Writers Choice

DB2: The “F Word”

By Travis Katzer

In Firoozeh Dumas’ essay The “F Word” she illustrates how she belongs to two separate social groups.  The first group, her Iranian family and the second group her American friends.  She uses two separate names when relating to these groups, which I found interesting, as I have done the same thing for some time.

For many years now I have worked in professions where it was common practice to refer to a person by their last name. 

This started when I joined the United States Coast Guard.  I arrived at boot camp and suddenly I went from being Travis to being Katzer (as was boldly written on every piece of clothing that I now owned).  I can even recall a young recruit asking our drill instructor “Sir, what if I wished to call another of my shipmates by their first name, Sir?”

The drill instructor paused and then said “Your first name is Recruit now!”.  I recall spending the next several hours examining interesting bits of mud while face down on a wet parade field.  So Travis became Recruit Katzer, then when arriving at my first unit in Alaska I was Katzer, which was invariable shortened to Kat.

I referred to all my coworkers by their last names, or some derivative thereof.  In fact I had friends that I socialized with for years and I never even knew their first names.  When I returned from deployments I would relate harrowing sea tales to my wife and should I accidentally use a first name she would have no idea who I was speaking of.

To my family and old friends I remained Travis, while I became accustomed to being called Kat at work.  My father had a similar story.  He worked as a police officer for 14 years (yet another job where your last name is prominently displayed).  He too had been called Kat for years.  In fact I can recall him initialing his last mortgage paperwork KAT. 

I respect my father very much and held no grudge against the name.  After my time in the Coast Guard I joined the same department that my father had just retired from. 

Now I faced a new challenge, I could no longer be called Kat as that had been my Dad.  This still gets ironed out, and I have resigned myself to the knowledge that you never get to pick your own nickname.

I am now commonly:  Baby Kat, Kitten, Tkat, El Gato, Meow (my least favorite) and Katzer 2.0 (my most favorite).

I am sure that as my father’s era retires and I establish my identity there I will earn my own name.  But until then I will have to respond to just about anything.