Prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet

[venta]

Fancy celebrating St Patrick's night tomorrow ?
The Far From the Madding Crowd has folk dancing (bad luck, it's us), music, possibly singing, monks to bless the beer, and all manner of goodness.


Yup, it's going the rounds, but I thought it might be of interest to some.

If you call me:

Venta you probably only know me from here.
Liz you're probably someone I've met in the last ten years, or who knows me from the Scout troop I belong to.
Beth you're someone I went to school with, or who was in the church choir with me.
Elizabeth you're probably someone I've met at some point. I tend to call myself Liz and Elizabeth reasonably interchangeably these days. Or you might just be cross with me.
Lizy you're RuthK, and where on earth have you been for the past twelve years ?
Lizzie/Lizzy you probably know me through rapper. I don't deliberately have a different name here, just it seems that's what people call me. Or you might have known me before I was about ten. Or you're a friend of Samantha's.
Bethaliz you're my Aunty Pat.
Blip you are Penny.
Spiv/Spivlet/Wizbit You're one of about four people I was at university with.
Morgause You used to play the same MUD as me when I was a student.
Silver You knew me online when I was a first year student.
Weebie You are family, or you're one of the few people who presumes it's OK to use my family nickname.

Have I missed any ?

Of these, I think only Elizabeth and its derivatives are in common use. Liz or Elizabeth for preference, please, though I answer to all of the above.

Am I odd in classifying some of those names as things it's OK for some people to call me, but not others ?

Comments

[kneeshooter]

I don't think you are odd at all. It annoys me when people cross the group boundaries. Good for you in actually letting us non-telepathic mortals know what they are...

Then again, I used to be extremely fastidious about not letting my different "lives" cross - then it all went horribly wrong.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Actually, it's not an issue of crossing group boundaries, as such. More than I have "public" names, and the others are for private use - it's people who "don't know me well enough" hijacking names that I dislike. It feels presumptuous. Obviously, this depends a lot on context.

Then again, I have a bunch of rather confused ideas about names at the moment that I'm only just beginning to sort out.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

*nod* I've seen a lot of people say similar things with this name meme. I don't really have that, but there are people I know have some names, but it would feel weird calling them by it becuse I don't know them well enough, or am the wrong person.

[lnr]

I think of you as Liz Wootten (sp?), to distinguish between you and Liz Smith who I knew at the same time at Oxford. I do like the way Colin calls you Liz UU though.

I know what you mean about social groups and not deliberately having a different name. I get the same thing with Ellie to a certain extent.

[triskellian]

to distinguish between you and Liz Smith
<waves>

[lnr]

I'd wondered if that was you :-) The cross-legged doll icon really reminds me of you.

[triskellian]

Yay! My work here is done :-)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Full marks for spelling :)

I'd forgotten Colin called me that. It was originally to drag me into line with Liz BB and Juliet VV, I think.

[wimble.livejournal.com]

Lizziebossie? Or has that died a death (like I'm about to?)

[leathellin.livejournal.com]

Hurray, someone else said it.
Don't forget the Auntie.

And I may not call you Beth but after answering numerous phone calls for Beth I am aware of Bethdom. Which does cause some problems since I associate the name Beth with the vicars wife in WarOTW.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Actually, I genuinely had forgotten Auntie Lizzabossie as a name. To be honest, I've actually remembered a fair few one-off names that one or two people call me (or have called me at some point).

[triskellian]

Am I odd in classifying some of those names as things it's OK for some people to call me, but not others?
Nope. Especially with a name with so many short forms - you gotta draw the line somewhere, or you'll have people calling you really silly things which I'm not going to list in case they give people ideas ;-)

And it's only an extension of not wanting people who don't know you to abbreviate unless/until you give them permission (if only implicitly) to do it.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Of course, the other problem is that if I see "L Wootten" written somewhere, I genuinely don't register it as my name. Even when I'm calling myself Liz, my initial is still E. I got used to seeing "B Wootten" written on things at school, but it still looks wrong - and I'd probably assume it meant my Dad, anyway.

I accept this is very irrational, but I can't seem to shift it. Do you have the same problem ?

[triskellian]

I do, although not to the same extent as you, I'd imagine, because I've been almost exclusively Liz for years, so although I'd never write 'L Smith' for myself, a lot of people have done it for me.

I'm now trying to reclaim my full first name, because Liz sounds silly with the surname I'll be adopting, and I expect that will bring its own assortment of confusions - I'm aiming for being 'Liz' informally, but 'Elizabeth L--' in full-name-situations.

Damn the short form for having a different initial letter than the full version! I'm so envious of secretrebel :-(

[zotz]

Billboard Liz - I met you at Whitby a couple of years ago.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Aye. Another one I'd forgotten.

I do still get called that occasionally, though I'm suspecting it's mostly your doing :)

[kate-r.livejournal.com]

Not odd at all, there's very few people who can get away with calling me some names. I do associate names with periods in my life but don't actually answer to most of them anyway. I think it's quite rude to call someone by a name other than that they used when they first met - unless you've checked first. I have had problems with my name as there's so many variations.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Blip you are Penny.

I'm hoping you know more than one Penny: otherwise, I must have a speech impediment, and everyone's been too polite to tell me!

Penny

[venta.livejournal.com]

Not you, no :) Someone I was at school with.

How's you, anyway - not seen you in ages.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Pretty good, thanks.

I'm in Hong Kong right now, because my Dad has been working here since January, and my Mum and I have come out to join him for the last two weeks of his time here as a holiday. It's very exciting, and we've seen and done lots of interesting things already in only three days here. E.g. we have swum in the sea, gone up a mountain, seen monkeys and a jaguar in a zoo, bought lovely Chinese clothes, been in some Buddhist and Taoist temples, seen cockatiels flying about wild and eaten some nice, but not always easily-identifiable, food.

There are also lots of concreted slopes here, e.g. where a road has been cut into the hillside, and they have concreted over the remaining slope to stop it slipping onto the road. And we have noticed that every single one has a 'slope registration number' on a plaque on the slope, along with a number you can call, presumably to report faults with the slope. So that gives you a flavour of the place.

I'll be back at the start of April, so hope to see you then. Meanwhile, enjoy your folk-dancing on St. Patrick's day!

Penny

[davefish.livejournal.com]

Auntie Lizzybossy Then you are inskauldrak and Liz is out of earshot.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Nah, Inskauldrak is at least brave enough to call me it to my face :)