My name is John Kerr, as is my father's, his father's, and his father before. I have gone by "Johnny" since I was a teenager. This is partly because there are too many John's in the world (or at least where I live) which made classrooms and especially family get-togethers particularly confusing at times... beyond that, many people thought (myself included) that "Johnny" suited me better. My Dad and Grandfather (I didn't know Great Granddad) are both very serious individuals in terms of personality. My grandfather is getting a little nutty at times in his old age but for the most part, they're both your typical man's man who show little emotion outside of hollering at the TV during a ball game
Then I came a long, an artist and a musician with little insterest in the ball game, and decided to go by Johnny instead. Now for my point:
For some reason many people , especially certain age groups (ahem, the elderly) REFUSE to call me Johnny. I don't know if it's a matter of what they think is appropriate or proper but they won't do it. They call me John almost every time. I've also met many sweet older women throughout the years who insist on calling me Johnathan. Though I do realize that John, or Jon, can be short for Johnathan, or Jonathan, my name is not Johnathan, my birth certificate reads "John (middle name) Kerr". I will literally hand people my business card that reads in plain bold letters "Johnny Kerr" and more often than not they will read it, look me dead in the eye and say "thank you, John." I'm just baffled by it. The "proper" bit is the only theory I've come up with so far... mabe some see Johnny as more of a nickname or a chummy name and find it inappropriate in the business or casual acquaintance world?
Now here's my thought process on that: I was always taught as a child that you do not call a person by their first name unless you are either well acquainted with the person or you are introduced with a first name and therefore given the casual permission to call them as such. Otherwise it was Mr., Ms. or Mrs. so and so. Now, that being said, if someone introduced himself to me as Bobby, I wouldn't turn around and call him "Robert" or "Bob" because how do I know that Bobby isn't his proper birth name? More likely than not it is Robert, it's not a ridiculous assumption to make. Nevertheless, I would call him by the exact name that I was casually given permission to call him. That's just logical to me.
BTW, I've never once complained or made a fuss about this, I just smile and be polite. It doesn't even bother me really, just makes me curious.
What do the C&F Pub citizens think?
