Friday, February 23, 2007

Shall I a Lizzie be?

I think that when (and necessarily 'if') I get to grad school, I should adopt a new nickname. The lovely thing with a name like Elizabeth is that you have such a wide variety of nicknames to choose from.

For instance, I could be: Eliza, Liz, Lizzie, Elspeth, Bess, Bessie, Betty, Betsy, Bitsy (Bitsy???), and my personal favorite: Eli (which is what my younger sister called me when we roomed together for a summer at college--I called her Reba).

I'm leaning towards 'Lizzie.' It has such a light-hearted Jane Austenesque sort of feel, and I think I could pull it off. I wonder what I would be like as a Lizzie... I think I would have to dye my hair, or at least get some subtle highlights. I would also go way short. Like, boy-short. Which I've talked about doing before and didn't actually do. Also, I would have to wear bracelets. I don't know why--I would just have to.

Maybe being a Lizzie isn't such a great option.

Or I could be an Eliza. That would be nicely formal, indicitave of the suave, cool professional I hope to become. I could be Ms. Eliza and wear my spectacles at a dangerously jaunty angle and adopt a severe hairstyle and wear dark pantsuits. I think I would also need to wear long dangly earrings. I just have this feeling...

Okay, no Eliza.

Or Betsy! I could be a Betsy and wear my blondified hear in two pigtails and get red glasses and don crazy tunics with thick belts and have bright red lipstick and huge gold-chain necklaces and......

Betsy's out.

Then again, being Beth isn't so bad. It's well-worn but comfortable, kind of soft, a little boring, but warm. Definitely warm.

Yes. When in doubt, stick with an old favorite.

--Elizabethary

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

ROFL ROFL ROFLCOPTER!!!!!!

Lizardbreath McGee said...

Oh, Joseph. Truly you crack me up.

Lizardbreath McGee said...

Copter?

Debbie Barr said...

Hmmm... Don't know what to tell you there. At least you don't have someone calling you "Deathbie" every time he sees you, just 'cause he things it sounded cool.

And on the word verification, it says ohpwddlm. Like, "Oh Puddlewum, what were you thinking?" Yeah.

Lizardbreath McGee said...

Almost like the Narnian Puddleglum. Almost.

Anonymous said...

I like how "Libby" didn't even occur to you as a nickname for Elizabeth. I'm going to assume it's because you know subconsciously that you could never pull it off. Yeah, that's right.

Lizardbreath McGee said...

It's true. Libby requires way more pizzazz than I currently posess.

I am ashamed.

Anonymous said...

I'm sure if you adopted the name, you could rise to the challenge. It might be a little distracting to do that AND do grad school. Being Libby is a full time job.

Lizardbreath McGee said...

True true. Grad school will be a mite bit complicated anyway...and people would have such huge expectations of me if I became a Libby. I don't think I could quite live up to them...

Maybe 'Bitsy' has possibilities though...

Kimberly Bluestocking said...

I think you should try being Lizzie. Or perhaps a redhead named Brenda. :) It might be fun to try something totally different and see what it brings out in you.

Besides, you'll only be in that locale for a few years, so if you find that Lizzie doesn't do it for you, you're not stuck with that name forever.

At any rate, you're right about Beth being a warm name. Kind of conjures up memories of cozy blankets or fresh-baked bread. Happy sigh.

Lizardbreath McGee said...

:^) Just as Kim conjures up the soothing sounds of a spinning wheel. Thankee, dear. I'm thinking about it...

Pat said...

A new beginning is a great excuse to conjure up a whole new you - but don't change too much - the current version is pretty darn cool!

Lizardbreath McGee said...

Aw. *Blushes* Thanks, Pat! The same seriously goes for you! :^)

Disa said...

when i went to grad school 2 transformative things seemed to happen to 95% of the class;
-they chopped their hair off
-they got engaged

we had a "betty", but she was about 60 and had grey hair she wore up in a bun.