theresa. I am not Terri. I am not “Tree-sah”, although I’ll give that one a pass. It’s not that I’m against nicknames, it’s just that the only nickname there is for Teresa is Terri and I do not find that name sounds like me. On many occasions I’ve had someone address me as Terri and I have completely ignored them, not to be rude or teach them a lesson–but just because I didn’t recognize they were talking to me.
I am also not Mrs Husbandsfirstname Husbandslastname. I am my own person thanks. I am to be called Mrs Husbandslastname, or Teresa Husbandslastname. Last time I posted this preference on this board I was soundly rebuked as some sort of control freak feminist, but I don’t care. Don’t call me that, don’t address my mail that way–I hate it.
Stupid selfish fucks in this stupid ghetto neighborhood. Clearly there isn’t enough up-and-coming around here to drive out you thieving, low-class morons. Struck by the Christmas spirit, no doubt, you selfish jackasses had to steal a little pine tree from the park. There they were, sitting innocently at the entrance to the park – a welcoming pair, little decorative tree-lets, just a couple of feet high. A little greenery to make this a more beautiful, welcoming space for people to play and live. Well… no more! You saw them and thought, “Let’s celebrate Christmas by digging this one up and taking it home.” Way to celebrate the birth of God, you idiots. Way to make baby Jesus cry, you kleptomaniac bastards. You know, I’ve gotten used to the fact that you jerkoffs feel the need to dump trash cans in the pond. I get that your moronic ideas about territory and putting it to the man drive you to spray paint the pavilion on a regular basis. I get that your booze-filled bladders inspire you to piss around the playground. I even get that it’s too heavy a burden to carry your Popeye’s Chicken bones and spicy hot Doritos bags to the trash can just five feet from where you stuffed your pie hole. But I can’t believe you are so selfish as to dig up a tree from the park. Aaaaaargh! I am not a gun owner but, damn, if I don’t wish I’d caught you in the act and filled your sorry asses with buckshot.
I hear ya - my name is commonly spelled without an “e”, but I spell mine with an “e” (not an uncommon spelling - it’s probably 3:1 one over the other). It drives me a little crazy when people who have known me for years, have seen my name a thousand times on emails (spelled correctly), and they still spell it incorrectly. Look - my name is an inch away from your typing - LOOK AT HOW I SPELL IT!
To tie this into a Christmas rant, this is the season for seeing multiple mis-spellings of my name. I’m grateful for the cards and gifts, but taking a moment to actually learn my real name would be super.
Thank you for this. I came in here to bitch about the stupid Hallmark store having Christmas carols (not songs, mind you, but actual carols) before Thanksgiving and some general “I hate xmas” whining and here I find a new word AND that Carol Stream has been banned.
Another vote for “why is this Christmas stuff so over rated”
Newly single woman chiming in here. My significant other decided to return to his home country and enter into an arranged marriage earlier this year. That after seven years together.
This leaves me alone at Christmas this year.
I do not want to join in your holiday festivities, right now I just want to be alone.
I have nothing to celebrate this year and just want to be by myself.
Really, it is not the end of the world. But I have nothing to share right now. Please, just leave me alone and let me watch TV all day. It is what I want to do.
Thanks a lot - maybe I will be more sociable next year.
Why didn’t you ask to speak to her boss? That’s extremely inappropriate – especially if you’re working the pharmacy counter (that’s where I’m assuming she was). If I were her manager, I’d be pissed and concerned that she could be driving off customers.
My own gripes?
So, with the two new kittens, we can’t put up our usual ornaments on the tree this year. We had to get a whole bunch of shatter-proof ornaments. So they look really nice, but one of the things I love best is when I sitting on the sofa watching tv, or reading, is to look over and search for various ornaments*. But thanks to the two little snots, there’s just no way. They’ve already knocked about ten or more off of the tree, BOTH of them have gotten up into the tree (unfortunately, they were down before I could get a picture), and we’re not risking our regular ornaments.
Nor can we put up my dad’s antique nativity set. sigh
*There are a TON. For instance, starting when I was about two or three, my cousins and I did an “ornament exchange” every year. We’d each get someone’s name, and then of course, get them an ornament. (Duh) In fact, we kept it up until only a few years ago, so I have about twenty-some ornaments from the exchange alone. THEN my godfather, my Uncle Mike, would buy me and ornament every year when I was growing up. And then there are the ones my parents have bought me through the years (especially all the ones they got me when I was a baby and for my first few Christmas, etc). And those are just mine alone. My sister has almost as many. And then there are the ones from my father’s tree when HE was growing up…
So…at least they can’t get any of those. Thanks, Luci! Thanks, Annie!
My cousin Teresa is universally known as simply Esa. And a Teresa in college was called Ree. Do either of those grab ya?
I also have an E where many others do not, and what kills me is that this time of year the family holiday gathering e-mails start flying and they come to me at MyFullNameSpelledWithThatE@gmail.com and then inside, at least 50% of the time (if not more) I’m greeted by… the e-lacking spelling of the name. Um…
I didn’t think it would do much good, as she did this in front of the owner. I also didn’t have the emotional energy to get into this conflict, and (this being in the Bible Belt), I thought that it was quite possible that I’d be told that they really didn’t need my business. This was about 25 years or so ago.
I am prone to misspelling my own first name. I go by a shortened version of it in real life.
My in-laws spell that wrong, but as far as I know, they have rarely seen it written out (and either is an acceptable way to spell it). I don’t sweat it.
My first name is spelled with two Ls. TWO. Not ONE. TWO. And an I, not a Y. And an S, not a C. And an O, not an E.
GET IT RIGHT, especially when you (generic) have to spell it right to send me an email at work: firstnamelastname@schoolname.edu. Don’t spell it correctly in the email address, and then in the email spell it any number of ways that bear no relation to reality.
You can have theseones if you want. Our late Peach felt anything on the tree that she could reach was obviously a cat toy, so the bottom half of the tree was cheap plastic/metal unbreakable ornaments while all the special ones went on the top half. It’s felt rather odd to come out in the morning these last two holiday seasons and **not **have to pick up a half dozen ornaments strewn around the living room and dining room.
LittleBird, if you want some alternate nicknames for Teresa, I can offer Maite (which means Beloved in Basque), Tere and Terete I didn’t get to inherit my mother’s name because, since she happened to share it with her mother- and sister-in-law, she figured Maite IV was a mite too confusing for family meetings.
Buffy sat in the tree the one year, but that’s all she did – sit there. (Thank god she hasn’t tried that again – she’d bring the whole thing down!)
Luci and Annie, however, seem to think it’s one of those cat jungle gyms. And Annie’s almost fully grown, so the whole thing shakes and I wouldn’t be surprised if she knocks it sideways.
I would be completely down with any of those nicknames–my husband calls me Resa for instance. If someone who knows me says “Hey, I’m gonna call you X from now on” I am totally into it and probably will give them a nickname.
My issue is upon first introduction where I say “Hello, I’m Teresa” some dicks take it upon themselves to say “Hi Terri!” Then I have a millisecond to think: Do I correct them or do I let is slide? If I correct them I will probably sound like an uptight bitch, and usually people who do this are new clients and I want to be on their good side. If I let it slide, them I have to be called Terri forever.
I didn’t get to inherit my mother’s name because, since she happened to share it with her mother- and sister-in-law, she figured Maite IV was a mite too confusing for family meetings.
