Are You Your Name? — What Does Your Name Say About You

Dancing Elephants Press Weekly prompt 51/52

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Fridays are the worst day to go to the bank. But I was caught in a loop. I decided to be there at 8:00 a.m. Forty-five minutes early. I wanted to be the first one inside since they opened at 8:45 a.m.

Twelve people were already in the line, some of which I knew.

Damn!

I joined the line behind someone I knew, who was in a discussion about names and how they influence our character and personality.

“Do you believe that our names are connected to our character?” Vinette, who knew me asked as I waited in line.

“If she says no, she is lying?” jumped from Ann’s mouth before I could answer, who was a few steps behind me.

I threw her a bad look, as many thoughts circled my brain.

“Tell her what Puss did to you when he fixed your computer a few years ago,” she taunts.

If looks could kill, ID TV would record their first perfect murder committed by me.

“You hired a guy named Puss to fix your computer with your private and personal information?” Anette questioned.

My mind went back to a few years ago when my desktop computer needed to be fixed. Someone recommended a male whose name is Puss because he was really good.

“It’s a nickname,” I defend.

“I told you not to hire someone named Puss,” She scolded me.

“Look,” I explained. “The person who recommended him said he was good. And I didn’t want to be judgmental.”

“Girl, don’t you know puss are thieves?” Annette asked.

“I ignored my instincts and hired him. He stole my hard drive, sold it, and lied that he destroyed it,” I confessed.

In my culture, puss or cats are thieves.

“She hired Mousie to paint her house, and he stole three cans of her paint,” I informed on Ann, as relief embraced me.

“So, pot is calling the kettle black,” Anette turned to Ann.

“I found out his nickname after I hired him,” she defends her decision.

“But he looked like a mouse,” I continued to inform on her.

“And Puss doesn’t look like a Puss?” Annette asked, her eyes on me.

“No, he doesn’t,” I recalled.

Ann nods in agreement.

“Rats, mice, or Puss are considered thieves. Whether they look like their names or not. You know here in our country when someone gives you a nickname, it matches your looks, character, habits, or something you do,” Anette enlightened.

“I told my friend not to hire Mongoose, an electrician,” someone in the line shares grabbing everyone’s attention.

Many pairs of eyes in the long line on a Friday morning stare at her.

“It wasn’t me,” she quickly admits. “Someone recommended an Electrician to my friend who is nick named Mongoose.”

“Did he look like one?” Someone asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

“And she still hired him?” Annett quests.

Nodding, she responds, “He jacked up the prices of the supplies and stole what was left over after he finished wiring her house.”

“Mongooses are thieves too,” Anette informs.

“So, our names do influence our character and how we live,” someone in the crowd said with an accent.

“See,” Annette said. “She isn’t even from Jamaica, and she is thinking the way all of you who hire these crooks should.”

A few heads dropped down in shame. Mine too.

“My mother is Jamaican, and I am from Canada,” she shares. “I love the name to character-looks-habits you have going on here.”

All eyes stared her down, some with furled brows.

Annette preached, “Names describe our attitude, how we live and why some of us do the things we do whether it’s our birth names or nicknames. Name connects us to our ancestors too, right down to their lifestyle and habits.”

“So, you are your name, whether its birthname or nick name,” the lady with the accent asked.

“What if you have a kind heart?” a twelve-year-old child asked, grabbing everyone’s attention.

All eyes moved to Annette for the answer, who responded with the truth painfully honest, “You are nicked named, ‘Sucker.”

“That’s cruel,” the lady with the accent suggested.

“That’s our world,” Annette notified rolling her eyes.

“But everyone wants kindness,” the child states holding onto the hand of a male that looks like her.

“Sorry honey,” Annette said. “But that’s the world humans create for us to live in.”

“I don’t like your world,” she said. “A world without kindness is no place for humans. A nick name like that will allow cruelty to grow.”

“Names can’t stop kindness,” I shove in. “Actions can.”

“So, our names aren’t connected to our actions?” she questioned.

All eyes turned to me, who eased closer, “Kindness comes from our heart, birth or nicknames, cannot stop kindness.”

“So, our names aren’t connected to our heart?”

“No honey,” I said as she reached over and hugged me. My conscience rages. We need more kindness in our world for the sake of our children.

Names are special whether it’s a birth name or a nickname. It connects us to someone or something. Jamaicans are creative people. Nick’s names are connected to something you love to do, a bad or a good habit, or something you do unconsciously, how you live, etc.

P.S. The incident with Puss is real. He did steal my hard drive. I try not to hire certain persons with a reputation/nickname anymore.

Your Weekly Prompt 51/52

To your prompt and in the subtitle: Dancing Elephants Press Prompt week 51/52

Do you think our birth names or Nicknames are connected to our hearts, actions, choices, decisions, habits, likes, dislikes, how we live our lives, or anything else you can think of?

Does your name tell the world who you are and what you do?

What does your name say about you? Both birth names and nicknames.

Are you your name?

Be creative, and innovative while allowing your imagination to explode with humor or whatever makes you happy. Whether it is you, a friend, foe, family, etc.

My real name of Greek origin means Pure. I was named by my father whom I adore. I am 95% of my name according to some places on Google. The other 5%, makes me human.

Thanking Dancing Elephant Press for another fantastic hour of brain exercise.

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