Wednesday, October 21, 2009

But you can call me Kels...

Growing up, my family shortened my name to the mono-syllabic "Kels". It was totally natural, and I don't mind it at all. I never really noticed that it was a nickname until moving to Minneapolis. Then, through making new friends, I realized that it was a pretty good indicator of when people were comfortable around me. Usually, about a month or so into a relationship, people start using "Kels" when talking to/about me, even if they have no contact with my family or people who use "Kels". I usually never tell people this, because I'm still testing my theory. So far, the data has been very consistent, and as I assume the only people that would even think of reading this have known me for at least a year, I'm not too worried about spoiling the social experiment. How does this relate to the present? (I'm glad you asked.) In the last week, people in Res. have finally started calling me "Kels".



Not totally related, but somewhat interesting: I also answer/have in the past answered to "Kelso", "Ryn-Ring", "Ke-Ru-Shi", "Dawn", "Lady Rosalyn", "YOU", and "Elsie" (to name a few).

5 comments:

Michael Nawrot said...

I don't think I've called you Kels... but when did I start calling you Kelso?

Courtney said...

I definitely get that with Court. Except my family didn't start it. But yeah, I experience the same thing. People start calling me Court when they get comfortable around me. :)

Kelsey Sturm said...

I can't remember, Michael...I guess you're an exception.
And yes Courtney, I do think there's a fairly universal principle behind my theory. I don't think I've ever called you "Court". ;)

Craig Sturm said...

Another thing that is weird is when people call your kids something you never have (i.e. we always have called Phillip, "Phillip"). People that meet him often call him "Phil." I have to stop and figure out who they're talking to.

Stephen said...

ah, roleplaying names... good memories :) I don't think i've ever called you kels, but that's because I like the musicality of the two sylable version. I like musical names.