"THE NAME OF THE GAME" :::: © Tad "JTK.CA" NudistPoet

"THE NAME OF THE GAME"
TAD is JTK.CA NudistPoet
Copyright © Jonathan Tad Ketchen

One of the reasons I sign my art as JTK.CA is that it doubles as my name and my web address, and I was able to luck out on snagging ownership of the super-short domain name. The other reason I sign my work as JTK.CA is that my whole life, people have had trouble spelling Jonathan Tad Ketchen correctly.

Jonathan gets spelled erroneously as Johnathan or Jonathon. I hate Johnathan because I'm afraid people think it's an extension of John, which it is not. Jonathon bugs me because I am not a high school fund-raising race; I am not a Jon-a-thon. The correct spelling of my first name is Jonathan, the Biblical spelling, but who reads the Bible anymore? I love my name Jonathan, but I don't like it shortened to Jon because I'm afraid people will think it's John. And then there was one of those really weird days when one of my bosses misspelled my name as JONATHEN. The other misspellings are common, but I've never seen that one before or since; that one didn't bug me so much, as it made me laugh.

My middle name is Tad. I introduce myself this way, "My name is Tad (as in Tadpole)," which avoids the inevitable response of, "Hello Ted," or, "Hello Tod."

My last name is Ketchen. A few generations ago it was Kitchen, which would make my life a lot simpler. "Kitchen. It's spelled like Kitchen." But alas, my name is not Kitchen, it's Ketchen, which inevitably gets mangled into Ketchum. Dad used to pastor a church in upstate New York, and after 9 years of being there, one of the elders was still calling him Pastor Ketchum. Our last name is Ketchen, thank you very much.

I love my name Jonathan, because Dad's name is David. Jonathan and David were best friends in the Bible.

I didn't used to like my middle name Tad. I thought people would think of it as silly. However, right before enrolling at Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, Georgia, U.S.A., I decided to take my middle name Tad as an honour because Dad named me Tad after his Japanese best friend Tadataka, whom he knew from their days in seminary. When going to Covenant, I did not decide to go by Tad. I just decided I was going to go from signing Jonathan T Ketchen to signing Jonathan Tad Ketchen. One of my roommates at Covenant had different ideas though. He started calling me Tad-Man and Tadster. The name spread across campus like wildfire, and I've been Tad ever since. At Covenant, I even got a letter addressed to Tad T Ketchen. I thought that was funny.

My last name Ketchen actually was Kitchen a few generations ago, since my ancestors were kitchen workers in a Scottish Lord's castle. I guess that explains why I've had four different food service-related jobs.

Anyway, this whole essay on
Jonathan Tad Ketchen
was inspired by a letter I just got in the mail. Yes, Canada Post's strike is over.

Like I've over-explained above, I have a serious neurosis when it comes to having my name misspelled. However, this is the first time, I've ever been mistaken for TWO people. I just got a letter addressed to
Jonathan & Tad Ketchen.
Note the ampersand (&).

JTK.CA (a.k.a. Jonathan Tad Ketchen)