Quoth ladyjaneinmd
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"Tell your mother she spelled your name wrong."
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Quoth Chromatix View PostAnyone with even vague familiarity with the phonetic alphabet will understand this, and it takes much less time.
What I don't get is people who misspell my last name. It's a common English word, buddy, why are you adding letters to it? (I'd be OK if they simply added four Ms and a silent Q, but this is like hearing "Apple" and writing down "Blorpple"!)“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers
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Quoth Nunavut Pants View PostExcept 95% of the people I have dealt with do not understand the phonetic alphabet, and they get confused by these random words you're throwing at them, meaning you have to stop and go back and re-explain. So it takes three or four times as long, and half of them get irritated at you for not making sense to them...
What I don't get is people who misspell my last name. It's a common English word, buddy, why are you adding letters to it? (I'd be OK if they simply added four Ms and a silent Q, but this is like hearing "Apple" and writing down "Blorpple"!)The Copyright Monster has made me tell you that my avatar is courtesy of the wonderful Alice XZ.And you don't want to annoy the Copyright Monster.
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Over time I've developed a slow rhythm to saying the letters of my name. When I spell my name, I hardly ever get asked to repeat it. Both first and last aren't difficult, they even have the same number of letters, and like I said, I go slow. Before retail, I thought everyone got into a habit of saying their name like that, after all, they've been saying it their whole life.
Now I know better. I get people that say their name so fast. Even if it's a simple name, I will be forced to ask them to repeat it, cue catbuttface.
Them: Jnth.
Me: I'm sorry, could you say that again?
Them:Jnsmh.
Me: One more time?
Them: JANE SMITH!Replace anger management with stupidity management.
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Quoth Nunavut Pants View PostExcept 95% of the people I have dealt with do not understand the phonetic alphabet, and they get confused by these random words you're throwing at them...
Here in Europe, I've never had such a problem in practice - even, or perhaps *especially* among non-native English speakers. Note that both Finnish and German have their own national phonetic alphabets, which differ substantially from the NATO one.
But perhaps it's because I'm usually dealing with employees, rather than the general public. The usual reaction I get tends to smell like "oh good, a competent customer".
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Quoth Chromatix View PostI suppose I can see that happening in America. The general state of ignorance is just that strong over there.
I've rebooted a few brains in a good way when I've spelled my last name without even being asked. Somehow I can just know when it's going to cause problems..."I am quite confident that I do exist."
"Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor
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My first and middle names are one name that was split into two, and more often than not I'll get the condensed version, or the very short version. For example, if my name was Eliza Beth, I'd get either "Elizabeth" or "Liz" and I eventually learned to answer to anything even remotely close.
Of me and my three sisters, the only one of us who got a normal name with a normal spelling was the next youngest, Cynthia. But of course, she refuses to go by that name, or even by "Cindy." It's always been "Cyndi." Even my mom has a normal name with a normal spelling and spells it the strangest way.
There was also a girl I went to high school with, named "Ali" and pronounced like "Allie." Teachers who had never met her tended to pronounce it like she was a middle-eastern man.The fact that jellyfish have survived for 650 million years despite not having brains gives hope to many people.
You would have to be incredibly dense for the world to revolve around you.
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Quoth Chromatix View PostI suppose I can see that happening in America. The general state of ignorance is just that strong over there.
As I like to say, Idiocracy is a documentary. Why come you don't have a tattoo?Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.
"I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily
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Quoth Aragarthiel View PostIt's always been "Cyndi."“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers
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Quoth MadMike View PostThe person can also pronounce it anyway he wants. I remember when I was a kid, I was riding my bike with one of my friends, and we passed a house with the last name "Sloppy" on the mailbox. I thought it was pretty funny, but my friend knew the guy, and apparently he pronounced it "Slope-y."But seriously, I've been told that I'm pronouncing my name "wrong." Seriously? Even though it looks German or even Austrian, it isn't. Roughly translated, it means "eastern house" in Norwegian. Odd because my ancestors hailed from Stavanger...which is in the *western* part, but I digress
I know how to pronounce my own name, dammit. *You* are the asshole that's fucking it up...
Another thing that's odd, is that I've seen multiple variations, even from family members, over the years....including the O with the slash through itAerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari
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Companies are constantly "correcting" my name, resulting in me getting mail for Sarah and not my actual name. Even after i spell it for the CSR.
It once caused all kinds of problems trying to get a paycheque cashed, I couldn't deposit it at my bank as it didn't match my account, i couldn't cash it at a cheque cashing place and I couldn't provide ID with Sarah XXXXXX on it....had to wait a week while they did me a new cheque.
The worst is the people who would see me write down my name and condescendingly tell me "no dear, the H goes at the end" understandable when I was a little kid, insulting when i'm 29.
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I have a name that, while not exactly common, is well-known enough. There are two (primary) ways to spell it. When I run across someone who spells it the exact same way that I spell it, I have been known to joke with them about spelling their name correctly. But I would never even dream to attempt the opposite joke or ever tell someone their name was spelled wrong.
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Last week, I was using a print out to put someone's name into a different system when the customer said that I had misspelled it. I have the same name and knew that it was different on the print out than how I spell my name, but knew better than to tell the customer that her name was spelled wrong.
We discussed it and agreed that we both spelled our name the "right" way, I told her how to correct the spelling in the system and we both went our way happily.
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My first name is rather unusual, in that it's an old fashioned name (I was named after my mum's godmother). A lot of people comment on my name, declaring that it's supposed to have an e on the end; um, no. I've seen my name spelled many different ways, actually.
Interestingly, when I was a teenager, I was the only girl at school with that particular name. Now tho, I seem to meet another person with the name all the time; there are at least four working at the store with the same name as me. XD
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