when people i know come up to me randomly and say:
"i just found out your name was jonathan!! someone was saying something about 'jonathan' and i was like, 'jonathan who'? hahaa i always thought your first name was mok!"i smile, chuckle a bit, and tell them it's not the first time i've heard it. sometimes when i hear this i actually feel like "cher" or "nene" or someone like that who just has one name.
i was actually just "jonathan" until the 6th grade. at the start of middle school, i joined orchestra, and there was this 8th grader in the class who also happened to be named jonathan mok. our parents knew each other, our moms were both realtors, we both had a sister named jennifer, we lived in the same neighborhood, it was crazy stuff. anyhow, people started calling him "big jon mok" and me "lil jon mok." so that's how it all started..
ever since then, i've gotten so used to people just calling me "mok." i don't really remember a time when people HAVEN'T called me by my last name. i just got so used to it, but it would just be weird whenever someone would call my house and my mom would pick up the phone. it always went something like this:
mom: hello?
person: hello, this is ______. is mok there?
mom: which mok? there's 5 of us here! hahahahahahah!!
person: ... *hang up*
alright maybe they've only hung up once or twice, but i've gotten pretty tired of that joke. anyhow, i now realize that many of my most random pet peeves revolve around my name.
back in middle school and high school, i would get rides home from a lot of people's parents. this conversation happened countless times:
friend: hey mom, can we give mok a ride home?
friend's mom: oh yeah sure, no problem.
me: hello mrs. ____.
friend's mom: hello mark, where do you live?
friend: hahahahaha
friend's mom: what's so funny?
friend: his name is MOK, not MARK
friend's mom: that's what i said! so, mark, where do you live?
me: SIGH.
another thing that kinda peeves me is when people mispell my first name. like when there's nametag people for whatever event or something, and people ask me what my name is. i say "jonathan" most of the time, and then i start spelling it out for them:
me: j-o-...
nametagger: yah, i got it.
i get the finished nametag and it's almost NEVER right. i'd estimate that 85% of the time, they misspell it. i don't understand it at all. iono maybe i'm just weird, i mean it's not like i'm a crazy spelling/grammar fanatic, but i mean when i have to wear that mistake on my chest for hours, then it kinda gets to me. SO i guess i would just feel better if i offered a quick, free phonetics lesson with the most popular mispelled versions of my name.
johnathan -- this is one of the most common mistakes, which i guess is somewhat understandable. i mean, "john" is a common name, so if the name has the "john" sound in it, then it's gotta have an "H" in there, right? nope. i have yet to meet anyone who has their name spelled like that, but yet people still write it like that.
jonathon -- this spelling would be pronounced "JON - UH - THON." i mean unless you're from a foreign country or just speak in a really high class way, with a nice accent on the final syllable to make the name sound more sophisticated, i don't see how you could put an "o" in there instead of an "a."
anyhow, just a random fact about me -- i don't really enjoy introducing myself to new people. it's not that i don't like meeting new people, it's just i've had so many conversations like this:
me: hey, what's up, my name's jonathan.
new person: hi, i'm...
friend: (interrupts) what?! jonathan!? you mean MOK.
new person: what..?
me: well, you see, my full name is jonathan mok, but most people just call me mok for short.
new person: mark?
me: mok.
new person: mark?
me: yeah.
and then i end up walking away from the conversation hoping the new person didn't take offense to me not telling them the name that most of my friends know me by. just hoping he/she didn't assume that i didn't want to be friends with them because i used my formal-real-name-that-nobody-uses instead of the nickname that all my buddies call me. i guess more than anything i just don't want to have to explain my name, but in the end, that's what ends up happening every single time anyways.
i mean, trust me, i've tried everything. i used to be really indecisive about how to introduce myself, so it would end up going something like this:
new person: hey, my name is ____. what's your name?
me: ...mok. jonathan mok.
in this scenario i walk away hoping the person doesnt think i'm some sort of obsessive james bond 007 guy.
the situation that i really hate is trying to introduce myself in a really loud setting. i mean it's hard enough trying to communicate, but when people can't figure out your name, it can be rather frustrating:
me: HEY! WHAT'S UP! I'M JONATHAN!
new person: JOHN?
me: JONATHAN!
new person: WHAT?
me: MOK!
new person: MARK?
me: YEAH!
so through all this trouble, i've finally come up with a system to cover the main set of circumstances that seems to be working, for the most part.
when introducing myself to parents, professors, older people: jonathan mok
when there are nametags involved: mok
when introducing myself to people i'm pretty sure i won't run into again: jonathan
when introducing myself to people i'm pretty sure i'll become friends with or run into often: mok
when introducing myself in a loud setting: john
i don't really know the point to this entire post, but in small group tonight we talked a little bit about pet peeves, so maybe this whole thing is just one big rant. don't get me wrong, i don't mind being called "mok." not at all. i mean i've gotten so used to it that sometimes when people call me "jonathan," i don't even respond. i guess it's my way of being "unique." i mean everyone naturally wants to have something that kinda sets them apart, right? in some strange way, this kinda does that for me. i mean, nobody is ever gonna say: "mok? which mok?"
..well, until my sister and brother get up here.
..or unless it's coming from my mom. and if that's the case, just try to withstand all the ensuing laughter and don't hang up.
