Here’s One For The Books . . .
October 13th, 2008 at 9:38 am by Dee O'Neil Andrews
Mornin’, Everyone -
You notice I didn’t say "good" morning because it is, after all, a Monday. And I’m not feeling too well this morning, either. But, I’m on my second cup of coffee and have hopes the day will get better and better.
In the meantime, I received the piece below from my daughter-in-law who was (for now she’s a stay at home mom) a teacher. I think she got it from another teacher friend. So, this is for all you teachers and former teachers out there . . . and, well, for the rest of us, too, in trying to navigate others’ names. It’s a lesson in being a southerner, too, I think. I mean – only in Louisiana or Mississippi!
See if you can get this child’s name right.
Dee
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Le-a
How would you pronounce this child’s name: ‘Le-a’ ???
Leah?? NO
Lee – A?? NOPE
Lay – a?? NO
Lei?? Guess Again.
It’s pronounced ‘Ledasha’ Oh yes…you read it right.
This child attends a school in Livingston Parish, LA. Her mother is
irate because everyone is getting her name wrong.
SO, if you see something come across
your desk like this please remember to pronounce it correctly.
When the mother was asked about the pronunciation of the name,
she said "the dash don’t be silent."
Ah, speaks right to my 28 year teaching heart. My best first day of school story would be a student whose name was spelled “Female.”
I resisted the urge as I was calling role to say “Female Smith.” Instead, I said, “Ms. Smith, how do you pronounce your first name?” Her answer was, “fa-mall-e.”
I also had the pleasure of having 3 brothers at various times in my class whose last name was “Bush.”
Their first names were:
Cactus
Briar
Thorn
Thomas Sowell, one of the greatest social commentators of our present age, wrote of the damage parents do their children when they give them made up, African American names (Sowell is an African American, by the way). He quotes several studies that show that people with those names earn less, are hired less often, and aren’t treated as seriously as those with mainstream names. This isn’t just an African American issue, of course. Remember all the hippie names given in the 60’s and 70’s? There’s a reason we’ll never have a Supreme Court justice named Dawnstar Moonnut.
My “favourites” are Miles Long and Briar Rose.
A friend did call her son Galileo. He is now known by his middle name (Nicholas). I wonder why… (no, there is no Italian connection in the family – they have a very Anglo Celtic surname!)
That is TOO funny!
I worked for FDIC, and our region had jurisdiction over the state of Louisiana. One of the girls had to take a message from an examiner who called in. His last name was Hebert. With his Louisiana accent, it was hard for her to understand him, but finally she got it. After having so much trouble getting it to sound right, she didn’t want to ask him how to spell it, so she wrote on her note pad that Mr. “A Bear” had called!!
I’m having a blast with this one! Bless LeDashA’s heart.
I have another one for you guys. My niece, who teaches children with speech disabilities, had twin boys she taught.
They had been identified at the hospital as “Boy A” and “Boy B.” So, the mother named them “Boya” and “Boib.”
Go figure . . ..
Dee
O.K., I’ll throw in another one.
I have a cousin whose last name is “Guy.” He married a girl whose first name is “Gaye.” That’s right, she’s now “Gaye Guy.”
HOwDY DEE!
Reader’s Digest had a short article a number of years ago about unusual names. I remember a Major Minor from the armed forces and Cardinal Sin from the Vatican. (This was Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila.)
My last name before I got married was Sergent. My father was in the Army during the Korean War and was discharged with the rank of Sergeant.
Which made him . . . Sergeant Sergent.
I had an aunt whose last name was Farr. She worked as a police woman years ago when they had to call in regularly. One day she was at a place called The People’s Store. She called in and said “this is Farr at the People’s Store.” The dispatcher sent out the “Farr” truck assuming the People’s Store was in flames.