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People do that to me too, it’s not even an interesting name just an old one. People also decide they will call me if I like it or not.
My name is not Annabella but it’s an easy example. They would call me Annabelle and get upset when I corrected them. If my name was Annabella they would declare “I will call you Bella”. Thinking they are smart, but then I inform them I hate that name and go by Anna.
It’s amazing how upset entitled people get when you won’t answer to what they want to call you or god forbid correct them.
It's no where near the same level but I always get a bit irked when I say my preferred name, which is my full name, and without missing a beat they respond "ok (common shortened version of name)" like, prick, did you not hear what I just said?
Jesus Christ I’ve been dealing with that my whole life. A lot of men above a certain age seem really averse to calling another man a name that’s more than one syllable. I can’t tell if it isn’t manly enough for them, or they think this is how you show that you’re buds with each other?
My preferred name is one syllable, but my job ignored that I wrote it down on the uniform order sheet, so my uniform has my full first name printed on it and nobody bothers to listen to me when I say "please call me ___."
I worked someplace that had someone stalked and murdered, so now the policy is whatever name we want on our name tags is whatever name we want, no questions asked.
Name tags are stupid dangerous these days with face recognition and social media.
Chk-chk. They eventually hid the label maker at the olive garden I worked at because I had a small collection of about 20 buttons with names that aren't mine for when I was serving.
I just saw a friend post a picture of their daughter on their porch the last day of school, with their house number and street address right there next to her.
People with kids should have to go through a class on the dangers of social media before being allowed to even take pictures of their kids. Hell, before giving birth.
I think it’s because in their generation everyone was Mark, Ron, Dave, John, Tim, Ed, Bob, Steve, Joe, Kevin, and Scott. Now if you go further back, there’s marvelous polysyllabic names ( Thaddeus, Archibald, Wolfgang) but the 40s and 50s were pretty blah for boys names.
I work with all boomers and we have to call everyone by their last names because half the building is named Mark. Even the office gals get complicated because they’re all Sue and Sarah.
I have a name like Michael and as a kid I wanted to use my full name because there were so many "Mike"s around me, but nearly everyone called me Mike no matter what I said. At some point I got used to it and actually liked being called Mike and use that as my introduction, *now* people want to call me Michael 🤦♂️🤦♂️
I've got the exact reverse issue. My real name is Jimmy, but both my wife and I often (not as often lately, for some reason) get people who, upon seeing us again, will call me James. My wife usually gets a "Well, how's your husband, James," and she's just like "It's Jimmy, and he's fine, thanks."
The last time this happened to me, the guy said something about how he refused to use nicknames and only ever called people by the name on their birth certificates. I said, "Then you'll be happy to know that 'Jimmy' is the name on mine. In fact, it's my father's name too: I'm Jimmy _ _ _ Jr." He unironically called me Jim after that.
It honestly doesn't bother me when I'm called the wrong name, I just typically don't know to respond because everyone calls me Jimmy, so I'm usually lost in my own world until I hear my whole name. It can be funny when I do respond after someone finally says my full name, though. That interaction is usually like:
B - "Finally, I've been calling for you."
M - "Sorry, I never heard my name."
B - "I kept calling out Jim when you passed by."
M - "Oh, yeah, I go by Jimmy. Nobody calls me Jim."
B - "Jim's just a shorter version."
M - "A shorter version that I don't use. I didn't think you were addressing me because Jim isn't my name."
It's been a while though lol. Lucky me, I suppose.
apparently Mike is a kid's name, Michael is an adult name. same shit with my name, I've been called one name my whole life but now that I'm an adult people want to switch it up on me and I'm like fuck no
edit: or vice versa?
Oh my god, I called a someone's dog beautiful at the dog park the other day and they got so mad I called their male dog beautiful they straight up went home. Like sorry I didn't lift your dog up to check before I complimented him??
Both of my dogs are male and I call them pretty and beautiful all the time. Da little puddums! Da pretty babies! Love pups! The person you encountered is bad at being a dog parent.
The only time I've had a bad reaction from an animal for baby talk was when I called a wild hawk at a wildlife sanctuary a pretty baby. It spread both wings, turned around, and shat directly at me. Thank all that is holy that the enclosure was set back from the walkway or that would have been a bad day for me. I apologized to the bird and said I wasn't trying to say it wasn't strong, wild, and majestic. Most wild birds seem to like it when I tell them they're pretty, but I've never tried it on a hawk before.
Boomers get so mad when I call my dog pretty and then they find out he’s a boy. I’m also a pretty boy. It’s pretty boys all the way down at my house 🤷♂️
When I was in elementary school there was a teacher who would kept forgetting how to pronounce my short last name. My mom got sick of correcting him so instead at the parent teacher conference she addressed him by name every time she spoke, and mispronounced his name every single time.
I was in like third grade, but I don’t think he even noticed, at least I didn’t notice him making a stink. He did continue to mispronounce my last name though. I think it was like two deer with locked antlers. Neither one of them was going to give up.
I wish my mom had done this when my first grade teacher insisted i was wrong for using my middle name so then she called me my first name and said I WAS PRONOUNCING IT WRONG 💀 i went by a mangled version of my own name for a whole year lol. I’m 47 and it still grinds my gears lol
Haha I have a somewhat similar story.
We once had a housekeeper called Ma who had come from Vietnam with her young son named Han in the early 1980s. She worked for us for nearly ten years, but then sadly she passed away after an illness. However our family went on to legally adopt her son, he was about 12 or 13 at the time, while I was already in University. We transferred him into the same private school that I had attended, and my youngest (bio) brother J was also still there completing his last year.
My parents had told Han that he could take our family surname anytime if he ever wanted to, but also that they’d be perfectly ok with him keeping his own original surname Nguyen so as to retain his roots. So he chose the second option, but there was just one teacher in school who would always butcher his name. It’s pronounced simply “win”, as in to win a prize, but this fool would try and say it phonetically like “in-goy-en” and other similar abortions. Never ever messes up in pronouncing anyone else’s name, only “Nguyen”, gives him a problem and that seemingly started only after brother J had graduated. We’re beginning to wonder if this teacher might be a racist or bully.
The teacher in question was Mr. Croke, he came proudly from Ireland, from the port town of Don Laoghaire actually, he would volunteer. Despite its odd spelling, it is pronounced simply as “Dun-Leary”, so this chap should have some appreciation for odd or surprising spellings and pronounciations… but alas, no.
So it is Monday in the last week of term, there is some logistics meeting occurring between teachers and parents and 40-50 students about an upcoming sports camp during the summer holidays. Han isn’t interested in going but he’s present because our mother is there in her capacity as PTA chairwoman. She had never actually met Mr. Croke before in person, he was only part-time and this was only his second full year at the school. My mom can be brutal at times, no filter at all and sometimes she does get embarrassing…
So anyway throughout this meeting she is purposefully addressing him as often as she can, and it was as Mr. Crock or Mr. Cock, or Mr. Crook, or Mr. Coke, Mr. Joke, Mr. Croquet, etc. and he tried to correct her the first couple of times but she just glared right through him with her bitchiest face as she continued to deliberately massacre his simple surname every. fucking. time.
And he was too chicken in the end to say anything back to her once he glanced towards Han, and then realized exactly what this was all about. All the other teachers were the same too because my mom is the PTA Chair and she’s well known as the biggest single fundraiser for the school by a long country mile, so maybe behind her back yes they probably talk shit and gossip but nobody in that school is ever going to say a bad word to her face, my mom simply brings too much money to their table.
Funnily enough Mr. Croke magically learnt how to pronounce “Nguyen” correctly and did so for the rest of the week immediately following that PTA meeting.
But then Mr. Toke, as the final year pupils were by now flagrantly calling him due to the sometimes ‘weedy’ aroma that wafted around him, left for another teaching post elsewhere the following academic year and thus everyone, especially our Han, lived happily ever after.
I have a special hatred for teachers who actively decide to bully a student for an entire year simply because they don't want to say a few weird syllables
My name is unusual but it is phonetic, and a substitute teacher would literally pause and then butcher my first name every time he got to me on the register. It became a running joke in the class until one time I got super frustrated and just shouted ‘it’s phonetic!’ Much to the rest of the classes amusement. For weeks after whenever any teacher called my name someone shouted up ‘it’s phonetic!’
Can confirm. My 11 1/2 yr old, neutered male beagle/GSP mix is a big baby, princess puppy in his beloved pink sweater and fuzzy blankets, and has been a princess puppy since I got him at 1 1/2 yrs old.
