Rambles for the New Year

[wolfcaroling]

Well, my most important new year's resolution is to lose more weight. I make this resolution every year, and yet somehow I am at my heaviest yet. i KNOW I CAN lose the weight, I lost 20 pounds one determined summer, and I kept it off for a year. Unfortunately, my subsequent depression and Jonathan's "I don't feel like eating in. Why don't I treat

Comments

[wolfcaroling]

Two syllable names often aren't nicknamed, since nicknames often have two syllables as well. The most comfortable name to pronounce has two syllables, emphasis on the first. Those names often don't get shortened. For example, Carol, Corrine, Kerry, and so on. But three syllable names or names that don't fall easily off of the tongue do tend to be nicknamed. Elizabeth will inevitably be addressed as Liz or Beth or Lisbeth or Liza or something by her close friends, even if it isn't her acknowledged "name". Jonathan got shortened to "Jon" even though he HATES the name Jon. That's why he called himself JP at MtA. He accepted that people would not call him "Jonathan". It is a long and therefore formal name. So he GAVE them a nickname.

My father was raised being called Lawrence. His whole family calls him Lawrence. When he began working for the bank, though, people began calling him Larry, or (In Nassau) Lorrie. He eventually succombed and my mother calls him Larry. He is almost never addressed as Lawrence... except by his family, who refuse to call him anything else.

[grinning_dagger]

But as I said, I have known two Elizabeths that had no nicknames to speak of. I think it also depends on how easygoing said person is about being called something else. I mean, if Jon had made a stink every time someone called him Jon, he probably wouldn't be called Jon. The same thing with your dad. I mean, look at Michael and Mike. My brother-in-law IS Michael, because he makes a stink if someone calls him anything else. Mike thinks of himself as Michael, but he really doesn't care what people call him, so he ends up as Mike. Plus Michael is a two-sylable name, and gets shortened more often than it doesn't. Maybe Jon shouldn't have given up so easily. I knew a couple Jonathan's in school too who didn't get knicknames. I started calling him Jon because that's what everyone else called him, and by the time I found out that he didn't like it, it was too late and he was and ever would be Jon in my mind. And what about the Tiffanys of the world? I knew so many in school, and their names were only shortened occasionally and by their friends to show affection. The Tiffany at Mike's work feels that three sylables are too much and wants to be called "Tiffy". I can't bring myself to do that, so I continue to call her Tiffany. If she complained about it, I would probably call her what she wanted, but she doesn't so I don't.

So there, I reject your logic, and substitute my own.

[blythilie]

My parents always thought it was important for a little kid to get called by their full name-it's easy enough to come up with a diminutive for someone small, but it's important for them to come to their own identity too. No one ever shortened by name except my best friends family until university when it was universally shortened to what I wanted it to be. Just saying 3 syllables doesnt necessarily mean nickname.

[wolfcaroling]

Yeah, "Cor" just doesn't work.
Jon says he used to make a stink about it, but people kept doing it so he gave up. The thing is, when Jonathan makes a stink about something, people want to do it more! :-p

[grinning_dagger]

Okay, so Jon's a bad example. If he liked being called Jon we'd probably call him poop-fag instead. Heheheheh.

[wolfcaroling]

LOL

[orenda]

See, he denies it, but I'm certain he ASKED Becky and I to call him Jon, like all his other friends did. I could never get the hang of it until a few years ago. I always used the full name before that. I thought he disliked JP before MtA because only his family called him that.

[grinning_dagger]

Ah HA! The truth comes out at last!

[wolfcaroling]

And really, Eleanor is your name. We call you Ele, but it's really just a nickname. You are and will always be Eleanor, Ele to friends.