I don't want to be one of those self-absorbed jerks who claims, "I'm just terrible with names," but remembering people's names is something I need to improve on. In my defense, I am going to make the argument that this task is more difficult when the names themselves aren't very familiar.
As beautiful as they are, Turkish names were probably the most challenging. Before moving to Istanbul, I did not know anyone else who went by Zeynep, Zümrüt, Barış, Mertcan, Canan, Ayşe, İzgi, İrem, İdil, Çinar, Duygu, Ceylan, Şeyla, Nur, Mithat, or Ufuk.
Brazilian names are much more recognizable, but people often call each other by nicknames. Most of these nicknames make sense (unlike, say, the transformation of Richard to Dick), but this can still complicate things.
Some examples:
Maria Luisa = MaluI'm pretty sure that Babe-A's swimming teacher has one of these long names that's often shortened, but I have no idea what it is.
Manoella = Manu
Maria Julia = Maju
Fernanda = Fe
Fernando = Fe Fe
Luciana = Lu
Juliana = Ju
Camila = Ca
Isabel = Bel
Isabela = Isa
Rafael = Rafa
Nicholas = Nico
Gustavo = Gu
Guilherme = Gui
2 comments:
Did you give up on writing? I love reading your posts, come back please!
You're sweet, Lizzie. Thanks for the encouragement.
Work has been busy, but school is done in a month, so hopefully I'll have more time soon.
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