Nasty nickname could resurface at reunion

Opinion

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This article was published 24/11/2017 (2875 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I was given the first name Harold, which shortens to Harry, or as the bullies in school said, “Hairy —– ,“ joining it to a sexual word. When I got old enough, I moved to a different province and legally changed my name.

Now a school reunion is coming up and I’m curious to go and see a few old friends and girlfriends. The person organizing it told me I should stick with my old name at the reunion so people would remember me. I said I wouldn’t and would talk to all the people I recognize and want to see. She got all huffy and said she would see about that — and I said she could only use my new legal name. She hung up on me. Who is in the wrong here? — Respect My Name Choice, East Kildonan

Dear Respect My Name Choice: You were in the right and she just was too rigid to see the greater good of changing the name on her list. She may even leave your old name on the name tags, so bring your own name tag in your pocket. Officious folks can be tricked.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: The other day I met a strange man on a bus trip home. My stop is before downtown on a major route. On the way, this guy left his seat and came and sat beside me and started telling me his scary life story. I wasn’t reacting, except to say “mmm-hmm.” I wanted to get off, but was scared to use the back door near me in case he jumped off and followed me home.

I kept riding it until I got downtown and then jumped of, ran into a busy store and hid in the bathroom. I came out 15 minutes later to find the man never came in the store. I was scared for nothing. What should I have done instead? — Bus Trauma Girl, Winnipeg

Dear Bus Trauma Girl: You should have walked to the front and told the bus driver the man who left his seat to sit beside you has made you very nervous and you don’t want him to follow you when you get off. The driver would know what to do for you so you wouldn’t have to miss your stop or let the scary fellow off at the same time. Bus drivers have more options than people know.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Further to the letters about the man who is not responding very well to his future wife’s request to have him remove a tattoo of his old girlfriend’s name from his butt: God himself does not care for piercings and tattoos. Yes, the practice does go all the way back to biblical times. In the Book of Leviticus, God says words to the effect of, “Do not cut yourselves for the dead, nor mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.”

It disturbs me every summer to have to look at such ugly tattoos foolish people get on themselves that any opportunity to educate folks about the biblical perspective I go ahead and take. — Sincerely, St. Vital Seventh-day Adventist

Dear Seventh-day Adventist: I found that verse online in many different forms. It seems people have been decorating their bodies in many permanent and semi-permanent ways for thousands of years, perhaps since human time began. The fellow with the tattoo of his ex-girlfriend’s name inside a heart on his buttocks has had so much trouble over this by now, he will be either getting rid of it, or his fiancée will be getting rid of him. It was a very big to-do over a very little tattoo, but it was no little thing to his fiancée.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6

Miss Lonelyhearts
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