Well it begins like this... first
there was my boy, then there was Mr. Bear; his favorite fuzzy friend. There was New
Orleans, and there were neighborhood kids. They would say "Hey Phillip", and I'd
say it's Mister Phillip to you... When I was a kid all adults were Mr. Woods or Mr.
Rice; I never even knew their first names. Well times are more casual. New Orleans is the
first place I've ever heard people addressed as Mister Charlie. It shows respect but is
somehow more informal... I don't know; I like it. When I had to pick a web "nom de
plume", it was perfect; anonymous but still me. 
Someone once
asked me....
> ------------2E5464EA12130--
Tell me are you really WORTHY of the prefix Mr. in front of your name. Mr. Phillip. Or do
you just like fishing with your NET. Keep me posted. Cha Ching .. Cha Ching..Keep the til
going... do-' neco.++_++return.it++)()***
I was forced to reply...
Webster Definition for "mister"
mis.ter \'mis-t*r\ n [alter. of master] 1a: - used as a title
prefixed to the name of a man or to a designation of occupation or office and usu. written
Mr. or in the plural Messrs. 1b: - used before the name of a place or of a line of
activity or before some epithet to form a title for a male viewed as representative of the
thing indicated {Mr. Baseball} 2: SIR - used without a name as a conventional term of
address to a man 3: a man not entitled to a title of rank or an honorific or professional
title {just a plain ~} 4: HUSBAND
I could go on with the name game by telling you my name is
Phillip Sand ______ II. Coincidentally, my dad had the same name as I. Why am I a
"The Second", and not a "Junior" you may ask ? Well my father had a
brother who was named after his father; he was therefore called Junior and he hated
it. He died young, before he could ever be a Sr. My father didn't want his son to be
called Junior, even though this is what I should properly be called. There even was an
argument with the nurses at the hospital when I was born but my dad prevailed. Hence I'm a
the 2nd.
Did this solve the name problem ? Well no, not at all, in fact it created a new one. What
do we call the little fellow ? Phill & Phillip ? Little Phill & Big Phill ?, you
already know Junior is out. How about that wonderful middle name ? What can
we do with that ? My grandmother was Norwegian and her maiden name was Sand. There's a
whole clan of them over there still. Anyways... I was known as Sandy for most of the first
part of my life.
Funny thing about nicknames and computers; computers (or rather programmers) don't like
them. Governments and Organizations don't recognize them. Ever try to get your nickname on
a drivers license ? Friends can't find friends who use nicknames. "Yea, I know it
says Phillip, so call me Sandy" just doesn't work after the ten-millionth time. Jeez,
it's hard enough to get people to put two L's in Phillip.
When people ask me "one ell or two ?", I tell 'em "two ell's, two eye's,
and two pea's". Though this is quite true, they usually look at me like I'm crazy.
(There's only one aych, get it ?)
The worst two variations I've heard lately have been Phil-deaux and Phil-atio.
As a footnote... I named my son Zachary, and I don't have to
worry about anyone calling him Junior. He's not a "the 3rd" or nothing. If he
wants a "the 3rd", he is going to have to make one himself.
Addendum number two:
Nicknames...
- When I was young my friends formed an ad hoc group which we
called Sunsets Ranch™. (It's where you want to be�). We picked nicknames for each other. My friend Neil (Cornelius) was called
Springfield, I was dubbed Catfish.
- When I was in college I was friends with a lot of the black folks
who lived in my dormitory (phi omega psi). They called me "Sandy Cat". I took
this as a compliment.
- I had other friends majoring in geology that called me "Fine
grain", as if describing the texture of a sandstone.
- Of course I've heard Sandman.
- Friends and family have called me Sandy-Bo, or even Phil-bro.
- For the Cajun twist to fit into the BourbonStreet theme, I
figured out Sandroux. It sounds like San Drew.