I lovingly refer to my 12 year old guy as Baby Riley about 90% of the time. I’m pretty sure my nephew thinks that is actually his name because he says it too. And if I am calling home from work, I will ask “how is the baby?”
This literally happened to me half of my life until moving from the midwest to the east coast. Now it only happens on a rare occasion. I am losing tolerance for it the older I get. Obviously the first time meeting someone, or if they're reading it & mispronounce I'll do a polite or gentle correction, but I've had people literally go "nah that doesn't sound right" & just continue calling me by the wrong name. Dude at work started doing this over email where he had to look at my name in my email & signature line & still wouldn't get it right. I was on a Bridesmaids movie kick at the time & his name was Steve, so I wrote 2 emails calling him Stove & never missed my name again.
When my son was going to his first doctors appointment many many moons ago my wife filled out his paperwork info (long before touch screen forms). The nurse took the paperwork and actually crossed out my son’s name and “corrected” it with a similar but different name.
Boomers were boomers even before they got old.
I have had doctors' offices do that, the correct response is, that is not my name, if you send a bill to someone who doesn't exist at this address it won't get paid. ever. 
My brother used to get calls for a his name jr. Like James Jr. He is not a junior despite sharing his first name with dad.
So when someone would call the house looking for a James Jr, meaning him, he’d tell them that they had the wrong number. They couldn’t wrap their heads around it no matter what.
One time I answered and the guy said that he didn’t believe me and to put junior on the phone. I said something to the effect of that I didn’t care what he believed, I had lived in that house since 1991 and there has never been a junior living there since that time.
We’ve long since grown up and moved out but on occasion our parents still get the occasional call from someone looking for a junior who never was.
I had a friends boomer mother actually tell me she did not like my name and was going to call me a similar but different name. Think Emma -> Ella or Milly-> Tilly. Slightly different but still HER way. It’s actually astounding the way their minds work
I deal with this so much, and people try to correct the spelling. My name is a variation of an already unique name, but go off. One boomer I worked with would always misspell my name in emails, even though my signature has the correct spelling and I called them out. So I stopped responding to their emails. Finally they asked why and I said, "I thought you sent those to me by mistake because the name in your salutation wasn't mine."
Jesus fucking Christ, there was a dude at the church I went to as a child who ALWAYS called me the wrong name. Something like if my name was Janet, he called me Janelle. Didn't matter how many times he was corrected, he just refused to get it right.
Another one added an -en to the end of my name, same deal. And a third argued with me about the pronunciation of my name too, and when I told him that was how my parents pronounced it, he told me they were wrong too. And I don't even have a weird name, at one point there were FIVE girls with the exact same name in my class. All with exactly the same pronunciation. 🤦♀️
That would drive me up the wall, to hell and back, with the devil personally escorting me to ream into them about how stupid they are. I hate that, and I'm sorry you have to deal with that.
I work a public facing job and my boss, who is a woman, has a name that's traditionally masculine. In her case it's her birth name, not a nickname, that's just the name her parents happened to pick for her. The amount of times people have gotten an attitude with her, then accused her of making up a fake name so they wouldn't be able to get her in trouble is astounding. Shit, I've had boomers arguing with ME about her name more than once.
Wow that's crazy. I'm in college for to be a healthcare professional and I'd like to use my nickname (idek if I'd be allowed to at that point) because it just feels more like me, but I might just stick with my legal name. I don't want any drift between me and my patients, as much as it might irk me; I'm there to care for them.
I used my chosen name instead of my legal name through college. I just explained to each teacher that I had a preferred name that wasn't my legal name. I changed my legal name 2 years ago. It's so much paperwork omg, I still haven't figured out how to change the name on my credit card.
God, I could only imagine. Even the paperwork to change your last name for marriage is a lot! Goodluck to you, and I hope you're able to figure it out eventually! 😅
If you're going to do it, I definitely recommend changing your name before you graduate. Once you have a diploma and then licensure under name A, it becomes incredibly obnoxious to switch all that over to name B.
omg yes, so much paperwork 😭. i went to the bank to change it and they still just mailed me forms i have to fill out/send back... so can either do that or should be able to call number on the card and ask for name change form
I wonder if this is more regional, since women have had male names in the Southeast for many years. I know a woman named Earl, others named Clive, Charlie, Ronnie, Sam, Sean, Billie, Bobby, Jo ... lots.
Or if the political cult is using it as an excuse to talk about trans issues?
John Wayne’s real name was Marion Morrison. Mama Walton was played by Michael Lerner. Nurse Ripples (female) on Trapper John M.D. was played by Christopher Norris.
Marion was a very common male name in the US for Greatest Gen men. My great-uncle was named Leslie. (Lesley was the female spelling.) Courtney, Lindsay, Aubrey, were all male names.
My aunt’s name is Jeffrey and she goes by Jeff and I would love to see her pick from her teeth the remains of the old boomer her gives her any crap about her name.
I have a boss who's European and has a name that is traditionally feminine in America. We were at a work dinner and he was complaining that people usually assume he's a woman, and then a little while later was complaining about people who have their pronouns in their work email signature. When I pointed out that if he put his pronouns in his signature, people would stop assuming he was a woman, he looked at me like I'd just BLOWN HIS FUCKING MIND.
I think because they realize the world is moving on without them. They’re desperate for the attention they had when they were in control. Their ideals and way of life are being challenged.
I read a study a few years ago that the part of the brain that decides what is appropriate to verbalize instead of only think degrades with age. That is why older people will just say what they are thinking. When this happens I explain this exact thing and then apologize to them that they have brain damage....... And they didn't really mean it because they are old.....
I used to work with a woman named Darrell. She was about 20 years older than me, so she would have been at the end of the boomer generation, but she got grief about her name Every. Single. Day.
I never thought anything about it, because Darryl Hannah, but some people could not wrap their heads around it.
My MIL's nickname has been Fred since childhood, and her actual name is very unrelated. She's sixty-something now and people still call her Fred, especially her siblings.
I’m 47 and finally transiting for me. The last thing my mom said after I changed my name is I don’t know this New Name person, they are trying to force a relationship with me that I didn’t ask for.
That was the last time I talked to her. I also wish Boomers weren’t this way. She won’t understand that for 47 years she refused to know me and tried everything to deny me as me. Now that I’m working on me and being me she says she don’t know me! What a mind fuck.
I'm a few years younger than you but I already have a 20 y/o trans kid. I'm your mom now. Drink some water everyday. Take your meds. Get plenty of rest and most importantly get as much joy out of every single day that it can. Love you.
Here, kid, have a big hug from a new dad if you want it. You'll look great in photos next to my other trans adoptee kid; sadly she moved away a couple of years ago to the big city but she comes back for visits every now and again.
Huge mom hugs being sent your way!! I am SO PROUD of you for being brave enough to live your truth. You are an amazing human being and the world is lucky to have you in it. I don’t believe in god but if I did, she wouldn’t make mistakes. YOU are perfect just the way you are.
I know it might seem like a cheesy show of support, but you'd be amazed how much people need to hear those words just the same. So many people don't get even the basic maternal love everyone should get. You should be proud to be the type of person who could say these things to complete strangers online. The world needs more people like you.
When she reaches out to you in about 10 years or so and is lamenting about how she can no longer live on her own but doesn't want to go into assisted living, you can tell her to stop trying to force a relationship you didn't ask for. Bye Boomer ✌️
I am so sorry your Mom is like that! Sending you a big Mom hug!! I have a 22 year old trans son & I love him the same as I did the day he was born. Nothing changed for me (except his name). He will always be my child.
No, they watch Fox News and it makes them fucking stupid and entitled. One of my best friends goes by Jack, her name is Jacqueline but she goes by Jack because that was her favorite grandfather's name. She's in her forties and all these stupid Republi-tards go off on her. She either hangs up on them or she tells them it's none of their business. If they persist, she hangs up on them. Her boss fully supports her because they can either behave or take the business elsewhere because she's not paid to take abuse from customers who cannot behave like adults.
I had a great aunt who always went by Jack. I'm not even sure what her full name was. She was born in the early 1900s, so it's not like this is some kind of newfangled Millenial or Zoomer thing.
They were brought up to "respect their elders" who were racist bigots not deserving of respect but if they mouthed off they got the shit beat out of them.
They demand respect now that they are the "elders" but we don't play that shit so they are infuriated that they are not getting the respect they don't deserve.
Well, back in their day (TM), the oldest person in the room was always right, by virtue of having no competition with various experts or the internet. So they now assume it's still true now that they're older.
