I have a weird relationship with my name. I love it, really truly. It doesn't sound dated or cutesy or ostentatious, but at times I get annoyed. One reason I get annoyed is because people seem to have a difficult time saying it, which I don't completely understand. My name is Marie (pronounced MUH-ree). I understand that someone could think it was pronounced like Mary. I also get Maria a lot. Neither of which are bad names, but neither is my name.
I've also noticed that when someone says something that ends in an "ee" sound, I sometimes think they're saying my name. This could just be related to my bad hearing. It gets annoying because a lot of words end with an "ee" sound, and so I think everyone is calling my name.
Part of the reason I bring this up is that the other day I was at a restaurant waiting for a take-out order (not an unusual thing for me, of course). Most of the time I give the order-taker a different name to help with the mispronunciation problem (Mary. Mary. Mary! Your food is ready! Sheesh, Mary). But I didn't in this case. I sat there, reading my book, waiting for my food. As I sat there another woman came and sat by me. A short time later the guy at the counter said something that sounded like Ari (ar-ee), but I couldn't be sure because he did not enunciate at all. I started to get up, but the other woman jumped up and grabbed the bag. I thought it was kind of weird because I thought I was there first but didn't worry too much about it. Maybe her name was Ari.
A minute or so later the guy at the counter said, "Lori" a couple of times and kept looking at me. I looked back and said, "My name is Marie." Confusion swept over his face, and he looked at the order board. He then realized that the other lady had taken my food because he had mumbled so badly earlier. After an apology that my food was gone, he promised to get me a new order right away.
As I drove away later with my food, I thought if I had just given him an easy to say name, like Bev or Sue or Edna, the confusion would never have happened. Also perhaps if that Lori gal hadn't been such an eager eater.
But I love my name. I'm not going to change it. I'm not going to apologize for it. It's not my fault no one else knows how to say it.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
A rose by any other name
Rambled by Miss M at 6/19/2008
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3 comments:
Yeah, Edna, my heard bleeds for you. Imagine thinking your name is being called every time someone hurts themself.
Them: "Ow!"
Me: "What?"
My friend Camille thinks people are saying her name whenever they say, "come here." Hehe.
I think my name is easy, but sometimes people spell it July. Umm, that's a month. Don't you know how to spell it? My married last name is another story--we are always Murdock or MurDICK--no one wants to say MUD. Is saying Dick better than Mud I ask you?
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