What’s in a name
The Starbucks closest to a campaign office always gets pretty busy. Campaign staff go there for meetings, to unwind, or just to get another shot of caffeine.
I was at the Starbucks near Tory HQ this early morning and the manager lady said to me: “Good morning, W.”
I loved that. It made me happy. As my wife, kids and friends will tell you, I don’t like it when people use my first name. I hate it, in fact.
My entire X Gang book series – and the new one, New Dark Ages , is out in a month, by the by – is about a guy who doesn’t ever use his first name, and who doesn’t like it when anyone else uses it, either.
Here’s a bit from the new book:
“It wasn’t the question that stopped me in my proverbial tracks. It was the use of my name. X didn’t like using first names – his, mine, anyone’s. It’s weird, but – as he explained it to me back in Middle School – he considered first names way too personal. One day, I asked him why a million times, and he finally offered up a semblance of an answer. “People use first names to be intimate, at the start,” he said. “Later on, they usually use first names to express disapproval.”
X was expressing disapproval.”
Certain Asian cultures have it right, I think. In Korea, for example. Don’t ever use someone’s given name, except in very limited circumstances.
Does all this make me weird(er)? Probably.
That’s how W is.
