Now that we have let Saturday's post sink in a little, I discovered a website that puts what I was trying to say in a much better, and funnier way. It's called Stupid Kid Names, and can be found here. Go there and laugh at stupid people who name their kids stupid names like Kenzyngtyn, for Christ's sake...
What I wanted to talk about is shortening of peoples names. People with normal names, and some with the unusual names as well, will often shorten them to make it easier to talk about them. Less syllables is just easier, generally accepted and preferred way to address people. Sometimes it's not even a shortening, it's more of a common nickname for people with that name, although that seems to not be as prevalent these days, it's still true a lot of the time.
For example, people named Robert are often called Bob, for some reason. People named Richard are called Dick. People named Charles are called Chuck. People named William are called Bill. Why? I honestly don't know. I'm sure there is a reason, as there is a reason for everything. I could look it up, but I'll just wonder aloud with you all reading along. But nearly everyone who has a multiple-syllable name has it shortened down to one. Hell, my given name is Bradley, but I've always been called Brad. Jeffery, David, Christopher, Steven (or Stephen), Thomas, Michael, Timothy, Andrew, Albert and Patrick are all very common names that are very often shortened to one syllable by just about everyone I've ever known with these names. Also, Bethany is often shortened to Beth. My wife's name is Bethany, and she goes by Bethany. Who the Hell is Beth?
Some people have a hard time accepting when someone wants to go by their full name. It's an interesting phenomenon. (I just spelled phenomenon correctly on the first try, +2 points to me) Some people catch on right away, when you see the name written down on someone you just met, and it says his name is Timothy, so you automatically call him Tim. He might correct you saying something polite like "I usually go by Timothy." Okay, enough said. No problem. I will call you Timothy. Sometimes you don't have the luxury of asking, so you just go by what others call that person. You pick up on the cues of others and learn what they go by. Someone always refers someone you work with as David, you call that person David until he says "just call me Dave or D.J." I always default to the accepted shortened name unless told otherwise.
But some people just have a hard time accepting that someone goes by their full name. I have friends, good friends, who will forever refer to my wife as Beth. "Is Beth coming too?" "...Yes, she is." I say in return. Because I understand how some people feel about it. They're so used to defaulting to the common shortened version that using the full version is just uncomfortable.
It's all about picking up on clues from the people around you. It's okay to call someone by their full name if they're not used to it. If they really hate it, they'll tell you. Some people at my current job (like my supervisor) call me Bradley all the time, because I never told them to call me anything else. It's strange, because I would have thought they would have defaulted to my common shortened name, but they didn't. It's the first time in my life I've been called Bradley more than Brad.
I don't know, just a thought.
What I wanted to talk about is shortening of peoples names. People with normal names, and some with the unusual names as well, will often shorten them to make it easier to talk about them. Less syllables is just easier, generally accepted and preferred way to address people. Sometimes it's not even a shortening, it's more of a common nickname for people with that name, although that seems to not be as prevalent these days, it's still true a lot of the time.
For example, people named Robert are often called Bob, for some reason. People named Richard are called Dick. People named Charles are called Chuck. People named William are called Bill. Why? I honestly don't know. I'm sure there is a reason, as there is a reason for everything. I could look it up, but I'll just wonder aloud with you all reading along. But nearly everyone who has a multiple-syllable name has it shortened down to one. Hell, my given name is Bradley, but I've always been called Brad. Jeffery, David, Christopher, Steven (or Stephen), Thomas, Michael, Timothy, Andrew, Albert and Patrick are all very common names that are very often shortened to one syllable by just about everyone I've ever known with these names. Also, Bethany is often shortened to Beth. My wife's name is Bethany, and she goes by Bethany. Who the Hell is Beth?
Some people have a hard time accepting when someone wants to go by their full name. It's an interesting phenomenon. (I just spelled phenomenon correctly on the first try, +2 points to me) Some people catch on right away, when you see the name written down on someone you just met, and it says his name is Timothy, so you automatically call him Tim. He might correct you saying something polite like "I usually go by Timothy." Okay, enough said. No problem. I will call you Timothy. Sometimes you don't have the luxury of asking, so you just go by what others call that person. You pick up on the cues of others and learn what they go by. Someone always refers someone you work with as David, you call that person David until he says "just call me Dave or D.J." I always default to the accepted shortened name unless told otherwise.
But some people just have a hard time accepting that someone goes by their full name. I have friends, good friends, who will forever refer to my wife as Beth. "Is Beth coming too?" "...Yes, she is." I say in return. Because I understand how some people feel about it. They're so used to defaulting to the common shortened version that using the full version is just uncomfortable.
It's all about picking up on clues from the people around you. It's okay to call someone by their full name if they're not used to it. If they really hate it, they'll tell you. Some people at my current job (like my supervisor) call me Bradley all the time, because I never told them to call me anything else. It's strange, because I would have thought they would have defaulted to my common shortened name, but they didn't. It's the first time in my life I've been called Bradley more than Brad.
I don't know, just a thought.
