Spelling The Easy Names

[Andara Bledin]

I hope I can do this justice, but have you ever heard of a writer called James Thurber?

Ooh, Thurber is one of my favorite authors. The Unicorn in the Garden is a personal favorite, but The 13 Clocks is the best. Speaking of Thurber and names, there is the book The Wonderful O. In that book, the letter O was oulawed and thus, to quote: "A man named Otto Ott, when asked his name, could only stutter. Ophelia Oliver repeated hers, and vanished from the haunts of men." He's probably best known for the story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which was turned into a delightful movie starring Danny Kaye.

^-.-^

[worddork]

Why is it that callers always spell out the easy names like "Jones" or "Smith" and not the harder ones or the ones they know are an uncommon spelling???


Laundryhater

I always spell out my last name, cause its got a silent letter at the end that confuses the hell out of people when they see it for the first time. It's four letters people, ignore the last one, focus on the first three.

[blas]

I understand that most people will not spell or even say my last name right, so I stay patient and if I have my badge from work, I show them that.

The first letter starts with an F. That should be easy, with the sound it makes. But no, my family has had hotel reservations where we've panicked because they can't find our reservation, and come to find out, they logged it under the last names that start with C or S or P, because despite my parents spelling it out for them, they refused to listen and just spelled it how they wanted it. Some people think way too hard and put a silent P at the beginning of my last name.

[TNT]

My last name is impossible to misspell... but some people, primarily from Philadelphia manage to mispronounce it. I've never met a person with my last name use that pronunciation. It would be as if as if everyone named "Smith" called themselves"Smythe."

[Trayol]

I never had a problem with people spelling or pronouncing my name. My first name is fairly common in Russia and my surname is like the fifth most common English last name.

This semester, I have a TA whose first name is Chance. He made sure to emphasize that if someone called him Chase that they would lose points.

[Bright_Star]

When people see my name they assume that it's pronounced the way it looks. I tell them that "NO, it's NOT pronounced the way it looks". Then they try to insist that everybody else who has that name pronounces it "normal".
I get people from time to time who get pissed by the way that I pronounce my name. Sucks to be them, I guess...lol.

[edicius]

My last name is always fun. So much fun that if ordering out, we usually use my wife's maiden name. Just to give you a hint, my last name's Polish with a silent 'J'. :P

[qaxons]

sometimes I'm tempted to change my real name to my username (the s is for the surname... Swither) just mess with peoples head.

"The name is Qaxon Swither."
"... How... Is that with a K?"
"No, a Q."

[edible_hat]

I had a teacher in high school called Mr Muuse (pronounced Myu-sah). He'd spell out his name "M-U-U-S-E" because if he said "M-double-U-S-E" people would write Mwse.

[IHateStupidCustomers]

Why is it that callers always spell out the easy names like "Jones" or "Smith" and not the harder ones or the ones they know are an uncommon spelling???

Haha, my boyfriend (who is pretty much the definition of a SC, I'm ashamed to say) has the last name Jones, and spells it EVERY time he has to say it! I have never once seen someone misspell Jones. I, on the other hand, have a rather long Italian last name. I don't even say it anymore, I automatically spell it.

[tigerlily0]

My last name is common, simple, and easy to spell. It is also the brand name of a popular product. I rarely spell it out. After I say it, I sometimes get "as in <brandname>?" (yes, as in brandname, which I suppose is better than if it wasn't the same as brandname).

I also sometimes get people spelling it back to me to confirm (I guess to make sure they heard correctly).

My first name isn't a common name, but everyone had heard of it. I consider that the spelling I use is the "normal" spelling (or at least the most common), and yet there are dozens of variant spellings, so I usually spell that out to make sure they get it right.

[Freemage]

When I'm on phone duty (like right now), I've taken to pre-emptive asking when it comes to names, even common ones, if it's not a person I know automatically.

Of course, that doesn't help much when people call up and ask for "Stan". This company has a few thousand employees. This DEPARTMENT (which many callers get routed to by accident, anyway) has over a hundred. "Stan" isn't going to get us anywhere quickly.