I made two of my regular authors my fans for life by pronouncing their last names correctly: Akyildiz and El-Hawary (ah-KYILL-deez and El-Howree (sorta)).

I started going by my middle name (Elizabeth) because I got sick of people mispronouncing my first name (Leone). This summer I'm making it legal and switching first and middle.

I try really hard to pronounce names the way their owners want. It matters.

I have a friend who apparently doesn't mind the standard (at least in our office) Americanization of her name, because for the life of me, I can't even hear how she says it herself. It's so awkward! I listen so hard, and can't figure out how I would reproduce what she's saying. And don't get me started on the transliteration -- it makes literally no sense.

"wuh-BASH" is a cartoon sound effect.

so I have received 2 red light camera tickets at the same intersection in a month. Both times turning right on red. once just after the light had turned red and the other time, pulling way past the line before stopping for a millisecond then turning. I was protesting one, but then I saw the video, yeah no.

stupid me and my aggressive driving.

My parents made many foibles when the first moved (independent of each other) to SoCal from the midwest in the early 60s. La Jolla, in particular.

I hadn't seen Loki in a bit, so I went looking in his usual spots. He wasn't in any of them. He's lounging in the tub, staring intently at the faucet, willing a drip. He's so odd sometimes.

People repeat my name back to me wrongly often enough that getting it wrong after thirty seconds is unremarkable. The second time I say it it's really me saying, no, I care.

Wow, this is so not funny or a good idea in the same state that took days to consider the Trayvon Martin case worth prosecuting: [link]. Dude dresses up like a zombie and chases people in a parking lot.

OMFG, what an ass. And not a very good zombie, either. And is it just a coincidence that he's chasing all black people (except for the one white guy on the b-ball court)? WTFF.

People repeat my name back to me wrongly often enough that getting it wrong after thirty seconds is unremarkable. The second time I say it it's really me saying, no, I care.

People repeat my name back to me wrongly right after I say it too! Of course, I think I pronounce my name incorrectly as well. I say NAY-deen, people say nuh-DEEN, and I think it is really nah-deen (in french or italian, anyway). I think I hav shared before that I pretty much answer to any name that starts with N (Naomi being the most common). I also answer to Renee, but I haven't gotten that one in awhile. When I worked at a customer service desk, I also answered to Chantel (another worker's name). I hate correcting people.

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes for Ellie. I will share them with her when I see her tomorrow.

They will read the entire news story with perfect nondescript broadcasting accent, until they get to the person's name. Then full on Latino pronunciation.

Sammy's dad's name is Gilberto. He prefers to be introduced as Gilbert to non Spanish speakers but absolutely everyone who knows him calls him Beto. But with a very Spanish sounding "t" and "o". And even though I am totally not a native speaker, I can't bring myself to say it without switching my tongue to Spanish. It's sounds grating to my ears in regular English.

I never remember people's names. It's so bad that I have to tell people I've worked with for six years that I don't know their names. I sometimes say Hi passing them in the hall or in the break room. I know their voices from over the cubicle walls but I rarely see their faces. god help them if I see them outside of work and I don't have the extra context clues to tell me that I do know this person who stopped me at the store by name.