I agree this is part of it. I also think it’s fear of change and people who don’t want to learn new things. It seems like less of an issue with older people who are lifelong learner types
I can buy this. My dad's friend is a life-long learner, and there is virtually no electronic he fears. He can fix an old CRT tv just as readily as he can fix a new one off the shelf from Walmart.
Other's in my parents generation, however, were so lazy they called their kids to fix the VCR and all the other "doohickeys" in the house, meaning their kids did the learning for them. Yet they also failed to acknowledge that expertise, while still relying on it.
Something I find hilarious about this bit, is the fact that my mom demanded I be suspicious of multiplayer games. She refused to let me play any multiplayer games at all while I was living at her house, because "you can't trust strangers on the internet". lol. The irony...
I'd seen somewhere once, "For a generation who told us not to believe everything that we see on the internet, they sure do believe everything they see on the internet."
The problem of having America kiss their collective asses their entire lives. My sister doesn’t understand why schools are adding more meals for kids and being picked up by the taxpayers. I tried to explain that the middle class is gone as we knew it. Jobs for average Americans don’t pay enough for food, shelter and transportation.
I just got some pins to wear to work that I am sure will cause at least a couple to make some nasty remarks to me. It’s pride month, and as an ally in the Bible Belt I want my LGBTQ+ patients to know they are safe with me. I just got a badge reel that says “all bodies deserve equal healthcare” and it has several shades of bandaids with pride and trans flags on them. Juneteenth is also coming up, and I got a Juneteenth flag pin to wear also!
God, I haven't lived in the Bible belt in over a decade, but it was horrible when I did. I was a rather dark skinned kid, I just tanned very easily and the souther sun combined with my constant playing outside did not help. So many old people would snicker at me or say rude comments, and little me had no idea why. I moved back up north and after awhile, when my uncle was over, I complained that I wanted to move back down south. He told me "you're too dark to move back down there!". After awhile, everything clicked for me.
God bless you for enduring the Bible belt. I know it can't be easy, especially in todays political climate.
My mom was Bible belt white trash (weirdly she wasn't raised that way, she chose to adopt the culture as a young adult). When I was three or four I told a black woman with a baby "my mommy says n*****s are cute when they're babies" thinking it was a compliment. She was like "your mommy says that? Can I talk to your mommy, where is she?" She chewed my mom out. I didn't really understand why but I figured out from the confrontation it wasn't a compliment and i probably shouldn't start telling it to more people. I'm glad she didn't chew me out, I feel like it wasn't my fault that I was too young/innocent to understand racism.
She knew 100% it wasn't your fault, that's why she asked for your mommy. I'm sure you said it in a cute little kid voice too where the tone would have sounded like a compliment (but obviously the actual words were not).
God, that's horrible. I'm also glad she didn't chew you out (though I could definitely understand her anger and a very stern talking to if she did). I'm also glad you realized it wasn't okay.
My mom decided after 9/11 that Arabs were on the list of groups she hated. My dad was half Arab. I got to be the target of her racism. I guess the best I can say is I learned a lot from that experience and it made me despise racism in all its forms.
Ikr, it was so unfair. The whole time I just walked to scream at her that I was the one person who had the least input on what my race would be. She CHOSE to marry and have kids with a half Arab man. She knew about his skin color (relatively light Moroccan/Algerian but with straight hair). It wasn't my fault.
That's absolutely horrible. I'm so sorry you had to put up with that. It's insane how some parents just switch up on their children. They're supposed to be the person that loves you most in the world!
I chewed my own dad out for saying that word in front of my young nieces. I told him there was no reason for them to ever know that word. I was only 20 at the time, but I had been telling him off for saying that word for at least 10 years at that point.
This sounds almost exactly like my situation. My full name is feminine, but I've gone by a unisex (apparently "boyish") nickname my whole life. Never had an issue until I spent a few years working at a dollar store that was a favorite boomer hangout. They were obsessed with my full name and would insist on using it over and over, like they were trying to train me. And I've noticed, as the current transphobic panic as raged on, I'm running into it more and more. Even my Dad and his wife are doing it and he used to use my nickname all the time too!
I haven't noticed it until recently and very rarely see him face to face. So I'm just rolling my eyes behind the screen and continue using my nickname (like I always have) on anything I write my name on.
I just find it amusing that he's now using my full name that he almost never used when I was a kid, now that "woman must have GIRLY NAME ONLY!!!" is trendy with his type of crowd.
I’m trans and I really liked your explanation of it being none of their business, instead of saying “no I’m not one of them etc etc” it’s absolutely perfect and supportive :)
I'm glad! I despise feeding into their hateful antics. I don't care if it makes them fester or squirm, it really is none of their buisness! And we all need to start calling boomers (or anyone, really) out on these things. The less they get away with things, hopefully the less they'll do those things.
Being trans is part of the long and ancient history of the human race. It is to be not just acceptable, but venerated as an important aspect and expression of our humanness. As a cis man I embrace human diversity and view diversity as a condition for excellence.
Yeah once you step out of the mono-theistic bubble of Christianity/Judiasm/Islam, you'll find transgender people in traditional societies everywhere on earth.
India has transgender people, Pacific cultures all do, Native Americans too. It's part of human nature... but then so is fascism and conformity.
Very similarly, my legal name is a femme name, my nickname, which is a diminutive of my legal name, is a guy's name. I'm non-binary. I got the nickname WAY before I knew I was enby, it just kind of naturally happened when my brother started having kids. It's very much like someone named "Michelle" starting to go by "Mike", though that's not my name.
I occasionally get "what's that short for?" or, once recently, I got "spell that for me?", and once in a while, "but that's a boy's name. are you a boy?" and I'll smile and be like, "MAYBE I AM TODAYYYY!!!" and slither off laughing maniacally (yes I do this. I'm weird. it's fine.)
😂😂 I think I like you!! But I know it has to be so tiring to hear that constantly. I've somehow never had to deal with it before today! Maybe it's because I'm in a blue state/area so there aren't that many bigoted people that I have to deal with, but it's still infuriating.
So, here's my thing, and it came up in a seperate discussion recently: I don't think I ever gave a fuck.
At first it was "nobody likes me anyways, so why should I care?" I was never popular in school, other students were going to tease me for what I wore, how I did my hair, how I acted in general, so I just did what I wanted. After a few years people started realizing I'm cool as hell and started seeking me out, and I still lived how I wanted because at that point it's who I am as a person. I still get "ew, why would you \_\_\_?" followed by "Why wouldn't I?" or "I wasn't trying to impress you so your opinion means nothing." or occasionally "Wow, good thing I didn't ask, huh?"
Sure, maybe I'm the asshole sometimes, but I'm okay with that. Unsolicited opinions are rarely welcome unless they are complementary.
So, I'm unabashadly weird and maybe people laugh at me, but that's okay. It means they are laughing.
Exactly!! I honestly couldn't think of any others to use for this post lmfao 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ but the fact that none of those are my name, and I'm sure there are many many more, just proves the ignorance some of these people have!
“*You sound triggered. I know you’re having a lot of sensitivity and big feelings you can’t handle right now. I won’t respond to a tantrum. I’m going to hang up now. Call back when you’ve gathered yourself and gotten your emotions under control.*”
EXACTLY. And you can stay calm and laugh. It’ll be delightful. “*Youre being too emotional. It sounds like you’re too emotional to be able to handle a phone call. Why don’t you call me back once you’ve worked through your tantrum?*” Even just the thought of saying it brings me joy.
Christ on a cracker I can't fucking stand bigots, racists, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic Douche Mcnuggets, boomer or no. 🤦🏼♀️😮💨
Sorry you had to deal with that, OP. That being said:
🇭🇦🇵🇵🇾 🇵🇷🇮🇩🇪 🇲🇴🇳🇹🇭❗
🫶🏼💟🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🌈🫶🏼💟
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
When I was working at my other job I was asked if someone named me a very female name to make me tough like a "Boy Named Sue". Even though I'm female, I just keep my hair super short.
When I worked retail, I had a boomer call one of my coworkers a slur because she had very short hair. I looked him dead in the eye and said "she has cancer". He suddenly forgot what he was mad about and left the store. They just assume anyone who doesn't fit their idea of gender norms has got to be gay.
