Nicknames are an interesting concept. Instead of calling people by their given name, we shorten, humorize, or make up relevant names to call people and reject who they really are or what they were intended to be called by. (side note: I made up the word humorize, you don’t need to look it up in the dictionary. It’s not a real word. Trust me.) I remember talking about this with my Dickens professor, because Charles Dickens is the master of all masters of creating nicknames in order to demean the humanity or the realness of his character. When we got talking about this subject and how often Dickens created a substitution of being by giving a nickname, I realized how many different names I have been called. When I lived in Portland, everyone I knew called me Mo. There were many times when people would tell me that they thought my first name was actually Mo and they had no idea it was, in fact, Melissa. My mom calls me Miss, my brothers, Michael, Ryan and Jake, call me Missy, and my brother Tyler calls me Mel. My roommates in Logan call me Loh (in case you cant figure that one out, it comes from my surname Osterloh... Loh.) This is all a complicated story really, because my brother Michael has been called Mo since anyone can remember, so when people started calling me Mo in Portland, he got pretty upset. I mean, he would actually make signs at my games claiming he was the real Mo. He even called me a nickname stealer once. He had the audacity to blame me??? I didn’t choose to be called that. I guess I just look more like a Mo than he thinks I do. I cant help it if his nickname fits me better. Anyway, my roommate Dani decided he deserved to have his nickname back (yeah, whatever) and she started calling me Loh. My roommate Melissa (yeah, let's not even get into how complicated that is!!) calls me Melis. My friend Rachel calls me Osterloh, yeah, that’s the longest nickname ever! And there are a few girls on my volleyball team who call me Ost, a much shorter version of the previous name. So, let’s see… does ANYONE call me Melissa? No. Why is this? Is this the beginning of my deterioration, one nickname at a time? This is all up for questioning and investigation. Any and all advice is welcome.
27.3.08
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2 comments:
haha I love this blog. And I have to admit, you've got a point! I even remember when we were younger, I found out your full name was Melissa--not Missy...but I am going to have to stick with "Missy". Its what I've called you since the diaper years for goodness sake, and its going to stay that way!! Love you, MISSY!
There are many people out there that actually get offended if you shorten or change their name. My neighbor is from Australia, his given name is Edward...and if you call him anything but Edward he won't respond. He feels very strongly about being called by his given name. My daughters name is Elizabeth, and while many people shorten it to Lizzy, I call her Elizabeth or Elizabeth Anne. I can't bring myself to call her anything else. An old team mate said people shortened her name and she hated it, like they needed her attention so badly they couldn't pronounce her whole name.
However my parents gave me the nickname Tootsie, and it was like my special name...they never called me that when they were mad, so it became an endearing term for me. But that's my two cents... there are many ways nicknames come about and not all of them are endearing, but some can be.
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