63. Beware the Onomastic Cure

Tigger and Mick saw Sam and stuck their heads into my office. Mick said, “Hey I want to run an idea past you guys.  I’m thinking of changing my name.  Mick is short for Michelob. I hate my real name – Glinda Belle. Now that I’m sober, I was thinking I might change my name.  Maybe when my baby is born.  Whaddya think?”

“Well it’s not an onomastic cure,” Tigger said.

“What’s that?” I asked.

 “Onomastics is the science of names,” Tigger said. “If you change your name, but don’t change yourself, you’ve just re-labeled the problem. I call that an onomastic cure. If you change yourself, then change your name, that’s starting fresh. Mick has changed, she’s starting fresh. Fresh start, new name.”

 “I totally get it,” Mick said. “Onomastic cures are kinda like geographic cures. If you move without changing yourself first, you’ve only transported the problem to a new zip code.  That’s sarcastically called a geographic cure.  On the other hand, if you change yourself, then move, that’s starting fresh. Fresh start, new address.  Change something inside before you change something outside.” 

Today I will choose real change over onomastic or geographic cures.

Writing My New Story © 2015 by Ken Montrose

(Just a reminder: Writing My New Story is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to anyone you might know is purely coincidental.)