Nicknames.

The other day I was thinking about nicknames and the point of them, so I thought I'd try and turn that thought into a relatively interesting blogpost.

I've never really felt that I have a proper nickname (for example, a girl in my old form was called Isabella, but everyone called her Iggy) but I've realised that instead of having one nickname that everyone calls me, I have a ton of nicknames that all sorts of people call me.

Things close family call me: rose, rosebud, chumby, curly top, roza, sausage..
Things friends call me: rose, rosie pose, rosie posie, rosalita, rosie roo, roo, roozly, roozles, rosie roast potatoes, roslyn, roz, annoying cow, roxy, babs..
Quite a range!

If anyone's wondering where "roozly" came from, here's the explanation. Basically my friend used to call me "Roslyn" because she knows I hate that name, and one day we went to laserquest and when the helper/leader person asked what my name was for the scoreboard, my friend told her I was called Roslyn (*shakes fist*). However, the helper/leader person seemed to have great difficulty in understanding how to spell the name "Rosyln" even though we spelt it out clearly to her numerous times, and when she finally said she understood, we got the guns only to realise that my one said "roozly" on it! As 14 year olds we obviously thought this was hilarious, so the name has stuck ever since!

I don't know why, but I really love it when people call me by my name or by a nickname. That probably sounds really self-involved, but I so prefer it when people say "how are you, Rosie?" to just "how are you?" I guess including a name makes things sound more personal. Oh and when people I.. er.. 'have a soft spot for' say my name, I swoon. I swoon big time.

It's strange how just one word labels you and becomes so linked with you. For example, whenever someone mentions a person who has the same name as someone I know well, I always picture this person being discussed as looking like the person I know with the same name. Our name is also probably the word we write most; it is put on work, forms, letters, cards, labels, the internet.. everywhere! If someone recorded how many times I've written or typed "Rosie", it would be gerksquillions.

What I find most interesting about names and nicknames is the fact that although they form our own identity, the vast majority of the time they are given to us by other people. Our parents named us. Our friends give us nicknames. We don't choose what we are called.

And on that potentially philosophical note, I hereby end this blogpost :)

Rosie.