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People Call Me Aaron

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Re: People Call Me Aaron

#51
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very common (especially as you get older) to mix up names for people that are in the same mental category while you are speaking. It isn't necessarily thoughtlessness. Sometimes our brains just don't work quite right.

My parents and several schoolteachers often called me by my older brother's name, or called my sisters by one anothers' names. It's not as though my parents couldn't tell their own children apart, it's just that sometimes saying a name is an autopilot thing. I recently took a friend to the grocery store, and called her son by my son's name when I wanted him to move out of the way of someone else's cart.

yup. I have four kids, two sisters and a partner.

Sometimes I need to work through ALL the names to get to the right one..

pap...hil...sam...ji...joan..KIM could you please....

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#52
post #7

Whoa. I met Noah at a very small game dev conference last May. I had no idea who he was until this moment, nor was I aware that anyone else did, but I could be wrong. It's interesting to think how that interaction would have changed, probably for the worse, if I had known more about him beforehand.

>> I had no idea who he was until this moment The wording of this comment seems to be, in a very small way, symptomatic of the larger problem that Noah sometimes has with people he meets or knows well. To illustrate my point, here's another way to write the same thing: >> I had no idea that he was Aaron's brother until this moment The original wording seems to conflate the identity of Noah's brother with his own.

Sure, that wording would be better. I wasn't sure exactly how to say it.

I think we tend to do that though for better or worse: we identify new people by one or two odd facts we know about them. And that alters how we communicate with them. In another instance at that conference, I asked the guy next to me who he was and he told me his name. He then told me he wrote a series of articles (which I had known about) and immediately my view shifted: oh that guy. And it completely changed the way I interacted because of course now I felt compelled to talk about his articles rather than something else.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#53
post #8
post #4

[deleted]

He can say "previously a professional Magic: the Gathering player" but really he means on hiatus. No one ever quits. Edit: This made me curious as to what it was like within the GP/PTQ/SCG scene for him. From my experience, almost no one in that scene would know anything about Aaron.

I know a L4 judge that's very much in the tech scene.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#54
post #8
post #4

[deleted]

He can say "previously a professional Magic: the Gathering player" but really he means on hiatus. No one ever quits. Edit: This made me curious as to what it was like within the GP/PTQ/SCG scene for him. From my experience, almost no one in that scene would know anything about Aaron.

> No one ever quits.

I've been clean and sober since Zendikar. It's tough, but every day it gets a little easier. :-)

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#55
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WHOA. I just wrote almost the same comment before seeing yours: > My mother is known for cycling through names before hitting the right one. > > I was frequently addressed as "Hershey-Chris-Patrick" while living at home.

My parents will start with my brother's name first before getting to me, but I've also heard them make the same, inverse mistake with my brother. I have to imagine this is only a same-sex issue right? No one mixes up their daughter and son's names?

Nope, my grandma would cycle through random children and grandchildren of either gender before she'd get to me. I always thought this was unique until I read these comments today.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#58
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is very common (especially as you get older) to mix up names for people that are in the same mental category while you are speaking. It isn't necessarily thoughtlessness. Sometimes our brains just don't work quite right.

... as ANY parent with more that 1 child can attest to ;)

Though it's not limited to children. I'm thinking of assuming officially my uncles first name as one of my midnames, given half the family calls me with that.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#59
Obviously not of the same gravity, but a good part of my childhood was spent being called by my big brother's name. Family, friends, teachers, you name it. It's a hard one, because I think my brother is an amazing guy, and evidently so do other people, but it's ultimately belittling.

A math teacher, who had my brother for a single year, called me by his name for the whole three years I knew/had her. By that point, it's not just offending, you just start thinking your identity is just a proxy for the other person's, it's downright depressing.

My brother and I look very much alike, to the point that to the untrained eye we would look like twins at certain points of our lives. Although around my teens, this had some unfortunate consequences, such as girls my age I fancied who would meet my older brother and see a better physical version of me in him, and forget about me. I can't really blame them, but again, not exactly uplifting.

It isn't an issue at all these days, we have very different lives and personalities, we live thousands of miles away, but mostly, my brother is alive and well, and I guess, not famous ; but it's definitely had an effect on me when I was younger.

I guess I came here to relate, but the truth is I can't even begin to imagine the added constant reminder of a deceased relative, no matter how amazing they used to be, or maybe even particularly so. The fact that those reminders are people who, by and large, had nothing remotely resembling a relationship with the person in question, especially not of the kind siblings would, must be incredibly hurtful.

I feel deeply for Noah and I genuinely wish he can affirm his own identity, and that people will make an effort to do so after reading his touching story.

Re: People Call Me Aaron

#60
He's taken a great first step. By getting it all out there, he can carve his place in the world out again.

It's gotta be damn tough to lose a sibling. To lose one that so many were connected to... I have no words.

Other than, nice to meet you Noah. Hope to get to know you better and that your life improves. We don't all suck, and most of us mean well most of the time too. Draw what strength from that you can and keep doing what you are doing.

It's important that the world knows Noah. You seem like a pretty great guy actually. Take care.

That's pretty much how I feel about it.

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