from verte

[helenic]

Oh, go on, then. I actually filled this out when I first saw it on jacinthsong's journal, but never got round to posting it. The meme: write out your friends list, replacing their usernames with their first names. Anyone you don't know should introduce themselves, obliquely or otherwise!

I've missed out all my own journals and all duplicate journals, which means you can't do a straight comparison from my friends list to this. But then, the only person you need to recognise on here is yourself...



#: Daniel
_: Clare, Katy, Toyin
A: Tish, Alec, Alix, amberspyglass (god, I'm sure I know this, but I can't remember for the life of me - I keep thinking Angela instead but I know that's thedarkamethyst), Andrew, areia (argh! sorry!), Lucy, Sally, Joanna
B: Michael, Ed, Laura, Helen/Josef, Gabrielle, Baz, Nana, Robert
C: Kieran, Cristian (ok ok, Casby), John, Sarah, cravenlite, Tim
D: Dave, Denny, detroitpainter, Richard, Adam, Ross, drella
E: Elise, Matthew, Nicholas, Emilie, Nick
F: Kyrsten, Tim, Jo, fever_dream, Mark, Idil, Danny
G: Jodie, glaszt, gnimmel (I should know this one, really)
H: Elizabeth
I: Nadiah, Tom, Liz
J: jacinthsong
K: Kara, kiad, Iain
L: Jasmine, Leander, laughingwoman, leafofgrass, Mark, likepatsycline, Dave, literarywitch, liviaplurabelle, Russell (is that how you spell it?)
M: Lou, Sam, Alex, Diana, Lisa, Renee, Rebecca, Elly, modestic (I know we've been introduced, but it's eluding me), Ed
N: Richard, nautical_mile, Neil, Sarah, Marina
O: oddcellist, Julietta (is that your real name? it'll do.), Oli, Ariela, other_self
P: Paige, papercrane, pesk, Liam, pistorius, Charlotta, Louisa, San
Q: Adam
R: Chris, Brian, realdoll, Robert,
S: Erika, Richard, Leni & Pola, sisuphos (it begins with a J! I know your surname! bah!), Sam, Paul, Jess, Michael, Zeina, sunday, Mark, Rupa, Leon
T: Rick, Lucy, Catriona, Liz, the_waves, theobscureone, Rachael, translucent, Helen
U: Lucy, Matt
V: Alex
W: Lucy
X: xenikos
Y: Jess, Yves
Z: "Ady"!

Comments

[papercrane.livejournal.com]

i am stacia (pronounced stay-shuh). and you are helen, yes?

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I am indeed, Stacia :) (I had heard your name before, but I forgot it!)

Interesting how you pronounce it - I'd have instinctively gone for either Stay-see-a or Stay-shya. It's hard to pronounce "Helen" wrong, though ... :)

[treasure-box.livejournal.com]

It's hard to pronounce "Helen" wrong, though

Would that were true...I divide people into those I like and those I don't based largely on how they pronounce my name. People I like pronounce it correctly, viz 'Hel-un'. Those I dislike, and condemn to tongues of hellfire, pronounce it 'Hel-in', which sounds bloody *dreadful* :-(

[libellum.livejournal.com]

I've never had that ... there is a slight difference depending on the amount of emphasis put on the first syllable; Helen of Troy, for example, is very much (in my mind) a Helen, with very open vowels - almost Helenn - whereas my name, like yours, has the schwa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwa) in the second syllable.

Nick/pet names are odd things. They almost define me-as-I-am-with-that-person. Thus verte's "H" is inevitable and - in no way negatively - slightly different in emphasis from the "Helən" I am in my head; and both are certainly very distinct from the "Helna" I used to be to an ex.

The problem I have had, believe it or not, is spelling. It's been spelt Hellen, Helan, Hellan and various other vowel combinations - most recently by colleagues at temp jobs, but previously by teachers writing school reports ... !

[treasure-box.livejournal.com]

I think the 'Hel-in' pronunciation is in part a local thing - the Worcester 'accent' is really horrible - but I've also heard it from people who should know better, such as actor Robert Hardy. My parents used to watch that James Herriot vet thing when I was a kid (All Creatures Great & Small??) and it used to set my teeth on edge every time he referred to James' wife, who was called Helen. My parents chose my name partly because it couldn't be shortened, but of course inevitably I became H or Hel, particularly at school.