I don't think it's sexism that makes people call California's governor "Arnold."

Agree with slol.

Yeah. I self-consciously call her 'Clinton', because when firstnaming happens to other women, it often does look like sexism. But for Clinton, it really seems to be disambiguation, and she's actively embraced it.

Even when it's not disambiguation, it's a hard call. Some men get firstnamed too: Gingrich got Newted an awful lot, and not out of disrespect.

And Rudy is often "Rudy."

So what do I call her if I don't want to be supportive?

Hitlery. See? An answer for everything.

5: (Attempt to be clever by linking Redstate reconsidered; there's enough troll bait here already today.)

5: "Nightmare on Capitol Street."

5: I find "that bitch Hillary" works, but maybe not in your face enough?

Oh, Ugh, I'd rather you didn't.

I'm still going to call her Clinton.

Schwarzenegger gets called Arnold both b/c "Schwarzenegger" is hard to spell and b/c, obviously, he's a celebrity and therefore on a first-name basis.

10: no problem.

So what do I call her if I don't want to be supportive, but don't want to be rude, and don't want to lend any credibility to Redstate et al?

The Junior Senator from New York.

In writing, I tend to use HRC.

Hillary's one of those names that sounds like a diminutive, or something you call some thin, pale British boy when you want to see him cry.

Or a mountaineer from New Zealand. When you want to see him cry.

"Schwarzenegger" is hard to spell

I'm world-renown bad speller, but I can always spell Schwarzenegger. I'm not quite sure what this means.

Slow typist, so tend to use HRC, usually without mention quotes and in sentence fragments.

I use "Hillary", but can't deny I am a little uncomfortable with it. I am much more comfortable with "Bill", and would use it to His Face.

I have two friends who are brothers. Friend 1 currently works in DC, and Friend2 still hangs out with me in SF.

Saheli & Friend2 driving around SF on election night, pass a bar or something called Woodward's

Saheli: I wonder where Bernstein's is.
Friend2: We should bring Friend1's buddy Joe Woodward here sometime.
Saheli:Oh! Is his dad *Woodward*?
Friend2: (mockingly) Well, I would assume so, but you never know these days.
Saheli: (feeling silly). Not THE Woodward?
Friend2: I don't think so.
(other conversation)
Friend2: Did Friend1 tell you about his buddy Max?
Saheli: No?
Friend2: Max who works for Hilary?
Saheli: Who's Hilary?
Friend2: What?!
Saheli: What?! How am I supposed to know who Hilary is?!
Friend2: (raises eyebrows.)
silence.
Saheli: Oh. That Hilary.

(And no, not actually named Max or Joe.)

So yeah, I call her Clinton. I guess I'll have to shift to Hilary. I kinda like HRC, myself.

I've been using 'HRC' in comments, but 'Hillary' irl, for disambiguation.

"HRC" is conveniently short for "Her Royal Clintoness," should that eventuality arise.

22:No way, especially 5 times fast. I know very well what that would spooner into.

I am also claimimg OED first use on "spooner"

Why isn't it possible to run multiple strategies simultaneously?

I'm not even sure the disambiguation is needed. Sure, when/if she's elected we will need a way to distinguish her from Former President Bill Clinton, just like we do to distinguish George Herbert Walker Bush from George Walker Bush*. But in the meantime, if a Clinton is in the news, it's clear from context which is which 99.9 percent of the time. FPB Clinton is a "he", he's only quoted on political events in historical contexts like bombing Iraq in 1998, almost no one on the left has anything mean to say about him these days, etc. It's very difficult to imagine a situation in which one would not be able to tell which Clinton is being discussed. If you don't support her, you can safely call her "Clinton" and it'll be clear who you mean in all but the most pithy, sound-bite contexts.

Oooh. Former President Bill Clinton is FPB. Maybe that's the best way to do it right there.

* I always prefer "George the Second" for our current president, but the joke goes over peoples' heads... and to be really pedantic, George Washington would be George the First... and while it would be even more funny to talk about our current president as George the Third, it would also be even more confusing... so I use "Dubya" for disambiguation just like everyone else. Phooey.

"HRC" is fucking pretentious.

27: Or a habit from her law-firm days.

27: How is that pretentious?

27: Yeah really? I call lots of people by their initials. It's also kinda presidential---FDR, JFK, LBJ, even GWB. There's also RFK and MLKJr.