Gen, Genny, Genevieve, Generator

NOT Jen (!!), Jenny, Jennifer (!!), Guenivere, Gwen

What's in a name? As a child I hated my name. I was a tom-boy and Genevieve
was far to feminine for my tastes, not to mention no one ever got it right
anyway! What was worse than having a feminine, unusual name, was being called
the wrong name all the damn time! "What's you name, little girl?" "Genny" "Oh,
hi, Jennifer." <i>My name isn't Jennifer you fat, ignorant, oblivious wretch!
If I had wanted you to call me Jennifer, I might have said that was my
name!</i> At least that's how I remember it now.

Now, I really like my name, it's different, it's a little unusual, and yet
still I get Jen and Jennifer all the damn time. It's like having a builtin
sorting mechanism for obliviousness. "Hi, I'm Gen." "Hello, Jennifer." <i>If
you are trying to be more formal by using my full name, you've instead just
made youself look like an idiot by using the wrong name.</i> I understand that
you meet someone and maybe later that day or some other day, you might not
recall their exact name. That I can forgive, but the real morons show
themselves when they call you the wrong name directly after you've introduced
yourself. I'm not perfect with names, I make mistakes I accept that others may
not realize that I'm Gen with a 'G' if you've only ever heard the name. Unlike
Mary, marry, and merry there really is no subtlely different way of
pronouncing Gen and Jen unless you really go out of your verbal way. So if
someone introduces themselves and you really don't want to call them that, at
least make it an obvious joke or gaffe. "I'm Gen" "Gennyyyyy!" "Gen-ER-ator!"
"G-g-g-g-en!" "Gen-tle with me please"

A special purple nurple goes out to the people who see 'Gen' or 'Genevieve' in
print or e-mail and still (!) type 'Jen' or 'Jennifer'. You've just typed it
right to send me e-mail, don't you think you might do it right in the
salutation??? Or forbid, the people who are replying to my mail and
immediately underneath my signed e-mail 'Thanks, Gen' 'Jen- blah blah blah'.
<i>No brownie point for you! So you wanted me to do some work for you, wow,
look, right to the bottom of the pile. I hope you didn't need that too
quickly.</i>

I'm pretty laid back, I understand that people might not realize immediately.
Hell, I've struggled with family who still don't get it. But I do notice, I
often correct, and if you still don't "get" it, that my name isn't jennifer, I
just dismiss you as being a moron and not worth my attention.

It's my small pet peeve. But I love being a Genevieve, it separates people out
quite well. Are you worth my time? Or are you too oblivious to bother with? I
recommend everyone give their children unusual names, it's a great litmus test
for the people you will inevitably meet.