*laughs* I sort of idly posted on Twitter that my New Year’s resolution ought to be to remember to introduce myself to the Irish as Kit or Kitty. This stirred up quite a curious conversation as to why.
I go by Catie IRL*, but there’s an Irish accent which aspirates the “t” into a “th”. This, combined with the softened “a”, causes me to hear “Kathy” instead of “Catie”. And I haaaaaaaaaate being called Kathy. So after several months of living here I started introducing myself as Cate, because it was easier for the Irish to say/me to hear properly.
I’m not all that fond of being called Cate, either, though. I vastly prefer Kit as a nickname over Cate. It’s just that I largely associate Kit with being a name I *type*, not a name I *speak*, so I tend to forget to use it when I’m introducing myself. Hence the need for a resolution. Or possibly a business card to hand people that says “Hi! My name is Kit!”
*Long-term net friends almost all call me Kit. Not only do I respond to it, but because I *am* accustomed to it as a name I type/see in text, I have this weirdly possessive feeling about the name. The first time I heard it spoken to someone else, some years after I’d adopted it as my online moniker, I was very nearly *offended*. Like, HEY! That’s MY name! You can’t have it! I still think that’s funny. :)