Anthony, Tony, whatever
For a long time, my name was something which bothered me. Aged nine, I asked my parents if they'd mind my being known by my middle name (William) when I started at my new school; nothing came of it. Five years on, I had a maths teacher who called everyone but me by their first names on the grounds that she liked my surname, which is surely some form of discrimination.
It wasn't until university that anyone got away with calling me Tony, and even then it was in my final year that it stuck - by which time I'd started coming out of my shell and was growing more comfortable with myself. On my move to Switzerland, I reverted to being Anthony, but the stifling formality of the whole experience got to me so much I decided to introduce myself as Tony the moment I got back to Britain, reasoning I felt more approachable when not using my full name. I've since realised that psychologically, I was distancing myself from a period when I was not at my happiest.
Since then I've found that people are apt to shorten my name further still. The first person to do this was a former colleague of mine, to whom I was just T, but I let him get away with it as he was such a nice guy (besides being quite a looker). Tone still bothers me - it sounds a bit silly, regardless of the musical connotations - but by and large I'm known as Tony.
A couple of questions arose at work yesterday regarding my name. First off, a blind customer asked me if my family was Italian, leading me to ponder the whys and wherefores of cultural stereotyping through names. Then one of the security guards asked me why, when signing in, I always used Anthony rather than Tony; I pedantically pointed out that the form required full names. There was a time when I signed myself in as Tony, until I realised that it made a nonsense of my initials (AWM), which I use in other parts of the shop.
If you're wondering where this neurotic post stems from, look no further than my parents' admission that they couldn't decide, when I was born, whether I should be Anthony or Antony. In the end, they decided they'd see how the doctor spelt it when he came round to note my name and go along with that.
On the plus side, I do rather like signing my initials with little more than a zigzag.
It wasn't until university that anyone got away with calling me Tony, and even then it was in my final year that it stuck - by which time I'd started coming out of my shell and was growing more comfortable with myself. On my move to Switzerland, I reverted to being Anthony, but the stifling formality of the whole experience got to me so much I decided to introduce myself as Tony the moment I got back to Britain, reasoning I felt more approachable when not using my full name. I've since realised that psychologically, I was distancing myself from a period when I was not at my happiest.
Since then I've found that people are apt to shorten my name further still. The first person to do this was a former colleague of mine, to whom I was just T, but I let him get away with it as he was such a nice guy (besides being quite a looker). Tone still bothers me - it sounds a bit silly, regardless of the musical connotations - but by and large I'm known as Tony.
A couple of questions arose at work yesterday regarding my name. First off, a blind customer asked me if my family was Italian, leading me to ponder the whys and wherefores of cultural stereotyping through names. Then one of the security guards asked me why, when signing in, I always used Anthony rather than Tony; I pedantically pointed out that the form required full names. There was a time when I signed myself in as Tony, until I realised that it made a nonsense of my initials (AWM), which I use in other parts of the shop.
If you're wondering where this neurotic post stems from, look no further than my parents' admission that they couldn't decide, when I was born, whether I should be Anthony or Antony. In the end, they decided they'd see how the doctor spelt it when he came round to note my name and go along with that.
On the plus side, I do rather like signing my initials with little more than a zigzag.
posted by Anthony at
07:26
1 Comments:
I don't have your e-mail so I had to post it in your comments.
I do know the where abouts of our friend and his site. He is in limbo as to whether he wants to keep it up because he thinks it might have bridged a gap that he is no longer comfortable with. I am sure he will e-mail you back he is very busy right now handling a load of stuff but he is well. If I talk to him in the near future I will let him know you were asking about him.
v/r
-D
By
DAIGLE, at 19/9/05 22:43
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