The Name Game, live from Chelsea vs Barcelona

I'm so freaking nervous now, so if I sound as though I'm rambling, please ignore me. I rarely get tensed up over matches, mainly because my team always wins, but now my tea,'s playing against one of the top teams in Europe with a man less, how can I not be nervous? *cross fingers*

Back to my name story, I was rewatching Cardcaptor Sakura.

GOAL!!! From a Lampard free kick, not so sure if there was a header or a deflection.

During half time I was chatting with Eugene korkor, I was pretty upset over Del Horno's red card. I thought it was a collision and rendered no card at all. Eugene korkor thought it looked like a miskick, maybe a yellow card. Since anyway, in spite of our speculations, Del Horno has already been red carded and we can't do anything about it so I was telling Eugene korkor that I wanted Chelsea to get a penalty, or maybe a goal from a free kick. In Eugene korkor's words, "you wish lor", I said, "I wishing lor". And indeed, my wish came through~ I shall go on wishing~

Back to my story a second time, I was rewatching Cardcaptor Sakura, and I noted a couple of idiocyncracies between the name callings of the characters. This made me think about my own name calling idiocyncracies.

In Japanese culture, or rather, in anime culture, all cute girls' names comes with the suffix of -chan. Sakura becomes known as Sakura-chan, Tomoyo Tomoyo-chan, and so on. Male classmates are known as -kun, and others are -san.

DAMN!!! A fucking equaliser. By another free kick.

And I just noticed, the opening goal was credited as a Motta own goal, and the equiliser was also credited as an own goal. A Terry own goal somemore. NONONONONO~~~ My Terry... How can he be credited with an own goal. I now need another free kick, or a penalty. I don't know how my heart's going to take this game. I'm so freaking excited now. I think I'm going to get a heart attack soon. Terry made two great saves. yea... My Terry...

Back to my namings! I haven't said my main point yet and I keep getting interrupted by the match. The -chan, -kun, and -san suffixes are normal and can be heard by all Japanese and anyone who watches Jap dramas or anime would know about it, but my main point this morning is the usage of suffixes by the characters and their relationships with the other characters in Cardcaptor.

FUCK!!! Barcelona got another fucking goal. And they're on away advantage. I think I'll just die two weeks later, my heart cannot take it. I think it's all that referee's fault. He shouldn't have sent off Del Horno. I've been giving on the spot live commentery to Andrew korkor since the start of the second half. Apparently, Andrew korkor's brother is also giving him his version of live commentery. Now, Andrew korkor has changed his nick to 'Dante - "SOCCER FANS! I DO _NOT_ NEED YOUR LIVE REPORTS!" - Yours truly, Basketball Fan'. I think it's damn funny. hahahaha~

Okay, where was I previously, name calling. Interestingly, there are occasions where no suffixes are used, and that signifies a more than close relationship between people. Usually only family memebers drop the use of suffixes with other family memebers. Sakura's father and brother both call her Sakura instead of Sakura-chan which everyone else uses. Sakura's father also calls Touya Touya. But Touya calls Yukito Yuki, without any suffix, and even without the -to, he's the only one in the anime to call him such. Touya and Yukito have this I'd say very special relationship and this name calling between them only signifies their closer than close relationship. Likewise, Yukito calls Touya Touya.

I compare this with Touya calling his ex-girlfriend Kaho. He called her Kaho and after three years of separation, when he met her again, he still called her Kaho. Not Kaho-san, not Kaho-chan, but just plain Kaho. Does he still like her? Kaho too called Touya Touya when she met him again. Does she still feel something for him? Or is the close relationship between them still a close relationship even after their separation? I think they're still close friends, now that they both have someone else important in their lives, it makes things more interestin. Compare Kaho with Yukito, does this mean that Touya and Yukito even at the opening scenes of the anime are already together even if they not noticed it? I'm suspecting so.

The match has officially ended, 1-2 to Barca. Me feel like screaming Baka! A check with ESPNsoccernet, 2-2 for Ajax and Inter, and Rangers and Villareal, and 3-2 for Werder Bremen and Juventus. hmm... Quite surprising Werder Bremen was able to beat Juventus because Werder's not really that strong a European team. Borowski scored a goal though, I like Borowski, my second favourite German player after Klose, maybe that's why I've this soft spot for Werder because they have two of my favourite German players. Another thing interesting to note, Forlan has a goal to his name too. hahaha~ Nothing for or against Forlan, but I always thought he's some sort of a joke. hehehe...

With football over and my heart's still beating very fast, I don't think I'd be sleeping anytime soon. So back to the anime, I've slotted another disc in and I'll continue my findings on the name thingie. I also use some suffixes to people's names, one of such suffix that I commonly use is the -korkor. In my live report from the football match, I've already named two of my friend whom I use the suffix -korkor on, Eugene korkor and Andrew korkor. I use this suffix one male friends (I guess it's pretty obvious why I only use it on males huh...) whom I feel I've an affinity with, or some other times I use it to deh male friends, not necessarily having to be older than me.

Another suffix I use is -uncle, and -auntie. Not to real old uncles and aunties but to friends who're naggy and long winded. It's usually a one off thing and I don't end up always calling them that.

Another idiocyncracy from the anime is the manner Li Syaoran calls people. He calls Meiling Meiling not because he likes him but because he treats her as his sister. He calls all other people by their family name instead of their personal name which is quite unusual for children because almost everyone on the anime calls Sakura Sakura-chan. erm... wait... I can't use Sakura as an example because Syaoran doesn't call Sakura anything at all, especially when he started falling in love with her.

