A few words about St. Not an alter-ego but a little more complex than a nickname.
When email came out it seemed good to have a signature. Lots of people where I worked then developed really contrived signatures which basically told everyone how much work they did. Or at least told everyone how much time these people spent working on their signatures when they should have been working.
I began signing my emails simply with two letters but, by using St, it could either be read as short for Steve or my initials (not counting my first initial which is J and stands for James).
This presented the sort of people who have problems with things like this with problems. Becky started calling me St (pronouncing it stu like the begining of study or stutter). Liz started calling me Ste (Stee) which I liked but only when she did it. Bob used Sieve but that was a misprint. Occasionally people say 'Saint' which is wrong except when Dave does it because it is full of irony then as it is he who is that.
By the way don't call me Stephen unless you are my Grandma or Aunty Brenda (or anyone from my time in the north-east where abbreviating a name without permission was seen as an insult) or trying to annoy me.
St is a sort of virtual me I think. Me online. Not really capable of being put into spoken words but less poncey than Prince's squiggle.
I think St and Steve coexist in the same spacetime and have a strange symbiotic relationship. Which makes the fact that both of us are a Gemini quite weird don't you think?
What you called?
11 comments:
Wrigley, Wigsy, Weetabix, Jesus (I know I know... it's a long story), Wheaters, Wheato. The latter is the name give to my current persona.
ME
I am number 2
You are number 6
Did I stray into an episode of The Prisoner?
"Pottsy" - at work. Apparently there were already too many people called Jon/John/Jonathan/Jono when I joined last Autumn. There was no way I was going to be called Jonny. And I'm not nearly cool enough to be called "the Fonz". So Pottsy it is.
Hey Pottsy, I sort of saw you as JP. Campaigning for justice and peace you know. Jonny Potts so has to be a Championship footballer.
Surely Jonny Potts would be a snooker player?!?
It's got to be JonPotts - spoken as one word.
I've been Sykes for many years now, which I think Anna Potts started after Melanie Sykes the TV personality. It has been used often enough when referrring to me that quite a few people have been very confused to discover my surame is not actually Sykes. One of my old housemates wrote a cheque for the gas bill to Mel Sykes and couldn't believe it wasn't my name.
Steve, the problem with JP is that down north London way, it stands for "Jewish Princess" (I suspect on account of the large amount of very rich Jewish people with spoilt daughters who live round these parts). Not really appropriate for me.
Oh I don't know...
It really confuses me when I see Sykes on its own on Anna's sidebar. I keep thinking Rachel Sykes has got a blog.
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