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02/07/2005: Surnames and Nicknames:
After bombing out on the pronunciation of Len’s last name (like Cleveland…not Clar-ve-len) reminded me how I’d spent my entire childhood with a difficult to pronounce last name that ALWAYS was a problem for teachers, telephone operators, solicitors, friends, enemies…
I never had to wonder when they got to "my name" on the list...except to watch for the pained looks on their faces...right before they butchered the pronunciation.
"Ting- Hyno" "Ting-a-heeno" "Tinge-Gee-anno" "Tin-glee-mo"
...You guess it and it's been tried...at least once. (FYI: No…I’m not really gonna pronounce it, nor spell it for you either. That info is strictly on a NEED TO KNOW BASIS only…besides you might Google it…find my family members…then where would I be???)
My grade-school nickname was (understandably) “Tinker-bell” (partly because of my name…partly because of my petite stature) and sometimes I’d get “Ting-a-ling-a-ling”...as in “telephone ringing.” Ha, ha…very funny stuff (for kids) but not too bad as nicknames go. (As those of you with evil, nasty, undesirable and undeserved nicknames KNOW.)
My dream, as a kid, was that I'd grow up and get married to someone with a "normal sounding" name...so I could avoid this nomenclature difficulty. Though as I grew older...it kinda became an identity thing. As in: ”Yeah, I know…weird name…” But...who do I marry...someone with not the "easy" Irish pronunciation of the name...McLaughlin...but the difficult to spell and pronounce, Scottish version of Mac-Lauch-Lan.
So the circle is completed!!
Karen on 02.07.05 @ 05:56 AM CST
