Wednesday, May 01, 2019

Say My Name


It's always bothered me when people call me "Jim" - it's not my name. 

My dad, also goes by Jim. So when people would call me Jim, it would bug me, but I knew most people wouldn't know this, so I'd just have to be careful and tactful in clarifying my name.

But when someone called me Jim today, it still bothered me. This person, somewhere else on the planet, I'll never meet them in person, saw my post on Social Media, complete with my name, and decided to call me a different name.

Why? It can't be laziness, because then you could use the silly abbreviation Jms.  (Wm. for William makes sense.  Jms. seems silly.)  It wasn't Twitter so there wasn't a character-count.

Is it a sense of familiarity? "Hey, pal of mine, Jim, Jimbo, Jimmy, Jimster, the Jiminator..." Do people think it's endearing? It's not a nickname, it's someone else's name.  I've told you, plain as day on my social profile, my name. You don't make me think we're good buds if you call me by some other name that I haven't told you I go by.  (I love how some languages go with "I am called..." vs "You can call me...")  So.. James... Jamebo... Jamester... the Jamesinator... making copies.  (Who makes copies anymore?)

Autocorrect?  Good heavens, I hope not.  You need to dramatically break that phone in half and throw it in a lake while saying something really cool.  Cue: CSI: Miami scream.

So, yeah, if you're calling me Jim, you're doing it wrong.

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