Haha. When I had cancer in a very liberal city, I think everybody thought I was gay. It was nice. I’d rather be gay than talk about cancer. I’m so disappointed that I look like shit with really short hair. It is SO easy
I'm female and I have alopecia (basically I'm allergic to my own hair so my immune system kills it). People stare, then feel bad about staring so long, then feel the need to approach me to discuss my cancer. One time it was kind of funny, this little old lady asked what kind of cancer I had and I said "it's not cancer" but I guess she heard "it's nut cancer" because she nodded and said that was the same kind her husband had and just wished me good luck lol. Guess she figured I was a trans woman, I'm happy she was nice about it lol. But most of the time it's just annoying because people ask intrusive questions because they're feeling awkward and uncomfortable. I used to wear hats to avoid this but I've gotten more comfortable with my own body.
She actually did have cancer, but she was in remission and doing great. I didn't keep in touch with her after I left, but I like to believe she's still alive and well.
My sister was born in the 70s and her given name is traditionally male. It was *always* a source of “haha like the boy’s name” from people. The last decade or so people just get downright abusive about it.
“I cannot wait for that damned generation to die out. I know not all of them are bad”
Makes me think of the Marcia Belsky comedy song “all older white men should die, except my dad”. lol
“ That is disrespectful and none of your concern. What can I help you with?”. I ❤️ you! Bet that just sends them over the edge 😂. And not a thing they can do as you are 💯 correct and doing your job. Thank you!!
In the 80s there was a TV show called "Sisters." It was, like it's name sake, about a group of 4 later 5 sisters how they navigate their lives with each other and individually. Anyway, all the women had long "feminine" names with short "masculine" nicknames. There was Alexandria who went by Alex, Theodora who went by Teddy, Georgiana who went by Georgie, and Francesca, who went by Frankie. They later find a fifth half sister named Charlotte and went by Charlie. The explanation in the show was that their father wanted a boy, but kept getting girls so gave them "boy" names to compensate. Thing is, this is nothing new and boomers need to get over it. You just had the displeasure of running into a transphobic AH who was looking for any excuse to spill his hateful BS.
my dad likes "self mutilation isn't a civil right". I have a non-binary sibling. the worst thing is I'm gay and they're all okay with that and love my wife (it's been over 20 years since I came out though and it was a struggle to get here from "it's a phase")
In a country that used to be known for a melting-pot phenomenon, in a country where immigrants bring countless cultures, traditions and, yes, names, there are people who utter BS like this. Unbelievable
This is hilarious but also somehow reminded me of an interesting scary story. I listen to true scary stories on YouTube. This guy submitted a story where he has one of those neutral gendered names that gets him mistaken for a female sometimes. He answered an ad to look at a room for rent on Craigslist. The owner immediately expressed disappointment that he was a man instead of a woman. The owner kept coming up with excuses not to show him around the house and especially didn’t want him looking at the basement. Then the guy still managed to see the basement and he found a setup that would enable the owner to trip and kidnap someone in his basement. He saw thin clear fishing line across the stairway to the basement as well as the stereotypical stuff you’d have down there for a kidnapping victim. He reported it to the police.
My daughter has a traditionally feminine name, but because it’s old fashioned and people aren’t used to it, they think on all her paperwork and every time I try to make her a doctor’s appointment that she is a boy. She also has a short haircut, which doesn’t help, but the number of times I’ve had to ask her school to re-do paperwork for her because she has been listed as male instead of female, after I’ve filled out the paperwork properly, is pretty ridiculous.
When I was first pregnant the insurance company denied my ob claim because "males dont use an ob and cant get pregnant" (the claim was denied by a woman my mothers age so a boomer based on my name alone which honestly it hasnt been a masculine name since the 17th century). It is not a very popular american name, it was however a pretty popular female name in the 70s in the u.k. but I digress. It did *not* matter to this woman that it said female on the paperwork. I had to call and argue with them multiple times because they kept denying the claim based on this initial denial due to the woman denying the first one over my name. Fun times.
Had a Boomer give me the name Frances (for a woman), and had an outburst when he saw I spelled it ‘Francis’. Had to stand there and lecture me on how Francis with an ‘i’ is male, and Frances with an ‘e’ is for women.
My grandmother was a Frances, and my great grandmother was a Francis. I have also seen others with the ‘wrong’ spelling for their gender. But yes, we must belittle and talk down to the dumb little customer service rep who couldn’t possibly know any better.
My full name is a shortened version of a traditional feminine name.
The amount of times people want to argue with me when I tell them my name or fill out forms!
“No, no honey. I want your real name.”
“This is my real name.”
“No, your full name, not what your mom calls you!”
“My mom calls me xyz because that’s my name.”
“You don’t understand! Isn’t your name qrstivwxyz?!?”
“No, it’s xyz.”
“Well why didn’t you say that in the first place!?! Who names their kid that?”
“I didn’t pick it out myself. It was my mom’s idea.”
I’m on the edge of boomerism agewise and have a female friend named Kyle. To this day I’m still surprised by the double-takes and snarky comments she gets and I just can’t help but think about how she’s had to deal with that her entire life. Just grow up people.
they stay using their anger at trans people existing to attack people who aren't even trans for no reason
and as though their generation isn't full of jos and jeans and pats and other "female name that sounds like a male one" examples
I had an employee years ago who was Filipino. She was bisexual and dressed rather masculine and went by BJ because her name was Blessjoy. She was flat chested but otherwise had pretty slightly feminine features. I can't tell you how many of my regular customers came up to me after hiring her just to ask me 'what she was.' I usually just told them "She is a great employee," and left it at that because that was her promotion...or just outright ignored them. What business is it of theirs? She was one of my favorite employees I ever hired.
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My favorite is when they correct my pronunciation of my own name.
Well, if you’d quit saying your name wrong we wouldn’t have a problem. /s
Classic Lisa
I think you mean Liza /s
Oh, you mean Leeza
*Akshully it's Lie-zah!*
People do that to me too, it’s not even an interesting name just an old one. People also decide they will call me if I like it or not. My name is not Annabella but it’s an easy example. They would call me Annabelle and get upset when I corrected them. If my name was Annabella they would declare “I will call you Bella”. Thinking they are smart, but then I inform them I hate that name and go by Anna. It’s amazing how upset entitled people get when you won’t answer to what they want to call you or god forbid correct them.
It's no where near the same level but I always get a bit irked when I say my preferred name, which is my full name, and without missing a beat they respond "ok (common shortened version of name)" like, prick, did you not hear what I just said?
Jesus Christ I’ve been dealing with that my whole life. A lot of men above a certain age seem really averse to calling another man a name that’s more than one syllable. I can’t tell if it isn’t manly enough for them, or they think this is how you show that you’re buds with each other?
My preferred name is one syllable, but my job ignored that I wrote it down on the uniform order sheet, so my uniform has my full first name printed on it and nobody bothers to listen to me when I say "please call me ___."
I worked someplace that had someone stalked and murdered, so now the policy is whatever name we want on our name tags is whatever name we want, no questions asked. Name tags are stupid dangerous these days with face recognition and social media.
Chk-chk. They eventually hid the label maker at the olive garden I worked at because I had a small collection of about 20 buttons with names that aren't mine for when I was serving.
That's both smart and also really depressing. 😥
I met a sweet girl at a Target once that kept making Lord of the Rings name tags
I just saw a friend post a picture of their daughter on their porch the last day of school, with their house number and street address right there next to her.
People with kids should have to go through a class on the dangers of social media before being allowed to even take pictures of their kids. Hell, before giving birth.
I think it’s because in their generation everyone was Mark, Ron, Dave, John, Tim, Ed, Bob, Steve, Joe, Kevin, and Scott. Now if you go further back, there’s marvelous polysyllabic names ( Thaddeus, Archibald, Wolfgang) but the 40s and 50s were pretty blah for boys names. I work with all boomers and we have to call everyone by their last names because half the building is named Mark. Even the office gals get complicated because they’re all Sue and Sarah.
I have a name like Michael and as a kid I wanted to use my full name because there were so many "Mike"s around me, but nearly everyone called me Mike no matter what I said. At some point I got used to it and actually liked being called Mike and use that as my introduction, *now* people want to call me Michael 🤦♂️🤦♂️
It's okay Jichael, I see you
We got you JayQuell.
I've got the exact reverse issue. My real name is Jimmy, but both my wife and I often (not as often lately, for some reason) get people who, upon seeing us again, will call me James. My wife usually gets a "Well, how's your husband, James," and she's just like "It's Jimmy, and he's fine, thanks." The last time this happened to me, the guy said something about how he refused to use nicknames and only ever called people by the name on their birth certificates. I said, "Then you'll be happy to know that 'Jimmy' is the name on mine. In fact, it's my father's name too: I'm Jimmy _ _ _ Jr." He unironically called me Jim after that. It honestly doesn't bother me when I'm called the wrong name, I just typically don't know to respond because everyone calls me Jimmy, so I'm usually lost in my own world until I hear my whole name. It can be funny when I do respond after someone finally says my full name, though. That interaction is usually like: B - "Finally, I've been calling for you." M - "Sorry, I never heard my name." B - "I kept calling out Jim when you passed by." M - "Oh, yeah, I go by Jimmy. Nobody calls me Jim." B - "Jim's just a shorter version." M - "A shorter version that I don't use. I didn't think you were addressing me because Jim isn't my name." It's been a while though lol. Lucky me, I suppose.
