I used to like my name (Lindsay) growing up, as it was very unusual and usually given to boys (I was/am a tomboy!) Now every Tom,Dick and Harry is called Lindsay and it's spelled so many different ways that they rarely get mine (which, incidentally is the correct way, being the Scottish clan name) right. We have four on my unit, alone - my uniqueness dissolves!!!! Friends call me Linz and the younger ones at work call me 'Coops' (from my surname, but they're just plain weird! :wink: Names are interesting, though. People from my city, Newcastle are nicknamed Geordies (apparently, due to the city remaining loyal to King George in some historic war or something) and whenever they're mixed with people from other parts of Britain that's the tag they get. It's like 'Jock' for a Scotsman, 'Taff' for Welshman, or 'Paddy' for an Irishman, as if the North East is a separate country. Yet, although other regions have their own collective nicknames - 'Scouser' for Liverpool, 'Cockney' for London, etc, their inabitants aren't called it individually, they way Geordies are.... (my son will for ever be Geordie Cooper in the Army now!) But I digress. I guess it ought to be "Call me what you like, as long as you call me!" (incidentally, here in Newcastle, 'calling someone' means insulting them!!!)

As for the nicknames, mine's Heather and some like to shorten it to Heath (not like Heath Ledger). I hate that! It really bothers me when people call me that. In fact, I actually got into trouble once at a job because a manager called me that. I did politely ask him not to call me that, and yes it was VERY polite since he was a manager. But he still ratted me out and said I was disrespectful of his title. :roll: Whatever. He was a jackass. But yeah, I think it's best to see if the person doesn't mind a shortened version of their names before doing it. Not all people like that. As for Gerard Butler - I don't think he minds. My one aunt is over the moon for this guy, huge fan and apart of the fandom. Yes she's a "tart" (that's what they're called). If anybody knows anything about this guy, it's her. So I guess it's what he's called. Those were really cute pix by the way!!! I'll have to find out if she's seen them yet.

Gnat, I understand as it was a Manager that I had to tell that I didn't like being called Mel. Of course, it was complicated by the fact that there was a Melissa who went by Mel in my department. How then do you say that you can't stand the name ? Ooops! For yourself anyway? My manager reacted much better. Marthe - in the U.S. your nickname might be Marty which is also a nickname for Martin. Stevie - from my experience, it seems that Britain has more names and labels for people from various regions. Of course, we do have Hoosiers which in Indiana is a favorable term. But if you are from Missouri, according to my brother, it is a very derogatory term.

Wow Gaff! I didn't know that about the Hoosier thing. Huh! Well people from Missouri are weird. :wink: I'M KIDDING!!!!!! :tongue: Sorry but baseball season has begun so being from Chicago and a Cubs fan, we've got ourselves a little rivalry with St. Louis folks. :twisted: :wink:

I don't really have a shortened nickname, since my name already is a pet form of Katherine... So people just call me by all sorts of silly names instead.

I have so many nicknames, but i couldnt use then for a celebrity name... b/c most of them are from my childhood. I am pretty suprised when people actually pronounce my name correctly.

BTW, I have a friend whose parents regretted their choice of a name for him almost as soon as they registered his birth and so started calling him by a totally different name. Therefore, this friend of mine has a name (Fabrizio) that he uses just when he has to sign official documents and another (Claudio) that is the one he goes by in any other occasion.

Those are totally different names, aren't they? No connection at all. They must have had a big change of mind. In the U.S., there is a product called Febreeze, so Fabrizio would probably be one to avoid here. Too much teasing for the kid. My maiden name is one that you have to be careful about choosing a first name to go along with it or a child could end up with playground problems. My brother talked of naming his son - Hugh - so he would be Hugh Mann. I have a feeling he intended it as a joke ( he's very sarcastic), but he or his wife decided against it. I had a friend try to set me up with a guy with the last name Hoel (pronounced Hole), so my hyphenated name would have been Mann-Hoel or Mann-hole - good thing that didn't work out.

Febreeze exist in Italy, too, but it it pronounced differently enough from how Fabrizio is pronounced in Italian to make teasing unlikely. I know a guy whose surname is Indovini, which means 'fortune tellers' or 'you guess / guess' in Italian, so when he was asked his name and he answered "Indovini" - sounding a bit like "Guess!" -, sometimes the response he got was "Don't tease me!"

There Again: I wanna be a celeb! Helen Mirren Marion Cotillard Lisa Rinna Hayden Panettiere Jennifer Morrison Charlize Theron Jennifer Aniston <...> Me Too wanna go to Cape Town show on Monday, LA on Tuesday, NY on Wednseday, Moscow on Thursday, Berlin On Friday, Edinburgh On Saturday, Athens On Sunday! I am fed up of: hosework on Monday hosuework on Tuesday housework on Wednesday housework on Thursday! OK, I should wear heels and makeup, but hey, I am more than willing to pay this price!

Blimey, annee! Do you do housework every day of the week? That's what i call a Domestic Goddess! My place operates on the "as long as it's not a health hazard" principle. I have much better things to do with my time.....like working, playing, loving and , of course, talking to my mates aboardships on IZ; all of them come before housework. My Granny used to say "There'll be housework when I'm gone!" and how right she was! It'll be there when I'm gone, too. Lots of it. i suspect even the people on annee's list load a dishwasher or two..........