Blogisode 11: What's In A Name?

'What's in a name? That which we call a rose. By any other name would smell as sweet.'
― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Nomenclature ( no·men·cla·ture | \ ˈnō-mən-ˌklā-chər also nō-ˈmen-klə-ˌchu̇r ) can be defined as the a system or set of terms or symbols especially in a particular science, discipline, art, etc, or as the act or process or an instance of naming. Basically, what we call something/someone, to identify it/them. However have you ever had an incident wherein your name was mispronounced, or even written the wrong way (Looking at you, Starbucks)? Someone, or better yet, almost every one referred you as someone else? No, not for a few days, not a few months, but close to about twenty years?!!!?

Ever wondered why names exist? With over seven billion people on earth (as of now), and rumors that everyone has close to six to seven doppelgangers, it makes sense that there needs to be some sort of system of names and checks. Something like high school chemistry, remember that? All those weird complex names for chemical shapes. And the even more uneasy part- Common Names. At first glance, I thought it worked out like normal names like Alan, Raj, Jack, etc, but no, it's adding short forms over complex names. In a way though, it sort of makes sense, I mean with a large number of people, it's obvious to see people with common names. But, I'm not here to talk about chemistry.


However, I'm here to sort of settle a long going debacle. What Is My Name?

MY NAME :P

Now, for all those who didn't know, my actual name isn't Raghu. Never was, never is. To a point where it's making me forget my actual name.

So why is my name Raghu, you ask? A weird family tradition that's been followed for a long long while and still is. A tradition where, the father's name precedes your own name. And this is the case with my father, his father, and his grandfather and so on.

Now you can imagine the various awkward scenarios that had happened when the two of us went for something. Like any PTA for example:-

Teacher: Good Afternoon Mr. Pillai
Dad: Good Afternoon Miss.
Teacher: As such, I don't have much complaints about Raghu. He does his work regularly, but he remains shy and modest in class.
Dad: Uhmm....
Teacher: He remains silent, but in my opinion he should explore more. Tell Raghu to go for more extra curricular activities.
Dad: Ummm. Miss, Raghu is my name.
Teacher: Uh, what?
Dad: Yes, My name is Raghu, and my son's name is Govind.
Teacher: Ohhh. Sorry Mr. Raghu. *Goes on further about improvement points*


This would go on with almost every faculty member.

And to add even more to awkwardness of the scenario is what occurs the following day, with repeated emphasis on your name being mentioned over and over again. Makes you feel like one of those 'special' children.



But it's not all dolefulness. The name confusion can be cool at times. Sometimes, it makes you have multiple identities at various times, like a super-hero, or any other comic-book caped crusader. Some days, I'm RGP, the slouching clinophile, watching some random show or doing some random crap. Other times, I'm Govind, who's get's caught and screwed over in weird situations. And now, I'm Dull McDummy Face, trying to get feedback for this on-again/off-again attempt at writing.

And the 'best one yet', the guy with the _________

'Hey, look it's the guy with the DSLR'

'Hey, it's that guy with the weird accent'

'Hey, it's that guy with the huge poster wall'

Now, it's pretty disappointing, that despite doing regular everyday errands around people, the fact that people you see around you almost every day, people don't even know you, so just go along mis-naming. But taking a page off of my old apartment's security guard, it's fun to play with the people who guess your name wrong, in a game, I'd like to call, 'What's His Name?!?!'.

Don't know what I'm talking about, here's an SNL sketch best explaining it :-

Yep, rub it in them.


Or secondly, just roll with it. Just do what you would think Rajiv or Gopi would do. Wreck all sort of chaos? Maybe. Not doing everything according to plan? Hell yes. Cause at the end of the day, they won't blame you, they'll be blaming Raghav or Gobid.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE**

I keep saying this with almost every writing so far, but yeah, another one of those things I've had in my mind and wanted to write about. However, after being asked over and over again about this one topic, why not write it well done. A bit lite-er than I wanted to go on, but didn't want to make a rant of it, so wrote whatever I could. Personally, still feel like it's missing a few 'oomphs'. (Oomphs being points that seem convincing, a.k.a, after writing something, that would make me feel like, Heck Yeah, that's good).

Now, if you've managed to get read the whole thing, or just clicked on it for the sake of pictures, Thanks either ways. Whether it's you guys genuinely reading, scrolling past quirky GIFs, or just me clicking on the page again and again to update the post, my New Year's Resolution (read the first blog for context), still holds and now crossed over a 1000+ views. So thanks a billion for it.

As always, appreciate any sort of feedback :)

ありがとう

Dull McDummy Face

P.S: Incase, you've been misnamed before anytime, do share what were you misnamed as. Would be fun to laugh off our naming woes 😁