Many years ago, I dated a guy named Fred. I didn’t know his last name for a while and after a few dates I was too embarrassed to ask.

“Fred what?” Dan asked me one day.

“I don’t know,” I told him, embarrassed.

“Ah…” Dan pondered, “Simply Fred.”

That name stuck. I was now dating a guy named Simply Fred.

Eventually, we just dropped the Fred and amongst my friends, he became Simply.

“Wanna meet Simply and me for a drink?”

“Simply and I had breakfast at this great place…”

“Simply and I went to dinner last night and he howled at the moon in the parking lot. Should I break up with him?”

Simply never knew I called him Simply.

Well actually, many years later, a friend of mine ran into Simply and told him I used to call him Simply. I’m not sure she explained why and even if she did, I can’t imagine he was amused by that nickname.