the movie Splash was on TV the other night and I realized a generation of girls are growing up with no idea why "Madison" is a funny name.

When people ask me my name, I automatically spell my last name. No leaving it to chance. On the other hand, I've been with my friend whose last name is Smith when she's been asked to spell it for them.

I always have to spell out my last name but more often than not people still get confused. Apparently the 'ue' throws them.

I got a stalkerish email from Amazon telling me that since I like crime fiction, I should watch K-Ville.

Pfft, that's nothing. I got a stalkerish email from Amazon telling me that since I bought Kim Cooper's 33 1/3 book on Neutral Milk Hotel and that I like Tom Waits I might like David Smay's new 33 1/3 book on Tom Waits.

psh! i got a stalkerish email from Amazon telling me that since i'd bought Rescue Me on dvd i might like K-Ville. i've never bought RM on dvd. i don't even watch it.

as for the name conversation, i get that too. parents named me christy. no, it's not short for christine. no, it's not spelled with a "K" or and "ie". it's christy.

That's my cousin's name! And yep, not short for anything. Actually, I know a lot of people my age with nickname-sounding full names -- Carrie is maybe the most obvious, but also Molly. Not to mention Jesse.

If it helps at all, I was just taunting a (boy) cow-orker with your name that he had a girly spelling, now that the more common boy-variant spelling has joined the team.

Unless you mean the other homonym, in which case I got nothing.

I think both spellings are boy spellings. There are just so many more boys.

The weird thing is the colleague whose husband has the homonymous spelling-- yet she feels the need to clarify which one she is talking about over email (him or me). Again, they're different names over email! But I guess it's a mental thing. People don't see the spelling of the name, they immediately jump to the sound.

Oh, no, poor flamingo! Okay, stuck in a crate in a turnstile. I was having this really upsetting flamingo turnstile visual. But it probably wasn't any fun for the flamingo. I think I'm overreacting to this. I'm pretty sure I must have a latent turnstile phobia.

Nobody ever misspells my name. (eta: although evidently I misspell "ever.")They just think they're going to. But no, my name is spelled just like it sounds. They're always right when they try it. Now, back when I had a mostly Japanese name? It was as if it were a terrifying conglomeration of syllables that no reasonable person should be forced to encounter.

The television show Entertainment Tonight was reporting on its Web site Monday that it has several reliable sources who say the FBI and Los Angeles police are investigating legitimate leads of a contract hit on Kevin Federline's life.

Have they questioned Chris Crocker yet?

I passed a guy dressed like this at a bus stop on my way to my car, and he stared at me. Him! At me! He totally started it.

I apologize in advance to that guy, but I'm totally getting Coming to America from that.