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Addressing Each Other
12 years ago
Since I've been Skyping way more with people recently, I've been bridging the gap between text and "real" conversations a lot. Being someone who's always been much more comfortable with text, it's still a little unnerving, but so far everyone's been patient and I love everyone for it.
The next step is actually seeing someone in person, which is daunting, but as everyone knows by now something I'm working on. Introvert's baby steps, all that crap. But I've been curious about everyone addresses each other in person. Real names? Character names? Something else entirely?
I realize there's no standard, so it's mostly personal preference, but I'd like to see what those preferences are. For me, I always wanted a cool nickname as a kid, but never got one that didn't involve a pun about my being a ginger. (Those jokes are still hilarious, by the way. keep telling them.) So when I got into the cyber community and people started addressing me as "Duino" and not "Tim" I was like "MAN this is way cooler."
So I guess in person, I'd rather be called Duino, if only because I think nicknames are awesome. What about you guys? And I'm especially interested in people with multiple characters or who have different usernames and fursona names. This is a rambling question, but I'm sleepy, deal with it. Discuss.
The next step is actually seeing someone in person, which is daunting, but as everyone knows by now something I'm working on. Introvert's baby steps, all that crap. But I've been curious about everyone addresses each other in person. Real names? Character names? Something else entirely?
I realize there's no standard, so it's mostly personal preference, but I'd like to see what those preferences are. For me, I always wanted a cool nickname as a kid, but never got one that didn't involve a pun about my being a ginger. (Those jokes are still hilarious, by the way. keep telling them.) So when I got into the cyber community and people started addressing me as "Duino" and not "Tim" I was like "MAN this is way cooler."
So I guess in person, I'd rather be called Duino, if only because I think nicknames are awesome. What about you guys? And I'm especially interested in people with multiple characters or who have different usernames and fursona names. This is a rambling question, but I'm sleepy, deal with it. Discuss.
While I can appreciate the sentiment, I'd have to say that it doesn't really work that way with me. Hearing my close friends use my real name just feels awkward to me. Croc is the person I became when I began to accept myself and the things that were important to me, and because of that, as well as the fact that most all of the people in my life currently that I feel closest to have almost all always called me Croc, that's what feels normal and right to me. Growing up was a difficult period of guilt and adjustment, so it wasn't really until I started to go by Croc that I began to accept myself and feel like I belonged.
So no matter how close someone gets to me, there's no desire or benefit to me for them to suddenly decide we're better off on a real name basis. I don't get upset when people do it but I usually tell them that Croc is really the better choice.
People call me Sean, but that's my real name anyway.
Likewise, Andy is Andy Fox's real name, so I call him that.
I tend to refer to Scooter Squirrel as Scooter, even though I know his real name.
Same with JBadger and Skippyfox.
This journal has made me realize that there's lots of people I've met and spoken to face to face yet I've no idea what their real names are.
Duncan Roo, Neouka, Clementine, Pacerfox, Jaggers, Orzel, Emejn, Pegla.... ( and lots more ).
I've no idea what their real names are. Shame on me.
Folks on the net, who I talk with readily and whatnot (like in skype calls/phones/ or at cons) generally call me Ati (or Atimist) by my fur name... So I'm like you really, I don't mind that, and almost prefer it over my first name
But I answer to just about everything... Hey! YOU! KID! What's you face! Dude.... the list goes on and on.
My favorite is Biz, but I also don't mind Paz, Moonlight, and Punkquacker.
At first I didn't believe him, so he pulled out his credit cards and driving licence to prove it.
Unless we are around normal people, which is very rare.
As for me, pretty much everyone except my blood relatives calls me 'Orv'. Even my wife calls me that. I prefer it because it's much more distinctive than my birth name. If you get ten people in a room, two of them will be named 'David.' ;)
BTW, this "eight names for four people' dilemma isn't at all unique to furry fandom. I remember old BBS gatherings where there was always the question of whether to call people by their real names or their usernames. At hacker cons I've been to people were going by their online handles. And ham radio enthusiasts often know each other better by callsign than by name -- after all, unlike names, callsigns are guaranteed to be globally unique. ;)
Also Scurrow is a completely acceptable name, there's even a family with the last name Scurrow which if you look through 3 pages of my furry stuff on google images you can find them.
Personally, I'm a bit more comfortable calling you Tim than Duino, if that's alright! It just feels a lot more natural to me, if only because I've been doing it for a while now.
On a side note, wouldn't it be awesome if we ever met in person? Once I go to college and have free reign over my life, man, I'm totally flying/driving out to visit.
And I would support that wholeheartedly. I want to meet all my friends at some point so I can prove they exist.