Thursday, October 2, 2008

A Rose By Any Other Name.....

Some time back, I was privy to a rather entertaining conversation between two colleagues of different nationalities, living in different continents.
One was in the thick of putting together a legal report which required every teeny tiny detail to be deadly accurate, while the other was coordinating with agencies and, people for information gathering and transmission.
Everything was going well.

Until, the one on home base, received a missive which threw her off guard.
The document referred to a certain Mr. Anthony, who seemed to hog credit for all the tasks currently handled by her good friend Tony. Perplexed and chagrined, she shot off an express message asking him who the mysterious Mr. Anthony was.

Much to her surprise, Tony nonchalantly claimed to be Mr. Anthony without offering any explanation what so ever.

Which prompted yet another mystified mail from her "What IS your real name...Anthony or Tony?"
And his response "What is in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet....I personally prefer Tony but either would work on official documents"

His words lingered on in my mind, long after the laughter abated.

What is in a name indeed?
Everything it would seem, if, one was to go by the names, people seem to come up with, on the social networking sites.

In the days that followed, I found myself taking a greater interest in the alternative names that ordinary people like you and me come up with for cyber spaces.

Most were ordinary first names.
Some communicated a mood, an event or an experience.

There was the odd pervert who solicited or raved, ranted and abused like a certain Ms. Fatafat who seemed to think the world was interested in her pantie liners!!!
* Violent Shudder*
Talk about persecution complexes and extreme reactions!!!

And then, there were the bizarre, bordering on the funny, like the King of Devils, Error and BlOoDsUcKeR sCaR.
*Laughing out loud*.

Seriously why on earth would anyone refer to himself/herself as an error or a bloodsucking scar???
Low self esteem?
Or, a flair for theatrics?
Your guess is as good as mine...
These, my friends, were the not too wild ones.

My other favourites included:
The Alien Has No Name
.... *rolls eyes*.
Duh, isn't that why they are called Aliens???

Kalari Panda
*Laughing My A*** Off*
Now, how cute is that??

Hate me or Add me
Bad Command or File Name, Nice Try Though
*deadpan expression*
I am still trying to figure these out.
In the Monotone of Idiosyncrasy
*Wide Eyed*

Uh huh, sounds suspiciously like Magic Mushrooms, Floyd, Cheap Rum and Random Musings....
Still He Was Butter Phulka in a CD player....
*taps forehead*
What ever...I am not even trying to figure this one out!!!


Maybe, I should spend some time thinking up a bold new mysterious name for myself instead
*winks*

2 comments:

Roopa said...

You know what? I had a half-baked idea with the same title - the content is different of course. I might still post it some day :)

Gingerbread & Me said...

U shud Roopz...I am sure ur piece will be a lot more brilliant than this one...:) :)