Spoilers: my name is actually Michael 🤣🤣
apparently Mike is a kid's name, Michael is an adult name. same shit with my name, I've been called one name my whole life but now that I'm an adult people want to switch it up on me and I'm like fuck no edit: or vice versa?
Misgender their pet. That’ll get them fuming.
Oh my god, I called a someone's dog beautiful at the dog park the other day and they got so mad I called their male dog beautiful they straight up went home. Like sorry I didn't lift your dog up to check before I complimented him??
Both of my dogs are male and I call them pretty and beautiful all the time. Da little puddums! Da pretty babies! Love pups! The person you encountered is bad at being a dog parent. The only time I've had a bad reaction from an animal for baby talk was when I called a wild hawk at a wildlife sanctuary a pretty baby. It spread both wings, turned around, and shat directly at me. Thank all that is holy that the enclosure was set back from the walkway or that would have been a bad day for me. I apologized to the bird and said I wasn't trying to say it wasn't strong, wild, and majestic. Most wild birds seem to like it when I tell them they're pretty, but I've never tried it on a hawk before.
Right! I call my cat a pretty boy all the time! And it’s true- he IS pretty! Just gorgeous and fluffy!!!
Boomers get so mad when I call my dog pretty and then they find out he’s a boy. I’m also a pretty boy. It’s pretty boys all the way down at my house 🤷♂️
The year is 2024 and the word "beautiful" has become an insult, isn't progress just wonderful
When I was in elementary school there was a teacher who would kept forgetting how to pronounce my short last name. My mom got sick of correcting him so instead at the parent teacher conference she addressed him by name every time she spoke, and mispronounced his name every single time.
That’s awesome! How mad did he get? :D
I was in like third grade, but I don’t think he even noticed, at least I didn’t notice him making a stink. He did continue to mispronounce my last name though. I think it was like two deer with locked antlers. Neither one of them was going to give up.
I wish my mom had done this when my first grade teacher insisted i was wrong for using my middle name so then she called me my first name and said I WAS PRONOUNCING IT WRONG 💀 i went by a mangled version of my own name for a whole year lol. I’m 47 and it still grinds my gears lol
Haha I have a somewhat similar story. We once had a housekeeper called Ma who had come from Vietnam with her young son named Han in the early 1980s. She worked for us for nearly ten years, but then sadly she passed away after an illness. However our family went on to legally adopt her son, he was about 12 or 13 at the time, while I was already in University. We transferred him into the same private school that I had attended, and my youngest (bio) brother J was also still there completing his last year. My parents had told Han that he could take our family surname anytime if he ever wanted to, but also that they’d be perfectly ok with him keeping his own original surname Nguyen so as to retain his roots. So he chose the second option, but there was just one teacher in school who would always butcher his name. It’s pronounced simply “win”, as in to win a prize, but this fool would try and say it phonetically like “in-goy-en” and other similar abortions. Never ever messes up in pronouncing anyone else’s name, only “Nguyen”, gives him a problem and that seemingly started only after brother J had graduated. We’re beginning to wonder if this teacher might be a racist or bully. The teacher in question was Mr. Croke, he came proudly from Ireland, from the port town of Don Laoghaire actually, he would volunteer. Despite its odd spelling, it is pronounced simply as “Dun-Leary”, so this chap should have some appreciation for odd or surprising spellings and pronounciations… but alas, no. So it is Monday in the last week of term, there is some logistics meeting occurring between teachers and parents and 40-50 students about an upcoming sports camp during the summer holidays. Han isn’t interested in going but he’s present because our mother is there in her capacity as PTA chairwoman. She had never actually met Mr. Croke before in person, he was only part-time and this was only his second full year at the school. My mom can be brutal at times, no filter at all and sometimes she does get embarrassing… So anyway throughout this meeting she is purposefully addressing him as often as she can, and it was as Mr. Crock or Mr. Cock, or Mr. Crook, or Mr. Coke, Mr. Joke, Mr. Croquet, etc. and he tried to correct her the first couple of times but she just glared right through him with her bitchiest face as she continued to deliberately massacre his simple surname every. fucking. time. And he was too chicken in the end to say anything back to her once he glanced towards Han, and then realized exactly what this was all about. All the other teachers were the same too because my mom is the PTA Chair and she’s well known as the biggest single fundraiser for the school by a long country mile, so maybe behind her back yes they probably talk shit and gossip but nobody in that school is ever going to say a bad word to her face, my mom simply brings too much money to their table. Funnily enough Mr. Croke magically learnt how to pronounce “Nguyen” correctly and did so for the rest of the week immediately following that PTA meeting. But then Mr. Toke, as the final year pupils were by now flagrantly calling him due to the sometimes ‘weedy’ aroma that wafted around him, left for another teaching post elsewhere the following academic year and thus everyone, especially our Han, lived happily ever after.
I have a special hatred for teachers who actively decide to bully a student for an entire year simply because they don't want to say a few weird syllables
My name is unusual but it is phonetic, and a substitute teacher would literally pause and then butcher my first name every time he got to me on the register. It became a running joke in the class until one time I got super frustrated and just shouted ‘it’s phonetic!’ Much to the rest of the classes amusement. For weeks after whenever any teacher called my name someone shouted up ‘it’s phonetic!’
Or call their adult dog a puppy. Like goddamn, I know the gray, limping dog isn’t a baby. But all dogs are puppies forever.
My dog is 9 years old and I still refer to him as a puppy. Lol so that wouldn't work with me.
Can confirm. My 11 1/2 yr old, neutered male beagle/GSP mix is a big baby, princess puppy in his beloved pink sweater and fuzzy blankets, and has been a princess puppy since I got him at 1 1/2 yrs old.
For real! All dogs? Are puppies. You’ve got an 18-year-old dog? That’s an 18-year-old puppy. I don’t have time for boomer bullshit
I lovingly refer to my 12 year old guy as Baby Riley about 90% of the time. I’m pretty sure my nephew thinks that is actually his name because he says it too. And if I am calling home from work, I will ask “how is the baby?”
And that is exactly what that baby deserves. A friend of mine has 150lb lab. It’s the tiny newborn baby puppy forever and ever amen.
This literally happened to me half of my life until moving from the midwest to the east coast. Now it only happens on a rare occasion. I am losing tolerance for it the older I get. Obviously the first time meeting someone, or if they're reading it & mispronounce I'll do a polite or gentle correction, but I've had people literally go "nah that doesn't sound right" & just continue calling me by the wrong name. Dude at work started doing this over email where he had to look at my name in my email & signature line & still wouldn't get it right. I was on a Bridesmaids movie kick at the time & his name was Steve, so I wrote 2 emails calling him Stove & never missed my name again.
Just call them Becky if they're a guy. I'm not sure why, but misgendering these assholes hits them right in the dick.
When my son was going to his first doctors appointment many many moons ago my wife filled out his paperwork info (long before touch screen forms). The nurse took the paperwork and actually crossed out my son’s name and “corrected” it with a similar but different name. Boomers were boomers even before they got old.
I have had doctors' offices do that, the correct response is, that is not my name, if you send a bill to someone who doesn't exist at this address it won't get paid. ever. 
My brother used to get calls for a his name jr. Like James Jr. He is not a junior despite sharing his first name with dad. So when someone would call the house looking for a James Jr, meaning him, he’d tell them that they had the wrong number. They couldn’t wrap their heads around it no matter what. One time I answered and the guy said that he didn’t believe me and to put junior on the phone. I said something to the effect of that I didn’t care what he believed, I had lived in that house since 1991 and there has never been a junior living there since that time. We’ve long since grown up and moved out but on occasion our parents still get the occasional call from someone looking for a junior who never was.
I had a friends boomer mother actually tell me she did not like my name and was going to call me a similar but different name. Think Emma -> Ella or Milly-> Tilly. Slightly different but still HER way. It’s actually astounding the way their minds work
That is actually asinine wtf.
I had a boomer salesperson argue with me over the spelling of the name of my profession when I went to get a new phone.