For someone whom you like but dare not say out loud, you feel awkward regarding what you should be calling them. I think that's what Syaoran feels. It was only until after he decided to be true to himself and be open with his feelings toward Sakura that he started calling Sakura, Sakura-chan. In fact, his first utterance of Sakura was plain Sakura, shouted out loud.

I face the same problem with Syaoran. For quite some time I didn't know what to call some people, so I ended up not calling them by their names, instead I just open the topic straight. Then for one of them, I started calling his name hoping to bridge the relationship, that failed, so I have since dropped that name calling. For the others, another one I tried to find a way to use a nickname, but I guess I won't be using it. Another one, I think I'll never bring myself to call him by his name. This brings me back to the memories of someone. I used to call him by his name, most of his old friends call him by his initials, his new friends call him by his shortened name. I tried both ways of calling him but they all sound awkward, then I gave up trying, actually in fact, I didn't have a chance to call him anything after that. I don't know what I'd call him if I ever meet him again. Maybe our culture should have a name calling protocol to make my life easier.

For people to know what to call me, I've another set of idiocyncracies. I hate people calling me Jo-an. The name is a single syllabus name, not a double on, so quit calling me by the latter, I won't respond to it, it's not me. I've an English name, so I'd prefer it being called with the English pronounciation. I tend also to have a low impression of people calling me double syllabused because I tend to associate such people as non-native English speakers, and such people don't strike me as very smart people, smart as in articulate and presentable, not the common meaning of smart.

Another great dislike is the use of Joanie. I'm not your cutesy girl, so quit using a cutesy name on me. I know some of my close girl friends do call me that sometimes. I'm usually exasperated with it so I don't say anything. Actually I used to be quite particular about it until it just stucked and I gave up trying, people just can't listen, can they? Joanie also makes me sound young, and I'm nowhere near my youth anymore. But interestingly enough, I enjoy calling people with the suffix -ie whenever possible.

I also dislike people calling me by my Chinese name. To me my Chinese name is a very personal name. Sometimes my grandfather and my deceased grandmother called me that, but other than that everyone else calls me Joan, even my maternal grandparents. Chinese teachers also had to call me by my Chinese name, but that's just because they had to. I seldom let plain friends know my Chinese name, those who know are friends whom I really treat as friends. Sometimes I get too lazy correcting people about what they call me, but that doesn't mean I allow it. Maybe on a good mood, but please refrain.

I also have specific requirements on the writing of my nicks. Be it jal4eva or xxoos, but are to be written in small casing. I allow the writing of JaL4eVa, but only that, not for other variations. Some people like the use of sticky caps, or like to capitalise the first letter, sorry but I don't like it. xxoos has to be all in small casing because of the meaning behind the nick, the hugs and kisses. jal are my initials, so by right they should all be in the same case, but JAL sounds too loud, and reminds me a little of Japan Airlines, so jal was so to be it. I allow JaL4eVa only because sometimes I write it that way myself, it looks pretty. But I mostly write that with pen and paper and not typed out. I think it's the whole internet and emailing that popularised the usage of small casing.

With regards to calling me by my nick, jal4eva is to be pronounced as j-a-l-forever, and not Jal-forever. There is no such name as Jal to me, it's not a single syllabus name, but my initials, so it's to be pronounced as three separate letters. I know j-a-l-forever might sound very tedious to pronounce, so why don't you just call me Joan? And xxoos is pronounced as x-x-o-o-s, not shout cuts no nothing. Sometimes when I'm in a good mood I might accept x, but don't bet on that. Similarly, if my nicks are too tedious to pronounce, I don't have a conventional english name for nothing, just make sure it's pronounced the English way.

Joan, as in Joan of Arc. Don't give me shit that Joan of Arc's real name was Jeanne d'Arc because she was French and start calling me the French way. Jeanne might be French, you can call Jeanne the French way if you want, but Joan is English, call me the English way. By the way, the French pronounciation of Jeanne is supposed to be Joan-sounding, just like Jean's supposed to sound like John.

Ang is pronounced as Ah-ng, not Eh-ng. Ang is the dialect for my Chinese surname, so it sould be pronouced as it is. Some American and British pronounciation of a is eh, so anything with an a in it ends up sounding like eh, but I would like the name to be the ah sounding name. My daddie used to tell me that when he was studying in England his mates used to call him Eh-ng instead of Ah-ng. I'll be going to Germany and the German pronounciation of a is ah, so I don't think I'll face any smart Alecs trying to mispronounce my name.

A name is representation of yourself, so I try and make it a point to have people calling me only by what I want to be called. Some people might call me picky, but the name is mine, I've a right to be called by what I want. It's not that difficult a name to pronounce, so just get it right.

Of course, that's just a general guideline. Deep down, I still wish for a special someone who can call me Joanie, dearie, sweetie, whateverie, or to call me Xiaoping, but only for the special person, to make me feel a bit more special by him, or him to feel special to call me something no one else calls me.

I had started this entry meaning to talk about how I call people, but ended up talking more about myself. I shouldn't have got so carried away. But in another way, I didn't feel like revealling too much about how I treat other people, I guess it's a form of self protection ba.

It's late now. I've long finished with the match, finished another three half hour episodes of Cardcaptor and I'm supposed to wake up early later, so I guess I can only get two hours of sleep. That is if I can sleep. Two weeks later, make or break, the Chelsea team... wahaha~

PS: Although they lost, but there's still two weeks later. We'll make it to the finals this year! May 17, Paris~~~