Friday, August 26, 2005

Remedial Spelling

Why is it that people in Texas have the hardest time spelling my name? Its E-R-I-N. Four letters. Spelled the "normal" way. When I lived up north, I had few problems (past professors not reading for comprehension, and calling me Eric during roll call.) Since I've been here, I get creative spellings quite frequently. Most of the time from the staff at Starbucks. Its so bad that I say my name, then spell it for them right after, in hopes that they'll get it. They rarely do. In fact, this confuses them even more. I'm not sure why people have such issues with my name. Perhaps Hooked on Phonics is to blame? Or parents creatively spelling names? I dunno. Either way, it irks me. So, for your amusement, some examples:
  • Eric/k
  • Karen
  • Arin (today's SB mistake)
  • Erwin (happens more often than you'd think)
  • Aren
  • Aerin

And my personal favorite - Darlene. No idea how one could derive Darlene from Erin.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was only a matter of time before this hit the blog ;-)

I totally feel your pain. Here's a few of mine:

Vicki - hell this one is so often its how my name is spelled on my work email.

Vickey - my old mgr back in college spelled my name so it would match hers, Mickey. How cute. (blech!!)

Vikki - I'm not a porn star. So please no porn name spelling, m'kay?

kt said...

yeah me too.
i get katy and kathy ALL the time..

have even gotten kati and caty.

but what gets me is the pronounciation of my full name by most telemarketers..
"kath-reene"

wtf?

Anonymous said...

E-
Well, you can IMAGINE the trouble Vassilios gets w/ his name. Even when he just says "Vas". Most often he gets
"Fast" - not going to comment
"Bas(s)" - I'm married to a fish or an instrument?

One time at SB I got "Denny"--and all I could think of was "Denny Crane" from Boston Legal.

Jess said...

My favorite is Darlene. Darlene Prail...;)