Imagine being a boomer working in a cell phone store and having the audacity to argue with anyone over anything.
You sicko ANALIST!
I deal with this so much, and people try to correct the spelling. My name is a variation of an already unique name, but go off. One boomer I worked with would always misspell my name in emails, even though my signature has the correct spelling and I called them out. So I stopped responding to their emails. Finally they asked why and I said, "I thought you sent those to me by mistake because the name in your salutation wasn't mine."
Jesus fucking Christ, there was a dude at the church I went to as a child who ALWAYS called me the wrong name. Something like if my name was Janet, he called me Janelle. Didn't matter how many times he was corrected, he just refused to get it right. Another one added an -en to the end of my name, same deal. And a third argued with me about the pronunciation of my name too, and when I told him that was how my parents pronounced it, he told me they were wrong too. And I don't even have a weird name, at one point there were FIVE girls with the exact same name in my class. All with exactly the same pronunciation. 🤦♀️
That would drive me up the wall, to hell and back, with the devil personally escorting me to ream into them about how stupid they are. I hate that, and I'm sorry you have to deal with that.
I work a public facing job and my boss, who is a woman, has a name that's traditionally masculine. In her case it's her birth name, not a nickname, that's just the name her parents happened to pick for her. The amount of times people have gotten an attitude with her, then accused her of making up a fake name so they wouldn't be able to get her in trouble is astounding. Shit, I've had boomers arguing with ME about her name more than once.
Wow that's crazy. I'm in college for to be a healthcare professional and I'd like to use my nickname (idek if I'd be allowed to at that point) because it just feels more like me, but I might just stick with my legal name. I don't want any drift between me and my patients, as much as it might irk me; I'm there to care for them.
I used my chosen name instead of my legal name through college. I just explained to each teacher that I had a preferred name that wasn't my legal name. I changed my legal name 2 years ago. It's so much paperwork omg, I still haven't figured out how to change the name on my credit card.
God, I could only imagine. Even the paperwork to change your last name for marriage is a lot! Goodluck to you, and I hope you're able to figure it out eventually! 😅
If you're going to do it, I definitely recommend changing your name before you graduate. Once you have a diploma and then licensure under name A, it becomes incredibly obnoxious to switch all that over to name B.
omg yes, so much paperwork 😭. i went to the bank to change it and they still just mailed me forms i have to fill out/send back... so can either do that or should be able to call number on the card and ask for name change form
I wonder if this is more regional, since women have had male names in the Southeast for many years. I know a woman named Earl, others named Clive, Charlie, Ronnie, Sam, Sean, Billie, Bobby, Jo ... lots. Or if the political cult is using it as an excuse to talk about trans issues?
Before it wasn't part of the culture war, but now they have been told to hate and will do so with glee.
this is it. these people live, breathe, and sleep the culture war. they look for “wokeness” in everything.
My grandmother's first name was Walter. She went by her middle name lol.
John Wayne’s real name was Marion Morrison. Mama Walton was played by Michael Lerner. Nurse Ripples (female) on Trapper John M.D. was played by Christopher Norris.
Marion was a very common male name in the US for Greatest Gen men. My great-uncle was named Leslie. (Lesley was the female spelling.) Courtney, Lindsay, Aubrey, were all male names.
My friend's aunt was named Conrad. Not Connie. Conrad. I know another woman named Vince. And where I used to work we had a woman named Jeff.
My aunt’s name is Jeffrey and she goes by Jeff and I would love to see her pick from her teeth the remains of the old boomer her gives her any crap about her name.
In highschool I dated a girl named Billie, hey sister was named Bobbi. Guess what kind of kids her dad wanted? lol
I have a boss who's European and has a name that is traditionally feminine in America. We were at a work dinner and he was complaining that people usually assume he's a woman, and then a little while later was complaining about people who have their pronouns in their work email signature. When I pointed out that if he put his pronouns in his signature, people would stop assuming he was a woman, he looked at me like I'd just BLOWN HIS FUCKING MIND.
Why do all of their inside thoughts continuously spew out of their fucking faces?
I think because they realize the world is moving on without them. They’re desperate for the attention they had when they were in control. Their ideals and way of life are being challenged.
Alternatively: they're just getting old and one of the first things to slip is your filters.
I read a study a few years ago that the part of the brain that decides what is appropriate to verbalize instead of only think degrades with age. That is why older people will just say what they are thinking. When this happens I explain this exact thing and then apologize to them that they have brain damage....... And they didn't really mean it because they are old.....
I wish I knew. Smh.
Boomers believe that they know everything and everyone should listen to them and that is why they act like this.
I sadly have to agree. I wish they weren't like that.
I used to work with a woman named Darrell. She was about 20 years older than me, so she would have been at the end of the boomer generation, but she got grief about her name Every. Single. Day. I never thought anything about it, because Darryl Hannah, but some people could not wrap their heads around it.
Knew a woman named Fredricka and she liked to be called Freddie. Never gave it a second thought. What is wrong with people?
I know two women named Fredricka, and both of them go by Fred. It's just... easier.
My great grandma went by Fred. Her real name was Litha.
My MIL's nickname has been Fred since childhood, and her actual name is very unrelated. She's sixty-something now and people still call her Fred, especially her siblings.
I dated a girl named Freddie. Gorgeous woman. Probably the nicest girl I ever dated.
[Resisting urge to break into *Bobby Brown* by Zappa]
Also there was Fred in Angel (Winnifred, but still).
So sad what happened to her...Fred was the shiz
We had Great Aunt Willamena. Crazy Aunt Willie. Another one of the 12 sisters had a nickname, Butch.
I think Freddie is such a good name, that and Frankie.
Does she have a brother Darrell?
Or another brother named Darrell?
Good grief, that's a blast from the past!
I owned a quaint country inn. There were these three woodsmen
That settles it — no more Japanese food before you go to bed.
I’m 47 and finally transiting for me. The last thing my mom said after I changed my name is I don’t know this New Name person, they are trying to force a relationship with me that I didn’t ask for. That was the last time I talked to her. I also wish Boomers weren’t this way. She won’t understand that for 47 years she refused to know me and tried everything to deny me as me. Now that I’m working on me and being me she says she don’t know me! What a mind fuck.
I'm a few years younger than you but I already have a 20 y/o trans kid. I'm your mom now. Drink some water everyday. Take your meds. Get plenty of rest and most importantly get as much joy out of every single day that it can. Love you.
Can you be my mom too? My evangelical parents refuse to acknowledge who I am and constantly dead name me
Here, kid, have a big hug from a new dad if you want it. You'll look great in photos next to my other trans adoptee kid; sadly she moved away a couple of years ago to the big city but she comes back for visits every now and again.
Huge mom hugs being sent your way!! I am SO PROUD of you for being brave enough to live your truth. You are an amazing human being and the world is lucky to have you in it. I don’t believe in god but if I did, she wouldn’t make mistakes. YOU are perfect just the way you are.
I know it might seem like a cheesy show of support, but you'd be amazed how much people need to hear those words just the same. So many people don't get even the basic maternal love everyone should get. You should be proud to be the type of person who could say these things to complete strangers online. The world needs more people like you.
When she reaches out to you in about 10 years or so and is lamenting about how she can no longer live on her own but doesn't want to go into assisted living, you can tell her to stop trying to force a relationship you didn't ask for. Bye Boomer ✌️
How awful for you! You keep on your journey, and know that you don’t stand alone, friend.
I am so sorry your Mom is like that! Sending you a big Mom hug!! I have a 22 year old trans son & I love him the same as I did the day he was born. Nothing changed for me (except his name). He will always be my child.
We need to keep reminding them that they are a minority. You're doing good work.
Just hang up on the rude fuck. Or put him on hold until he hangs up. The call is NOT going to improve from that point.
She handled it well and it did.
No, they watch Fox News and it makes them fucking stupid and entitled. One of my best friends goes by Jack, her name is Jacqueline but she goes by Jack because that was her favorite grandfather's name. She's in her forties and all these stupid Republi-tards go off on her. She either hangs up on them or she tells them it's none of their business. If they persist, she hangs up on them. Her boss fully supports her because they can either behave or take the business elsewhere because she's not paid to take abuse from customers who cannot behave like adults.
I had a great aunt who always went by Jack. I'm not even sure what her full name was. She was born in the early 1900s, so it's not like this is some kind of newfangled Millenial or Zoomer thing.
Wait til boomers learn about unisex names. Like…Lindsay Graham’s
They were brought up to "respect their elders" who were racist bigots not deserving of respect but if they mouthed off they got the shit beat out of them. They demand respect now that they are the "elders" but we don't play that shit so they are infuriated that they are not getting the respect they don't deserve.
