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Yes - 'Gretchen' says to me: "Highly-strung, high-maintenance trust-issues-tastic pain in the arse who doesn't even have the decency to be good-looking after all the grief she causes - whether as an on-off girlfriend or as an total fucker of an office manager".
Also: 'Alan' will be indelibly associated with teh Alan Delve - erstwhile alter-ego of DanceMargarita.
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I'm very attached to my real name, to answer Darryn's far earlier question. It's unusual - especially the surname which is unusual to the point of rare, so I've always been quite possessive of my name.
To the point, in fact, that I was quite surprised when someone I know changed her surname upon marriage. I'm not passionately against it - though there's a whole obvious feminist subject there - but it did send a blast of icy air to the ego. For a moment I had to check that no one was going to make me change my name, because it's mine, you know! Fortunately that's a bridge I'm unlikely to cross. But that didn't stop me from playing devil's advocate and trying to persuade my sister to give her unborn child her (our) surname and not her boyfriend's.
Having an unusual name does give you a feeling of uniqueness, which is augmented if people find it difficult to pronounce. I was about 10 when I figured out that not everyone's name began with a baffled pause and a sharp intake of breath. I was about 28 when I realised that all the Sarahs, Davids and Claires I know and love have to share their names with other people.
My cat, by the way, is called Teazle. I'm not sure if this bears out the theory or not. She's named after the plant Teasel - the variant spelling was an accident.
On the subject of ridiculous names, I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with Alan, Ian or Iain. Ioan (the Welsh variant of John, the latter two are also variants of John) is *slightly* better as it produces the extra baffled look and sharp intake of breath before being said by anyone not Welsh.
I seem to have professed a love of confusing people here. Let me tell you, the shine eventually wears off being described as "Dear Mr [rampant mis-spelling] by letter, "Er, um, er" on the telephone and "Oh Gosh I thought you were going to be ethnic" by one Oxford Don.
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Nobody can pronounce my surname, although my Dad reported that in New Zealand they can just about get it right, because there are a few of us over there.
I like having a clan and tartan. Makes me feel special.
[ 20.10.2005, 11:02: Message edited by: Dr. Benway ]
quote:Originally posted by OJ: On the subject of ridiculous names, I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with Alan, Ian or Iain. Ioan (the Welsh variant of John, the latter two are also variants of John) is *slightly* better as it produces the extra baffled look and sharp intake of breath before being said by anyone not Welsh.
In Bristol I am Alan / In Croydon I am Ian Bexley I am Iain / In Harrow I am IoaaoaoaonPosts: 8657
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By a quirk of real life fate, I discovered OJ's real name when a colleague walked behind me as I was looking at her picture on her moblog. "I know her!" exclaims workmate, "that's XXXXXX" Then i had to invent a story about how come I was looking at pictures of her friend on the internet, which was no fun.
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LOL. Don't be so ridiculous - I said my name was quite unusual and difficult to pronounce. Like Ermintrude Higginbottom, for example. Call me Ermintrude....
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i really like my name. i've grown to like it.as a child i used to hate it. i used to hate the fact that nobody could spell it right. that the film came out a year after my birth. that because of that i've been called omen since i can remember by people of limited wit. that coupled with a tricky surname meant that i constantly have to correct people.
but now i like it. unfortunately, i'm starting to feel like michael bolton from officespace. just last week a telesales guy rang up, and asked mid patter "who gave you your name?" "my dad" "oh. he doesn't like reggae does he?" "no" "because bob marley's son..." "i was born before him"
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quote:Originally posted by OJ: Ben, is that a rugby song?
Excellent!
ETA: OJ, Ben's song is a reworking of the theme to classic 70s children's TV show Story Book International, which was more famous for its theme than its content.
quote:TV Cream WELL-MEANING EURO co-production featured various forgettable dramatised fairytales, but, as ever, it was the title sequence we all remembered - Camp Robin Hood cartoon minstrel with lute shambled about boasting of his international narrative prowess : "Oi am the Storoytollor/And moi storois must be told..." He had a different alias for each country's production, apparently - in England he was, disappointingly, "John". ISLA BLAIR did the narration stuff.
not...
You reached over with your hand and knocked my Jap over
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Jonesesye is on the cusp of 4k posts everyone. Can we all have a bit of hush while we wait for him to straddle this momentous occasion with some sort of fantastical magical ubertextual piece of Jonesy Gold™
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quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: I have the crappest of crap names. In a crap names contest I win - there's no point in anyone else even taking part .
quote:Originally posted by H1ppychick: any mystique or intrigue I might currently have will be lost for ever and you will all be able to rip the piss until the day I die.
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I had to start using the second part of my name because in one large office I worked in there were FIVE! Sarah's. So I used my proper given name of Sarah-Jane there and it just stuck. Tis a bit long though.
The good people of TMO named my cat for me - I can't remember exactly whos suggestion it was, but the cat ended up being called Dave. Which I love, but my daughter hates, so she calls it Pebbles. No wonder the poor bugger is confused!
I like to say things like, "Dave came home last night with a bleeding ear, limping and a dead bird in his mouth" and wait for the penny to drop with the other person that this is actually a cat we are talking about. Simple things and all that.
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