I had an aunt who called me Bevvie. I let her, since I loved her a lot. Mostly I insist on Beverly unless you know me outside of work.

There was this one VIP volunteer's secretary who retained the "her name has three syllables" concept, though she wasn't really consistent on which ones. Marilyn, Vivian, as long as it started with a consonant and the accent was on the first syllable, she tried it. As her boss was responsible for a good deal of our fundraising, I answered to her, and did my best to find it amusing.

But BevDOG is ok, right?

Oh Allyson, no. You are not an Allie.

What is wrong with people? Use the names we tell you.

Everyone at the office knew who I was until my doppelgänger arrived two years later: a blond, blue-eyed former college quarterback from North Dakota. Then, people started calling me Shane, because hey, how can you tell us apart?!

I... cannot even put Tom-Scola-the-person and Tommy-the-name in the same mental space. Not even adjacent. You are so blazingly, obviously nothing like Tommy, in much the same way that Rebecca is so clearly not a Becky. If anyone called either of you by either of those names in my presence, I'd have to check the person for a fever or sudden cataracts, because nothing but physiologic impairment could possibly explain it.

I am so sick and tired of people who use a computer program for their livelihood and who think not knowing how to use a computer is something to be proud of.

I am now tempted to learn everything about programming just so I can hack into the board and create a "like" button JUST FOR THIS SENTENCE. Relatedly, a FB-friend-of-a-FB-friend noted yesterday that "I canceled Facebook years ago" is the 2015 version of "Oh, I don't even own a TV" and is just as likely to make even the hearers/readers who agree with the speaker wish to administer a swift throatpunch.

{{{Plei}}} (is there punctuation to indicate hairpats? Because oh-your-family empathy somehow seems better expressed via hairpats, plus Plei's hair is very pattable.)

I actually have no strong attachments to various iterations of my name, first or last. My handle here is my fave, even though the only person who called that in meatspace was a conniving beyatch. Juliebeans, jellybean, jujubean, juji, Ju, Jules, julu. And then there were the surname nicks of frazz and nelly (I like that one too), frenchvanilla, and sassafras. Maybe it was the dehumanizing in the army that makes not care, because anything is better than "hey you, in the BDUs!".

It is very pattable, it is true. I credit the henna.

Family. Whatcha gonna do?

Allyson, you are not an Alli.

My sister is an Ali, though possibly only to immediate family. I think everyone one else does, in fact, call her Al.

Huh. My new boss had a baby last night, via surrogate. Which is a great thing for them and all, but figuring out wording is more awkward than I thought. I'm not sure I've known anyone who's had children via this route before.

Congratulations to them! And both "you" and "them" can be nonspecific, should that be desired.

Oh yes, Allyson and Tom are ever Allyson and Tom, it's an incontrovertible truth.

BevDog is adored, msbelle Rebecca, but only for you.

I remember in the before times, when you were taken a bit aback by people in your physical space calling you "JZ".

If someone tries to call me Sue - they are immediately corrected. There is one person in the world who can call me that and she is my childhood friend and I haven't seen her in years.

Not thrilled about Susan either because it should be pronounced Sus-san, which is too much work for most people and it is easier to just say Suzi. I'll even go by Suz (Sooooooz, per one of the kids I sit).

JZ did take a bit of getting used to. My mom, brothers, dad (only occasionally) and oldest friend all call me "Jaz" for my birthname initials, and once I managed to incorporate JZ as a Jaz variant, I was fine. It's my family-ish name.