the thing about names –or—I’ve been trying to write out this post for ages

I’ve had conversations with people about the importance of names.
And the way nicknames belong somewhere within that whole scenario of friendship and intimacy and creating some kind of secret relationship that, most of the time, just feels good.

And I’ve had different experiences, for example, while reading a text and realizing afterward or after it’s too late, that I’d been reading one of the character’s names incorrectly. At which point, there’s no way to make it go back and thereafter hearing the correct form just feels wrong. And then the character often becomes somewhat comic or irritating.

So, I realized along the blog-reading-way, that I’ve been guilty of these mispronunciations. Sometimes pronunciations that aren’t really a miss, but are also not really the person’s name. For example, trying to not accidentally call David d.v.d. in real conversation might have been a bit of a trick at first. Because that’s the way I’d been saying it in my head for months. Right. Then I realized the other day that when I look at Jann’s name. I say Jan. Like the shortened version of the female name Janice. I *know* that isn’t right. But I can’t stop doing it. He’s always Jan when I click on the link.

I wonder how much trouble I’m going to be in for all of this. Or if it even makes any sense at all.