Yesterday I happened across this at Loquita's Blog, which she quoted from Life As I Know It:
The guys always refer to each other by last names, except those who are close or see each other outside their service. The wives, on the other hand, always refer to their husbands and everyone by their first name, which means I have absolutely no stinking clue who they are referring to. I was recapping the meeting with Will and I said, "Lindsey and Joey..." and he cocked his head and asked me who Joey was. I told him Lindsey's husband. I don't know their last name. He doesn't know their first name. Mystery couple...one of many.
Yep, been there. I never know who belongs with whom. And I know of a couple of wives who wanted to keep their maiden name until they realized what a pain in the neck it is in the military to have a different last name from your sponsor, especially in social settings.
And then I had a wife who had no idea who my husband was from either his first or his last name. Turns out the platoon had given him a nickname, and that's all she knew.
Ah, the name game.
