CALL ME MUBBS

My error with the missing computers is resolving itself, although it's possible that someone from IT is going to have to bail me out awkwardly, by visiting the charity (thankfully local) and sorting the machines out for them. Thanks for praying if you did. God (whether you believe in him or not) is really good at untangling situations.

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"Do you prefer being called Matt or Matthew?" asked my Temporary Manager this morning, by the coffee machine.

"Um, I don't mind really, Temporary Manager," I replied, thoughtfully. "I call myself 'Matt'..."

"...When you talk to yourself?" he interrupted, un-hilariously.

I smiled.

"...When I refer to myself," I continued, grinning, "...but I really don't mind either way."

It's funny how it sort of depends on context. My automatic email signature (which I can't change) says Matthew... so a lot of people here call me that. Up until very recently, my own family called me Matthew (though for some forgotten reason, the Intrepids call me 'Jimper') and my closest friends use either the contracted version of my name or a fully contracted portmanteau of my first and second names together, which I'll come onto in a second.

I quite like a name that can be of flexible length. It makes it adaptable for appropriate situations. I hadn't even thought of this telescopic name-sliding ability until I went to university. In freshers' week, I had some defining choices to make about my identity and in one split second in 1996, I fixed my grown-up name to 'Matt' - and that was it. I grew to like it - and it's been very suitable ever since.

But do I really 'not mind either way' nowadays? Was I just being polite in front of my Temporary Manager? Am I comfortable with reverting to my actual name in all its two-syllable glory?

Some time ago, Henry from church suggested that I should stick to the long version, Matthew, as it's a 'significant part of [your] identity'. I thought about it, and then kept forgetting to do it - still introducing myself as Matt wherever I went. I'm not sure anyway that I agree it makes the difference that Henry was implying.

Weirdly though, having said all that, I do prefer the niblings to call me 'Uncle Matthew' - as that somehow seems more fitting. I must have wanted them to see me as some sort of grand old uncle in a leather wing-back chair with a twinkly-eyed story and a roaring fireplace. It didn't work out like that - I'm more of a climbing frame who does funny voices and pretends to be on the radio.

In more recent times still, my friends have started the portmanteau version of my name and often refer to me as 'Mubbs'. I love that my full name has this contracting property - it's kind of cool, and I don't think I'd mind if it caught on beyond the circle of friends who invented it. In fact, it's fine - call me Mubbs - I love it.

Not you, though, Temporary Manager. That'd be a bit weird.