I personally like PukimgDog posts. They confirm in a very nicecly written and humourous way our prejudices against Americans. He may have inspired some of Woody Allen film scirpts..
Back to mayday vs emergency and misusing call signs during an emergency . This is as old as the aviation world began.
The point one seem to forget is the reason to tell ATC you are in the Sh.t. It is to make sure everyone else knows, will shut up on the frequency and ATC clears everyone else around and below you so that you won't hit anyone else when you descent/ return etc..
3X Maydays does all this very well. Anything else , being innovative or "cool" might not achieve this. Just a remark and my 2 cents , but your aircraft .I am here to help, just ask, but make sure I unserstand what you want. Hence someone invented standard phraseology.
Callsigns, : stress does wonders to your body. but remembering your correct call sign is not high on the list. In nearly all the emmergencies and accidents I studied, the call signs were wrong at one point or another, even during simple TCAS RAs reports . In the HLF crash in Vienna , the pilot used callsign 123, 123 is the call sign used in the simulators when practicing emergencies.... variations are endless.
Point is that it does not matter much which call sign you use if you are the only one on the frequency or if there is only one of your airline in there. But flying into your hub will be a totally different story.
Just remember that.