The Name of the Rose

or, a Rose is a Rose is a Rose.

Except: a name has power.

--

I'm a man with many nicknames, and today, as I walked about Vaclavske Namesti and rode the tram to the grocery store, I had the opportunity to consider some of the nicknames I've gathered over the years.

At one point, a girl I'd known for about five years was shocked when a friend called me Mike. She asked my friend, Why did you call him Mike? My friend and I looked at each other, like, Is this girl flipping out? Then she said, I thought your name was Tika. Seriously, she thought that for five years.

Everyone I knew growing up at some point was simply known by their last name. Matejka. That was me. Yo, Matejka! rang about the schoolyard & in the halls between classes. Then, Matejka became Tika--tricky here on the spelling: some do Teeka, which is phonetically correct I guess, and others keep the original, Tejka. I've always written it as Tika, cause it looks better to me. And Tika has been shortened even further to Teek. Tika was also creatively transformed into Tea Cup. Other people would purposely mispronounce my last name: Ma-tedge-ka. Or, Mat-a-jay-ka. So, I'm used to responding to: Michael, Mike, Matejka, Tika, Tea Cup, Teek, Matedgeka, Matajayka, and for awhile when I played baseball I was called Magic.

--

A new name seems to be sticking to me here in Prague: Business Time.

I need to get into this one.

But first, I want to also mention another nickname I've managed to pick up here and there, though it is definitely more obscure than the others. Some people, with no connection in time or space, have given me the nickname Sir Matejka. This one makes me a bit uncomfortable. The first time it came up, I'm sure it was because I was majoring in English & obsessed with the English poets. I was very Anglophilic. So I thought, Ok, I get it. Sir. But there is another part of me that cringes. Sir? As in the House of Lords? As in aristocracy? Does it mean I'm uptight or something? Pretentious? Condescending? I remember hearing that a friend described my writing as noble, and it touched me deeper than any other compliment. On the other hand, I wonder about the connotations. Does it imply that I'm the type of person who is incapable of fun? Am I that rigid? I know that sometimes I am rigid, but I make a conscious effort to not always make the safe and responsible decision. And the disturbing association of nobility with power. Sure I recognize that true nobility and the aristocracy or the upper class are hardly connected--even the ancient Greeks wrote about that in their tragedies--but the connotation is unavoidable. I mean, sure it's good to be noble in the true sense, but I also love to play. I'm not living my life to further my career. I'm not here to climb to a higher social rank--I'm here for the gorgeousness of life!

So I have some reservations about Sir, though I know it's never been said with anything other than the best intent.

Now I've got Business Time. And this nickname works out all the knots I'd had about Sir. It's wonderful.


Let me explain: my friend Abby from the TEFL course observed that I put on my hat whenever there was a party or we were going out. She said, When Mike puts on the hat, that means it's business time. So whenever we were out & she saw my hat, she'd say, It's business time. It's since spread, and a few other people have referred to me as Business Time both to myself & to others. As in, Hey, where's Business Time? Which I think is kinda funny.

But it's fantastic. Cause when you normally think of the phrase "business time", well, historically you would've thought it means it's time to get serious. It's time to be uptight. It's time to be rigid. It's time to focus on career-like tasks and get the job done. It ain't no time for play or fooling around. It's business time. Everything that bothers me about Sir. But Abby has gorgeously warped the phrase and applied it to me in reference to my approach to leisure. If I am Business Time, then it should be known that I got the name because of my intense devotion to & focus in Play. Business Time is when petty work falls away. It's when the real business of living gets underway. And I'm in love with that. Even if the name doesn't take, it has done its work. I may never hear it again, and in ten years someone else may come up with the idea to call me Sir Matejka, and it will be fine because I know what time business time is.

And in any case, my true name will always be Michael.