"Jewish Atheist"

It's interesting to see how different people react to my Blogger name. I'm not talking about the "How can you be an atheist and a Jew?" people or even the "Are you an atheist or agnostic?" people. (To the latter group, of which there are incomprehensibly many: Could I be any more clear?)

I'm talking about the various abbreviations and take-offs on my name people choose to use when they address me:

Jewish Atheist

Can't go wrong with spelling out somebody's full name. Perhaps a little formal, it's at least polite and respectful. Makes searching very easy, so perhaps they're being thoughtful. Nothing at all wrong with it.

JA

The way I sign my emails, this is what most people who seem to like me (or at least know me pretty well) use as a nickname for me. Feels familiar and affectionate.

Mr. Atheist

I get this one a lot, somehow. I sense a little bit of mocking with it, although not necessarily with ill-intent. After all, it is a little silly to have Adjective Noun as a nom de plume. Some people also seem to use this form to emphasize the "Atheist," which they treat as if it's an insult. (Kind of like that Fresh Prince of Bel Air episode where an older White man introduces himself to the (Black) Bankses as Whitey, "on account of my white hair," and later when Mrs. Banks gets mad at him, she begins, "Listen, whitey." Except that I'm using Atheist because I am one and they're using it the same way, only as an insult. So not really like that episode, after all.)

Atheist

I think two groups of people use this abbreviation. One is simply calling even more attention to the "Atheist" part, using it often as an insult. The other simply doesn't want to acknowledge my Judaism. Ironically, the latter group is usually made up of Orthodox Jews who necessarily believe that Judaism comes from having a Jewish mother (which I do) or converting.

Athiest or Jewish Athiest

These people simply don't use spell check. It's an easy mistake to make ("-iest" being a common word ending in English) and exceedingly common. I don't hold it against them unless they do it repeatedly. In which case I assume they just don't care a lot about spelling, which isn't the worst thing in the world.

Jewish Guy, Jewish Man, The First/Second/Third Commenter, The Guy Who..., etc.

I suspect these people are afraid to use the word "Atheist." Maybe they think that's how you catch it. Or maybe that God will get confused and think they're atheists.