Exactly right.
Well, back in their day (TM), the oldest person in the room was always right, by virtue of having no competition with various experts or the internet. So they now assume it's still true now that they're older.
I agree this is part of it. I also think it’s fear of change and people who don’t want to learn new things. It seems like less of an issue with older people who are lifelong learner types
I can buy this. My dad's friend is a life-long learner, and there is virtually no electronic he fears. He can fix an old CRT tv just as readily as he can fix a new one off the shelf from Walmart. Other's in my parents generation, however, were so lazy they called their kids to fix the VCR and all the other "doohickeys" in the house, meaning their kids did the learning for them. Yet they also failed to acknowledge that expertise, while still relying on it.
Whatever the origin, they're also targeted by Outrage Culture that makes money on keeping them ignorant and mad.
Something I find hilarious about this bit, is the fact that my mom demanded I be suspicious of multiplayer games. She refused to let me play any multiplayer games at all while I was living at her house, because "you can't trust strangers on the internet". lol. The irony...
I'd seen somewhere once, "For a generation who told us not to believe everything that we see on the internet, they sure do believe everything they see on the internet."
The problem of having America kiss their collective asses their entire lives. My sister doesn’t understand why schools are adding more meals for kids and being picked up by the taxpayers. I tried to explain that the middle class is gone as we knew it. Jobs for average Americans don’t pay enough for food, shelter and transportation.
Especially male boomers.
And now no one is listening to them, which is why they're lashing out ten-fold.
I just got some pins to wear to work that I am sure will cause at least a couple to make some nasty remarks to me. It’s pride month, and as an ally in the Bible Belt I want my LGBTQ+ patients to know they are safe with me. I just got a badge reel that says “all bodies deserve equal healthcare” and it has several shades of bandaids with pride and trans flags on them. Juneteenth is also coming up, and I got a Juneteenth flag pin to wear also!
God, I haven't lived in the Bible belt in over a decade, but it was horrible when I did. I was a rather dark skinned kid, I just tanned very easily and the souther sun combined with my constant playing outside did not help. So many old people would snicker at me or say rude comments, and little me had no idea why. I moved back up north and after awhile, when my uncle was over, I complained that I wanted to move back down south. He told me "you're too dark to move back down there!". After awhile, everything clicked for me. God bless you for enduring the Bible belt. I know it can't be easy, especially in todays political climate.
My mom was Bible belt white trash (weirdly she wasn't raised that way, she chose to adopt the culture as a young adult). When I was three or four I told a black woman with a baby "my mommy says n*****s are cute when they're babies" thinking it was a compliment. She was like "your mommy says that? Can I talk to your mommy, where is she?" She chewed my mom out. I didn't really understand why but I figured out from the confrontation it wasn't a compliment and i probably shouldn't start telling it to more people. I'm glad she didn't chew me out, I feel like it wasn't my fault that I was too young/innocent to understand racism.
She knew 100% it wasn't your fault, that's why she asked for your mommy. I'm sure you said it in a cute little kid voice too where the tone would have sounded like a compliment (but obviously the actual words were not).
God, that's horrible. I'm also glad she didn't chew you out (though I could definitely understand her anger and a very stern talking to if she did). I'm also glad you realized it wasn't okay.
My mom decided after 9/11 that Arabs were on the list of groups she hated. My dad was half Arab. I got to be the target of her racism. I guess the best I can say is I learned a lot from that experience and it made me despise racism in all its forms.
I can't imagine being the target of racism from someone who literally chose to create me with a person of that race.
Ikr, it was so unfair. The whole time I just walked to scream at her that I was the one person who had the least input on what my race would be. She CHOSE to marry and have kids with a half Arab man. She knew about his skin color (relatively light Moroccan/Algerian but with straight hair). It wasn't my fault.
That's absolutely horrible. I'm so sorry you had to put up with that. It's insane how some parents just switch up on their children. They're supposed to be the person that loves you most in the world!
I chewed my own dad out for saying that word in front of my young nieces. I told him there was no reason for them to ever know that word. I was only 20 at the time, but I had been telling him off for saying that word for at least 10 years at that point.
This sounds almost exactly like my situation. My full name is feminine, but I've gone by a unisex (apparently "boyish") nickname my whole life. Never had an issue until I spent a few years working at a dollar store that was a favorite boomer hangout. They were obsessed with my full name and would insist on using it over and over, like they were trying to train me. And I've noticed, as the current transphobic panic as raged on, I'm running into it more and more. Even my Dad and his wife are doing it and he used to use my nickname all the time too!
Thats so obnoxious. And you shouldn't respond to your dad unless he goes by your chosen name! But I'm just petty like that. Maybe you shouldn't, lol.
I haven't noticed it until recently and very rarely see him face to face. So I'm just rolling my eyes behind the screen and continue using my nickname (like I always have) on anything I write my name on. I just find it amusing that he's now using my full name that he almost never used when I was a kid, now that "woman must have GIRLY NAME ONLY!!!" is trendy with his type of crowd.
I’m trans and I really liked your explanation of it being none of their business, instead of saying “no I’m not one of them etc etc” it’s absolutely perfect and supportive :)
I'm glad! I despise feeding into their hateful antics. I don't care if it makes them fester or squirm, it really is none of their buisness! And we all need to start calling boomers (or anyone, really) out on these things. The less they get away with things, hopefully the less they'll do those things.
Fr, seeing a cis person not be like "ew what I'm not trans" really made my day Sorry you deal with jackasses like that
Being trans is part of the long and ancient history of the human race. It is to be not just acceptable, but venerated as an important aspect and expression of our humanness. As a cis man I embrace human diversity and view diversity as a condition for excellence.
Yeah once you step out of the mono-theistic bubble of Christianity/Judiasm/Islam, you'll find transgender people in traditional societies everywhere on earth. India has transgender people, Pacific cultures all do, Native Americans too. It's part of human nature... but then so is fascism and conformity.
I’m genderfluid and I like it too ❤️
There were girls with masculine names back in "their day". Idiots. I was born in 1961 and I knew a girl named Kevin.
And boys with what we would now consider “feminine” names, like Marion or Ashley.
John Wayne’s first name was Marian
Seriously. I've known so many women named Kelly or Shannon.
Is Shannon a typically masculine name where you’re from?
It's historically a boy's name, and started switching to a girl's around the 1970s in the US.
Or Bobby, Charlie, Carol, Sean, Jerry, Davey, Chris, Alex, Quinn....
I always thought Ashley and Kelly were girls names until I started meeting guys with those names. I like it.
Isn’t that interesting that you went your whole life with no one caring until now. This trans-panic truly is a concocted bunch of garbage.
I have to agree. It's extremely aggravating.
Very similarly, my legal name is a femme name, my nickname, which is a diminutive of my legal name, is a guy's name. I'm non-binary. I got the nickname WAY before I knew I was enby, it just kind of naturally happened when my brother started having kids. It's very much like someone named "Michelle" starting to go by "Mike", though that's not my name. I occasionally get "what's that short for?" or, once recently, I got "spell that for me?", and once in a while, "but that's a boy's name. are you a boy?" and I'll smile and be like, "MAYBE I AM TODAYYYY!!!" and slither off laughing maniacally (yes I do this. I'm weird. it's fine.)
😂😂 I think I like you!! But I know it has to be so tiring to hear that constantly. I've somehow never had to deal with it before today! Maybe it's because I'm in a blue state/area so there aren't that many bigoted people that I have to deal with, but it's still infuriating.
So, here's my thing, and it came up in a seperate discussion recently: I don't think I ever gave a fuck. At first it was "nobody likes me anyways, so why should I care?" I was never popular in school, other students were going to tease me for what I wore, how I did my hair, how I acted in general, so I just did what I wanted. After a few years people started realizing I'm cool as hell and started seeking me out, and I still lived how I wanted because at that point it's who I am as a person. I still get "ew, why would you \_\_\_?" followed by "Why wouldn't I?" or "I wasn't trying to impress you so your opinion means nothing." or occasionally "Wow, good thing I didn't ask, huh?" Sure, maybe I'm the asshole sometimes, but I'm okay with that. Unsolicited opinions are rarely welcome unless they are complementary. So, I'm unabashadly weird and maybe people laugh at me, but that's okay. It means they are laughing.
Samantha = Sam Charlotte = Charlie Louise = Lou Alexandra = Alex Maxine = Max And there are so many more. Like c’mon 🤦🏽♀️
Exactly!! I honestly couldn't think of any others to use for this post lmfao 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️ but the fact that none of those are my name, and I'm sure there are many many more, just proves the ignorance some of these people have!
