Sunday, February 25, 2007

A rose by any other name...


Presumably, most of us are happy with our given names. We must be; we've lived with them all our lives without changing them. Haven't you ever, though, if only fleetingly, wished your name were something else?

When I was a kid, I was perfectly happy with my nickname. None of my friends or family ever called me anything else. On occasions like the first day of school, however, when the teacher called out my real first name, it would sometimes take me a minute to make the connection that "that" was "me" and timidly confirm that I was "Here!" Throughout grade school, I longed to be an Amy or Emily, Anita or Donna or Roseann.

Nowadays, I sometimes wish I were called something exotic like Delilah or Evangeline or Renata. The object of my affections would, of course, be an Alejandro, Luciano, or Antonio. I never dated (or married) one of those.

It's a rainy/sleety day here in the Valley of the Shadow of Stuff That Must Be Done, and I have way too much stuff I absolutely have to do. Therefore, I didn't spend a whole lot of time bounty hunting Words Gone Wild. Thank God, I found all of these in one fell swoop and handed them off to Twisted Linguistics.

participitate - This is group participation in someone's unfortunate heart palpitations. An unpreventable side effect is nervous tics.

catalouges - The act of tossing small sleds off mountainsides.

everyone's learning curb is different - Mine is still ongoing, but I do realize that some peoples' cutoff point is 6th to 8th grade.

Passible - Book containing all pickup lines used and handed down from the beginning of time.


What was your 1996 theme song?
Your 1996 Theme Song Is: 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins

Shakedown 1979
Cool kids never have the time
On a live wire right up off the street
You and I should meet

18 comments:

LZ Blogger said...

My mom used to tell me that I was named after the cutest guy in her High School (which was fine with me). But as I got a little older... I always wondered how that must have made my dad feel, because they were high school sweethearts and my dad's name was NOT Jerry, but mine is!

Serena said...

LOL! That would certainly give one pause.

Lee said...

I've never been unhappy about my name, even as a kid. When I was a child I was the only 'Lee' around and I didn't meet another bearing the same moniker until I was 19 years old and he was a "he"...I can't imagine myself being called anything else. I've been called lots of things, no doubt, but I'm happy with my lot!

Camille Alexa said...

Sj,

I was thinking about your twisted linguistics addiction, and when posting this to Catherine's blog earlier, I thought it may be applicable to you, too (as to so many of us):

I thought I'd share an excerpt of a poem by writer Steven Utley, more of which can be found @ bewideringstories.com. This one's from a piece called Lust and Compulsion;



Fellow writers scoff
When I tell them, “Writing is
A mental disorder.”
“That’s crazy,” they say.
“Well, answer me, then, could you stop
if you wanted to?”

Serena said...

I'm very fond of my first name now, Lee. It was a bit overpowering for a little bitty kid, though.:)

Camille, thank you so much for sharing that. I love it.

rkfinnell said...

I detested my name as a kid. Over time I learned to accept and then to actually like it. I've been told it's exotic. I get the "Roxane" song sung to me A LOT.

Serena said...

I've liked your name since you first divulged it, Roxan. And of course, I immediately had "Roxanne" going through my head. It's a great name (and a great song).

Scary Monster said...

Never liked me name. Stiil don't. It Don quite fit in me mouth always makes me feel like Me be wearing someone else's dentures. Ya know what Me means?

puerileuwaite said...

I like my name. I also like Serena, especially since I had the hots for Elizabeth Montgomery and her Serena character on Bewitched!

Serena said...

Scary Monster, isn't your first name -- Scary? Does Big Mama know you don't like it?

Pugsy, I wish "Serena" actually belonged to me but, alas, it doesn't. But I'm still hot, right?:)

Corn Dog said...

Hey! Came by and fed the duck. Poor thing had not starved thankfully. I got caught up on my reading too.

I've always hated my name. HATED IT! Thankfully the kids in the family shortened it to one letter "T" because they could not manage the whole name when they were babies. Most everyone switched to the letter. I could live with that.

Well, I'm off again. Waving...

Jack K. said...

Official name: John

Name known by: Jack

Middle name: Augustine

In high school toyed with name: Gus (Never liked that.)

Also used to be known as Smilin' Jack, but for all the wrong reasons. Now it fits.

Hale pointed me in this direction. Your site has been added to my daily reading sites.

Like the verbicide concept. That, too has been added to daily readings.

NYD said...

Hi Serena. Just thought I'd drop by and take a look around. The twisted linguistics are good. They would make a verbivore happy to dine on them.

As for my name I never really liked my last name 'cause it was the butt of many jokes as I was growing up and the reason for so many schoolyard battles. I usually use my middle name instesd. My first name David is great! I love the meaning of it and the fact that belonged to a king.

Serena said...

Hey, Corn Dog, thanks for feeding the duck. I swear, I never can remember. Poor thing. You came through mighty fast, girlfriend. Hurry back to the Blogosphere.

Hi, Jack. Thanks for dropping by. Augustine is a very courtly name, but I do like Smilin' Jack much better.:)

Hey, NYD. I strongly suspect Scary might be a verbivore and I'm afraid he'll slather up my Linguistics with tomatoe sauce and eat them. I like the name David; I have a brother named David.

Unknown said...

I am not a "Brad." I have never been one and never will be one. Thank G-d it is only Brad and not Bradly or Bradford. I remember when I went to England with an old girlfriend and her family heard she was coming home with an American named "Brad." They expected blonde short hair, polo shirt, khakis, and a nerd. They got combat boots, long hair, and ripped jeans. I knew then I would never be a Brad.

Serena said...

Say what, Brad? I know a couple of Brads; they're both dark-haired.

They got combat boots, long hair, and ripped jeans.

Yeah, ba-by!:)

puerileuwaite said...

Um ... sure! Why not?

Serena said...

Ah, Pugsy, a pup after my own heart... I always say "Why not?" instead of "Why?"