Let's Chat it Up and Explanation of "Z"

**Elisabeth** · 09-09-2010, 07:35 AM

So loads of you call me Z - and every once in a while someone asks me where that came from.

My name is Elizabeth - with a Z. I signed on to DSP as Elisabeth - with an S. When another designer found out the real spelling of my name, she dubbed me "Z". (Stacey Stahl was the designer). It stuck so here you have me.

The first time someone called me that at a crop, out loud, I didn't even hear her! She had to say it several times. I only knew it as written. People generally call me Elizabeth.

And now a lot of you have boggled me with "Zed'. In the US we say "Zee" so that took some getting used to. However, I"m a total Anglophile so now I like that one too! I might cotton to either one in person now.

So that's that and now we can chat about anything we like in this thread!

PQ · 09-09-2010, 07:43 AM

For my first two years here (DSP), I thought that Z and Elizabeth were two different people - it was VERY confusing. LOL!

**Elisabeth** · 09-09-2010, 07:45 AM

So here's one reason I started this thread - I just had one of those fake smell experiences and was curious what you all smell when you do.

Earlier tonight I sat here at the computer with no change of scene or situation and suddenly my brain took me to a car with a strong air freshener in it. It was very sweet - one of the fruity ones and I remember them from the 1980s. Almost made me recoil it was so strong, but it lasted only a second.

Then just a bit ago I was transported in time to a smoky club with the acidy smell of cigarettes floating about that you waft your way through to get close to the stage to watch the band. In fact, very close, because one deep behind is the mosh pit and I didn't participate in that.

Hang on - you all don't think I'm a lunatic do you? Doesn't your brain misfire and give you quick memories like this that are so clear you can smell them?

I mean I'll accept a label of lunatic no problem but I like it if so. Sometimes my brain will remember how my grandparents' house smells, and they've been gone many years. I love those flashes.

What have you to add to this? Ridicule? Or similar experience?

**Elisabeth** · 09-09-2010, 07:47 AM

Well to add to the confusion Fran - Elizabeth and Liz WERE two different people! Me, and Liz McCoy. I've never gone by Liz but she sometimes goes by Elizabeth. So I sometimes got her emails and vice versa.

*stitchmich* · 09-09-2010, 07:55 AM

I've heard the Z story before, but it still confuses me sometimes. For instance, did you know that in your siggie/flair, you've got your name spelled both ways? I guess that's why I prefer to just call you Z... I don't have to decide which way to spell the whole name.

Very interesting about the mystery smells. I can't say I've ever had that experience. But I wouldn't say it makes you a lunatic either. I do sometimes smell a smell that brings back a particular memory.

And speaking of smells... Don't you love the smell of rain on a summer day. We had a brief shower yesterday afternoon and I just went outside and breathed it in. aaaahhhhh

EmmaJean · 09-09-2010, 08:26 AM

So, Z, if I might ask, why did you originally sign up for DSP as Elisabeth instead of Elizabeth?

*diturpin* · 09-09-2010, 08:56 AM

Z, count me in your lunatic club, I have those same smell sensations but they are usually cued by a visual. Like I will see a layout that brings back a memory and the scent will waft over me. I also have those sensations when I read books sometimes... especially if they have to do with farming (I grew up on a farm).

I always think of you as Z and since the KY crop, I always think of you in your Azkaban Prison shirt. LOL!

*Noremacc* · 09-09-2010, 08:58 AM

I like "Z", Elizabeth just sounds so formal... which at times is fine, but just hanging out like at a crop or chat, Z just seems more fun...

*TalyQ* · 09-09-2010, 09:02 AM

Oh, I didn't know that

My own daughter is Elizabet because that's how it's fonetically spelled in our language

**nekobus** · 09-09-2010, 09:03 AM

Olfactory memories (smell) are the strongest kind. I constantly have "smellbacks". Lol. But it is already documented fact that I'm a lunatic.

*diturpin* · 09-09-2010, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nekobus

Olfactory memories (smell) are the strongest kind. I constantly have "smellbacks". Lol. But it is already documented fact that I'm a lunatic.

Thanks for the vocab lesson Neek! I have heard that word but didn't know what it meant until now.

Shana34 · 09-09-2010, 10:24 AM

I have that smell situation all the time. I can smell my grandmother's gas stove, or my other grandmother's house used to always smell like bubble gum...she used to keep it in a drawer for us.

Cheryl B. · 09-09-2010, 10:44 AM

The oddest fake smell for me is smoke. For years, I have smelled a faint smoke odor. After calling the fire department once, and then accusing my kids of smoking (they weren't and were insulted), I figured out it was just a quirk of my nose. No memory attached to it that I know of. Just an oddity. My problem is that if it were ever real, I wouldn't believe it. So I have 15 smoke alarms in my house just in case.

I love you having this thread, Z! Always fun to chat!

*stitchmich* · 09-09-2010, 11:17 AM

OMG, Cheryl! That sounds dangerous.

I'm a little jealous of all you smellbackers. Do you think that's a similar phenomenon to the mysterious voices I hear?

**nekobus** · 09-09-2010, 11:28 AM

I don't think there's any connection. You're just nuts!

My dd makes fun of my overly-developed sense if smell. I think she's just nasally defective. When my kids were little I almost always knew they were sick before they did - they smelled wrong. My mom was the same way.