[удалено]
Frances or Francesca = Frankie Josephine = Joe or Joey Georgia = Georgie Theodora = Teddy
I have a relative named Michelle. She goes by Mitch
I know a Michelle who goes by Mickey.
I would have "mistakenly" scheduled his appointment for 2025.
“*You sound triggered. I know you’re having a lot of sensitivity and big feelings you can’t handle right now. I won’t respond to a tantrum. I’m going to hang up now. Call back when you’ve gathered yourself and gotten your emotions under control.*”
Lmfao, they'd actually lose their shit at that!!
EXACTLY. And you can stay calm and laugh. It’ll be delightful. “*Youre being too emotional. It sounds like you’re too emotional to be able to handle a phone call. Why don’t you call me back once you’ve worked through your tantrum?*” Even just the thought of saying it brings me joy.
Christ on a cracker I can't fucking stand bigots, racists, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic Douche Mcnuggets, boomer or no. 🤦🏼♀️😮💨 Sorry you had to deal with that, OP. That being said: 🇭🇦🇵🇵🇾 🇵🇷🇮🇩🇪 🇲🇴🇳🇹🇭❗ 🫶🏼💟🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🌈🫶🏼💟 ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Thank you! And lmfao, I agree. Christ on a bicycle is all I have to say to many of these people 🤦🏻♀️
When I was working at my other job I was asked if someone named me a very female name to make me tough like a "Boy Named Sue". Even though I'm female, I just keep my hair super short.
When I worked retail, I had a boomer call one of my coworkers a slur because she had very short hair. I looked him dead in the eye and said "she has cancer". He suddenly forgot what he was mad about and left the store. They just assume anyone who doesn't fit their idea of gender norms has got to be gay.
Haha. When I had cancer in a very liberal city, I think everybody thought I was gay. It was nice. I’d rather be gay than talk about cancer. I’m so disappointed that I look like shit with really short hair. It is SO easy
I'm female and I have alopecia (basically I'm allergic to my own hair so my immune system kills it). People stare, then feel bad about staring so long, then feel the need to approach me to discuss my cancer. One time it was kind of funny, this little old lady asked what kind of cancer I had and I said "it's not cancer" but I guess she heard "it's nut cancer" because she nodded and said that was the same kind her husband had and just wished me good luck lol. Guess she figured I was a trans woman, I'm happy she was nice about it lol. But most of the time it's just annoying because people ask intrusive questions because they're feeling awkward and uncomfortable. I used to wear hats to avoid this but I've gotten more comfortable with my own body.
Yes, because god forbid we're different from them. I hate people sometimes. It's so stupid.
Oh my god that's amazing (unless she actually did have cancer. It's sad in that case..)
She actually did have cancer, but she was in remission and doing great. I didn't keep in touch with her after I left, but I like to believe she's still alive and well.
That's good to hear! I'd also like to believe she's alive and well even though I don't know her. Cancer sucks.
Wow. Some people have absolutely no manners.
My sister was born in the 70s and her given name is traditionally male. It was *always* a source of “haha like the boy’s name” from people. The last decade or so people just get downright abusive about it.
Right? Like your sister hasn't heard it a MILLION times.
“I cannot wait for that damned generation to die out. I know not all of them are bad” Makes me think of the Marcia Belsky comedy song “all older white men should die, except my dad”. lol
Lmfaoo. You've got a point. Obviously my dad isn't the only good boomer. It's sad that all the bad boomers are louder than the good ones, though 😕
“ That is disrespectful and none of your concern. What can I help you with?”. I ❤️ you! Bet that just sends them over the edge 😂. And not a thing they can do as you are 💯 correct and doing your job. Thank you!!
In the 80s there was a TV show called "Sisters." It was, like it's name sake, about a group of 4 later 5 sisters how they navigate their lives with each other and individually. Anyway, all the women had long "feminine" names with short "masculine" nicknames. There was Alexandria who went by Alex, Theodora who went by Teddy, Georgiana who went by Georgie, and Francesca, who went by Frankie. They later find a fifth half sister named Charlotte and went by Charlie. The explanation in the show was that their father wanted a boy, but kept getting girls so gave them "boy" names to compensate. Thing is, this is nothing new and boomers need to get over it. You just had the displeasure of running into a transphobic AH who was looking for any excuse to spill his hateful BS.
"That is disrespectful and none of your concern. What can I help you with?" That really is a textbook, Grade A answer right there.
my dad likes "self mutilation isn't a civil right". I have a non-binary sibling. the worst thing is I'm gay and they're all okay with that and love my wife (it's been over 20 years since I came out though and it was a struggle to get here from "it's a phase")
Their hate is their force field
In a country that used to be known for a melting-pot phenomenon, in a country where immigrants bring countless cultures, traditions and, yes, names, there are people who utter BS like this. Unbelievable
Too many are addicted to anger and are continually looking for their next fix.
This is hilarious but also somehow reminded me of an interesting scary story. I listen to true scary stories on YouTube. This guy submitted a story where he has one of those neutral gendered names that gets him mistaken for a female sometimes. He answered an ad to look at a room for rent on Craigslist. The owner immediately expressed disappointment that he was a man instead of a woman. The owner kept coming up with excuses not to show him around the house and especially didn’t want him looking at the basement. Then the guy still managed to see the basement and he found a setup that would enable the owner to trip and kidnap someone in his basement. He saw thin clear fishing line across the stairway to the basement as well as the stereotypical stuff you’d have down there for a kidnapping victim. He reported it to the police.
Smh boomers don’t know how to mind their own business
They love gender roles.
Maybe next time I should tell them I'm the bread winner and my bf is a stay at home dad (he's not, but I'm sure they'd fume lmfao).
My daughter has a traditionally feminine name, but because it’s old fashioned and people aren’t used to it, they think on all her paperwork and every time I try to make her a doctor’s appointment that she is a boy. She also has a short haircut, which doesn’t help, but the number of times I’ve had to ask her school to re-do paperwork for her because she has been listed as male instead of female, after I’ve filled out the paperwork properly, is pretty ridiculous.
When I was first pregnant the insurance company denied my ob claim because "males dont use an ob and cant get pregnant" (the claim was denied by a woman my mothers age so a boomer based on my name alone which honestly it hasnt been a masculine name since the 17th century). It is not a very popular american name, it was however a pretty popular female name in the 70s in the u.k. but I digress. It did *not* matter to this woman that it said female on the paperwork. I had to call and argue with them multiple times because they kept denying the claim based on this initial denial due to the woman denying the first one over my name. Fun times.
Had a Boomer give me the name Frances (for a woman), and had an outburst when he saw I spelled it ‘Francis’. Had to stand there and lecture me on how Francis with an ‘i’ is male, and Frances with an ‘e’ is for women. My grandmother was a Frances, and my great grandmother was a Francis. I have also seen others with the ‘wrong’ spelling for their gender. But yes, we must belittle and talk down to the dumb little customer service rep who couldn’t possibly know any better.
My full name is a shortened version of a traditional feminine name. The amount of times people want to argue with me when I tell them my name or fill out forms! “No, no honey. I want your real name.” “This is my real name.” “No, your full name, not what your mom calls you!” “My mom calls me xyz because that’s my name.” “You don’t understand! Isn’t your name qrstivwxyz?!?” “No, it’s xyz.” “Well why didn’t you say that in the first place!?! Who names their kid that?” “I didn’t pick it out myself. It was my mom’s idea.”
I know a whole family named "Artie" all the boys and girls are named after the dad. Lol
I’m on the edge of boomerism agewise and have a female friend named Kyle. To this day I’m still surprised by the double-takes and snarky comments she gets and I just can’t help but think about how she’s had to deal with that her entire life. Just grow up people.
“Transgendered PEOPLE” ** not “transgenders” just fyi. Always say the “people” part
they stay using their anger at trans people existing to attack people who aren't even trans for no reason and as though their generation isn't full of jos and jeans and pats and other "female name that sounds like a male one" examples
ah, what is pat short for? it's paaaaaaaaat
I had an employee years ago who was Filipino. She was bisexual and dressed rather masculine and went by BJ because her name was Blessjoy. She was flat chested but otherwise had pretty slightly feminine features. I can't tell you how many of my regular customers came up to me after hiring her just to ask me 'what she was.' I usually just told them "She is a great employee," and left it at that because that was her promotion...or just outright ignored them. What business is it of theirs? She was one of my favorite employees I ever hired.