LOW-KNEE-TAH
2020 09 05 | journal
I've spent my entire life correcting people about my name. They can't say it right even though I just told them how to. They can't say it even when I write it down. They can't say it even when I spell it out. I speak clearly, no speech impediments, no accent by Southern Ontario terms. What gives? I could count the number of initial correct understandings on the fingers of one hand, which is not an exaggeration, believe me.
At one point I even got into the habit of refusing to respond to people if they weren't saying my name correctly, and I refuse to dumb it down for people. It's not that hard. (Yes some folks have a nickname for me, and no I'm not going to share it. That's for friends.) I have noticed, though, that there are people who engage in the microaggfression of deliberately not saying someone's name properly or asking for a short form or deliberately muffing it up so they can pretend to be trying or finding ways to avoid having to address the person at all.
I do my best to say people's names as well as I can. The least you can do for someone is learn to say their name. As a wise man pointed out, "If you can pronounce the names of Game of Thrones characters..."
