Whts in a nme?

That's supposed to be 'Whats in a name?'. For the few who have just studied the first few chapters of 'Unix:Concepts and Applications' by the How-I-wish-I-could-marry-this-operating system author , this title can be misleading. I'm not going to talk about file names.This is about MY name. And the title has those weird looking words because I also want to make a small mention of what I think of the 'super-cool' SMS lingo.

First, my name. Merin. I've been told that it is the name of a Roman Goddess(yay me!) and it means 'merry' or 'happy'. Let me tell you how a usual introduction-session happens,in my life.
Someone: Hi,I'm someone.
Me: Hello, I'm Merin.
Someone: Sorry?
Me: M-E-R-I-N. Merin. Don't worry, no one gets my name right at the first attempt.

Now that gives me one of these responses :
1. No,I got it. Merin. Or,
2. Merin..? Oh....Unusual name...Are you Christian?
Me: No, I'm Coorgi. Just got a name that's very-Christian.

Then there are those set of questions that completely stump me ;
Not Christian?? Hehe,you're joking right? Or,
Oh! You're not Christian?? ......How come?

How come? I dunno,how come?! I've almost always had to answer weird questions about my name, how my parents came up with it, what it means, why I have such a name inspite of not being Christian. I lost count very long back,of the various transformations my name has undergone. Meril, Marlyn, Marium, Marin... and the one that wins,hands down-Mary. I've had many people pronounce my name in many different and ridiculous ways. There are people who even stopped trying to get it right! My German teacher had such a problem trying to get my name right,even after six classes,that he finally decided he was going to use my Coorgi name,Kaveri instead. And there's worse than just wrong pronunciations. I've had people read my name and go 'Whats that?!!'. I don't blame them.'Merin' wouldn't sound like a name to me either!

And oh,here's the bomb. I met a girl online,while looking for would-be classmates in my new college. When I finally meet her in college,she says this: "Oh my God!!! I thought you were a guy!!!!!" .I'm not sure which one of us was more shocked.When I finally decide to join the community for all the Merins in the world,on a social networking site,I learn that there are guys with my name! Is it embarrassing or simply sad when I get friend-requests from the guy-Merins? Especially when most of them have the same cool quotient as this : 'It gives warm feeling to find girl with same name. We can be best friends.' And I got one that said 'Hey! Guess what! We have the same name! And I'm guy! We can have great life ahead!'. Now,assuming the worst of what that could mean, imagine an invite that reads 'Merin weds Merin'. So wonderful,innit?

Yes,I know my name isn't all that bad. Some friends even find my name 'interesting'. It certainly is far from being the worst name.For example, I have a relative back in Coorg whose actual name is Pussy. No kiddin'!!! What were her parents thinking?! Were they even thinking? Well,what were my parents thinking anyway?
All this trauma, if I may call it that,made me drop a certain oath I'd taken long back. For The Periodic Table and me, it was love at first sight. I'd sworn to name my first kid Mendeleev-irrespective of the gender.(In case you didn't know,he designed the masterpiece I fell in love with).I guess, now I know better than to do that. I like a new name now,because it pretty much describes me and how I behave when I'm all hyper. Tipsy. What do you think of it?
;)



And yes, I have to make a mention of the issue that has been driving me crazy. The SMS lingo. Whats with compressing every other word till its unrecognizable,skipping innocent alphabets in every word and even replacing them with alternate alphabets when there is absolutely no need?! Yes, I too use 'u' for 'you' and 'ur' for your, when the number of characters in my message just exceeds the maximum limit for a single message. You know,to save the very important paise. But why do that even when its not necessary? Is it an attempt to sound 'kool'? Oh wait, its kewl, isn't it? ARGH! That's got to be the most mind-numbingly 'un-cool' term ever!

There's wid(with), ma(me/my), yo(you), lik(like), den(then), dat(that), iz(is), wuz(was) and what not! There's the bunch that don't even serve the purpose of saving money. Vish(wish), totali(totally), la8er(later) and so many others. I can go on and on,with this list. There's also the overuse of 'z'. Lolzzzzzzz , frenzzzzzzzzzz!! And get this! 'Wil u cum today?' or ' Im cummin now'. I mean, What the..?!

It is highly frustrating,to have to read messages like that. Cold-blooded murder of the language,that's what it is! I'm only requesting those I know, to not do this. Typing those few extra alphabets won't kill you or paralyze your thumb. I admit, I used to use the weird lingo when I first got my phone. I don't now. And trust me, my thumb works just fine.
Thank you! :)




P.S. I went riding on my vehicle today, for the first time after the accident. For someone who used to drive like Schumi on Rossi's bike, I was very nervous. But the moment the engine came to life,what I felt when I finally drove...pure bliss! :)