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HelpRe: Did it bother you if you couldn't get things with your name on growing up?
in reply to a message by Kerrin
I think I saw my name on pre-made "personalized" key fobs or whatever, once. My name's like yours, a more popular name with off-spelling.
I didn't really care - it's a nice feeling to see your name on a list, but having things with my name on them is not important to me. And anyway, so many things can be personalized no matter what your name is. I had pencils and bookplates.
Also, my sister's name was rarer than mine, so when we checked the racks of personlized junks, I'd usually win. It might have bothered me as a young child if she had always been able to find hers, when I could not. But this is not an issue that's important enough to consider when naming kids. Although I think it is important not to give one child a much more unusual name than its sibling, for other reasons.
It's something that never crossed my mind when naming my children. I'd thought that pre-printed "personalized" things were passe, until I saw a rack of earbuds the other day. My son's name was there but not my daughter's. Neither of them cared at all.
It does matter a bit whether a name is familiar to people, though, IMO. I walked past a kid's birthday party the other day at the park, and they had a sign up that said Happy Birthday Anna. And I thought, well you sure don't have to worry about what people think of your name if it's Anna. You already know.
This is definitely a "name opinions board" question. Names are not the topic in the off topic board. If it's about names and experiences of bearing them, put it here. :-)
- mirfak
I didn't really care - it's a nice feeling to see your name on a list, but having things with my name on them is not important to me. And anyway, so many things can be personalized no matter what your name is. I had pencils and bookplates.
Also, my sister's name was rarer than mine, so when we checked the racks of personlized junks, I'd usually win. It might have bothered me as a young child if she had always been able to find hers, when I could not. But this is not an issue that's important enough to consider when naming kids. Although I think it is important not to give one child a much more unusual name than its sibling, for other reasons.
It's something that never crossed my mind when naming my children. I'd thought that pre-printed "personalized" things were passe, until I saw a rack of earbuds the other day. My son's name was there but not my daughter's. Neither of them cared at all.
It does matter a bit whether a name is familiar to people, though, IMO. I walked past a kid's birthday party the other day at the park, and they had a sign up that said Happy Birthday Anna. And I thought, well you sure don't have to worry about what people think of your name if it's Anna. You already know.
This is definitely a "name opinions board" question. Names are not the topic in the off topic board. If it's about names and experiences of bearing them, put it here. :-)
- mirfak
This message was edited 2/26/2017, 11:13 AM
Archived Thread - replies disabled
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Replies
Imagine being named Haven with siblings Chris, Ben & Jessica. :-) They could easily find their name, I never could. My brother-in-law had a similar issue. His siblings are Alexander, Elizabeth, Katherine, Mary, Anthony & Christopher. He's Damian.
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Yeah that's why I would use all common or all uncommon names if I ever have kids.
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Personalised WHAT? m
Personalised earbuds? I am slack-jawed with amazement. Sometimes I think civilisation has gone too far. But I'm proud of your kids for not being interested, one way or another. You've done a good job there.
Personalised earbuds? I am slack-jawed with amazement. Sometimes I think civilisation has gone too far. But I'm proud of your kids for not being interested, one way or another. You've done a good job there.
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Why are personalized earbuds such a bad thing?
I can see how they're not really necessary, but you can say that about most things people buy, so I'm not getting it.
I can see how they're not really necessary, but you can say that about most things people buy, so I'm not getting it.
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Personalised earbuds are at the outer extreme of unnecessary. Earbuds, as we know them, are communal property, like bottles of shampoo and bars of soap.
That said, people where I live don't seem to do personalised things; sometimes in card shops there are little stickers with usually wrong definitions of a name (my personal favourite was "Imogen: the image of her mother"!) and very occasionally a keyring but I think our population is just too small to support that kind of product. We've got eleven official languages and our unemployment is at about 26% of the labour force, but about another 25% (guesstimate) aren't counted as being in the labour force, because of being permanently unemployed! So there's not a lot of disposable income to dispose of, though admittedly speakers of English and Afrikaans tend to have more of it. I don't blame manufacturers for choosing not to personalise the nation's earbuds!
