I have recently discovered that a married couple I know had a past life writing and producing plays, movies,
and television shows. I am impressed by
this fact; and I would love to impress
you all with my impressiveness because I know these people. Unfortunately, my name dropping skills are unimpressive, and If I attempted to drop their names, you would be less than impressed with me.
I don’t know anyone who is good at name dropping. It’s hard to drop famous names without sounding boastful and awkward -- plus the timing is very difficult and half the time people have never heard of the person whose name is being dropped. For example, a woman who was a regular in a 1980's sitcom was snippy to me in 1998. I think it's a pretty good story (she turned out to be nice), but I have always had to force the story because the name dropping opportunity never arises, and it turns out the incident is more exciting in my head (see timing, awkwardness). Know a celebrity's relative? Is it possible to say what you want about this person without telling me their relationship to the famous person? I am only told about a person because of the relationship to the celebrity; not because they are interesting in their own right. Or worse off, they may be very interesting in their own right, but the only reason that I am hearing about them is because of their famous relationship.
I don’t know anyone who is good at name dropping. It’s hard to drop famous names without sounding boastful and awkward -- plus the timing is very difficult and half the time people have never heard of the person whose name is being dropped. For example, a woman who was a regular in a 1980's sitcom was snippy to me in 1998. I think it's a pretty good story (she turned out to be nice), but I have always had to force the story because the name dropping opportunity never arises, and it turns out the incident is more exciting in my head (see timing, awkwardness). Know a celebrity's relative? Is it possible to say what you want about this person without telling me their relationship to the famous person? I am only told about a person because of the relationship to the celebrity; not because they are interesting in their own right. Or worse off, they may be very interesting in their own right, but the only reason that I am hearing about them is because of their famous relationship.
I know what you all are thinking: Darn you, DeeDee!!! Now I'll never be able to tell anyone my awesome celebrity story(ies)! Fear not dearies, for there is a simple solution: Start treating everyone you know like a celebrity!
Here's how: Whenever referring to other people in a conversation, use their first and last names. If you don't know their name, invent one. This will cause your listener to think that you are talking about an important person, and thus, will listen to you more closely. Then, when you want to drop the name of your favorite celebrity encounter, there will be no boastfulness or awkwardness because everyone you speak of comes across like a celebrity! Any time will be a good time to drop that name!
Honestly though, if you treat everyone with the same level of respect as a celebrity, you could open new doors of connections. The worst thing you could is brighten someone's day.
Here's how: Whenever referring to other people in a conversation, use their first and last names. If you don't know their name, invent one. This will cause your listener to think that you are talking about an important person, and thus, will listen to you more closely. Then, when you want to drop the name of your favorite celebrity encounter, there will be no boastfulness or awkwardness because everyone you speak of comes across like a celebrity! Any time will be a good time to drop that name!
Honestly though, if you treat everyone with the same level of respect as a celebrity, you could open new doors of connections. The worst thing you could is brighten someone's day.
Love it!
ReplyDeleteThank you Carol Gaylor.
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