That said, people where I live don't seem to do personalised things; sometimes in card shops there are little stickers with usually wrong definitions of a name (my personal favourite was "Imogen: the image of her mother"!) and very occasionally a keyring but I think our population is just too small to support that kind of product. We've got eleven official languages and our unemployment is at about 26% of the labour force, but about another 25% (guesstimate) aren't counted as being in the labour force, because of being permanently unemployed! So there's not a lot of disposable income to dispose of, though admittedly speakers of English and Afrikaans tend to have more of it. I don't blame manufacturers for choosing not to personalise the nation's earbuds!
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I would never in a million years consider earbuds as communal property. I wouldn't want to put something in my body that was already in somebody else's.
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Not the used ones!
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Massive translation issue, I think :)
When the American posters are talking about 'earbuds', they are talking about what Australian and British users (and likely South Africans too) call headphones:
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/617272f8-a82f-4528-8d00-2d9112abc30e_1.254682caea8eff500b5d341d98779b12.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF
In Australia (and I'm assuming other British English speaking places), we call these cotton buds or ear buds and they're used for cleaning your ears:
http://media-poundland.scdn1.secure.raxcdn.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/4/14409_7.jpg
When the American posters are talking about 'earbuds', they are talking about what Australian and British users (and likely South Africans too) call headphones:
https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/617272f8-a82f-4528-8d00-2d9112abc30e_1.254682caea8eff500b5d341d98779b12.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF
In Australia (and I'm assuming other British English speaking places), we call these cotton buds or ear buds and they're used for cleaning your ears:
http://media-poundland.scdn1.secure.raxcdn.com/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/4/14409_7.jpg
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Ha! I want personalized q-tips.
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Curious then, do Australians/Brits have different words for in-ear headphones (earbuds) vs over-ear headphones? Or are they all just headphones? 
This message was edited 2/28/2017, 8:48 AM
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Nope, we call them both headphones. You might specify 'in-ear' or 'over-ear/on-ear' but I honestly have never really been in a situation where I had to specify.
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Earbuds are definitely not communal where I'm from. Everyone has their own pair, even little kids.
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This could be a language issue. Earbuds here don't come in pairs - they come in little plastic jars from which one removes one, uses it and discards it forever. How do yours work?
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Does knowing what Americans call earbuds change your initial shocked reaction to having them personalized?
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You buy a pair, like this:
They last for a while. The pair I'm currently using have lasted two years, so far. I just clean the wax from them when they get dirty.
They last for a while. The pair I'm currently using have lasted two years, so far. I just clean the wax from them when they get dirty.
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I think Anneza thought y'all were talking about ear plugs you wear when you sleep.
This message was edited 2/28/2017, 6:13 AM
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I did NOT catch on to that. Whoops. :P
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Eww
I wouldn't want to use something other people stick in their bodies, even if it is just their ears.
I wouldn't want to use something other people stick in their bodies, even if it is just their ears.
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You're actually advised not to share earbuds, as earwax is full of bacteria...
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Yeah, there was a little plastic ... I guess it was a reel for the cables? printed with names. Seems like not such a bad idea, since it's an item that might be lost and readopted, or stolen, and there is usually not much space to write a name on them.
I can only guess that youth who use earbuds lose them frequently, because they're a common item to find at retail checkout stations, along with nail trimmers, batteries, and candy.
I'd take a bow for my kids not being interested, but I don't deserve to, because we were in an actual candy shop when I saw the earbuds :-)
I can only guess that youth who use earbuds lose them frequently, because they're a common item to find at retail checkout stations, along with nail trimmers, batteries, and candy.
I'd take a bow for my kids not being interested, but I don't deserve to, because we were in an actual candy shop when I saw the earbuds :-)
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