Calling all Katherines, Catherines, Kathryns etc...
This is only a short little rant, but I figure I may as well come up with something to break my several months of silence out here, and this is obviously better than breaking it with something silly like an explanation of where I have been and what I have been up to.
I am going to share with you something that I have learned through my many years of customer service. People can be really huffy about the spelling of their names should you get it wrong. I can understand some annoyance if you receive some official paper with your name spelled wrong because they didn't bother to verify. What I don't understand is being annoyed that the person trying to verify the spelling guessed wrong. Doesn't this just prove why they are doing that to begin with?
Do you know who gets really pissy about the spelling of their name though? Kathryn does. So does Catherine, Katherine, and Kathrynne. You see, there are many ways to spell Catherine, and every single Katherine out there seems to be at war with those whose parents named them a different shade of Kathryn. It reminds me a little of Dr Seuss's sneetches.
You see, what you Cath-wrens out there don't seem to realize is that this isn't a personal slight against your individual brand of Katherinism. In point of fact, we don't care about how you spell it. Well, not beyond getting it right. I am just saying we don't have a preference. Further, no number of pissy little Catherines are ever going to change our opinion that one Katherine is as good as another, nominally speaking.
I guess, what I am trying to get across to you Katheryns is, lighten up. You aren't special. Your name is going to be misspelled by many of us, or we are just going to ask you to spell it. If you don't like it, take it out on your parents.
That also goes for the occasional Stephen, Christine etc....although you are admittedly not as bad as Cathy.
That is just my take on life, or something close to it.
I am going to share with you something that I have learned through my many years of customer service. People can be really huffy about the spelling of their names should you get it wrong. I can understand some annoyance if you receive some official paper with your name spelled wrong because they didn't bother to verify. What I don't understand is being annoyed that the person trying to verify the spelling guessed wrong. Doesn't this just prove why they are doing that to begin with?
Do you know who gets really pissy about the spelling of their name though? Kathryn does. So does Catherine, Katherine, and Kathrynne. You see, there are many ways to spell Catherine, and every single Katherine out there seems to be at war with those whose parents named them a different shade of Kathryn. It reminds me a little of Dr Seuss's sneetches.
You see, what you Cath-wrens out there don't seem to realize is that this isn't a personal slight against your individual brand of Katherinism. In point of fact, we don't care about how you spell it. Well, not beyond getting it right. I am just saying we don't have a preference. Further, no number of pissy little Catherines are ever going to change our opinion that one Katherine is as good as another, nominally speaking.
I guess, what I am trying to get across to you Katheryns is, lighten up. You aren't special. Your name is going to be misspelled by many of us, or we are just going to ask you to spell it. If you don't like it, take it out on your parents.
That also goes for the occasional Stephen, Christine etc....although you are admittedly not as bad as Cathy.
That is just my take on life, or something close to it.
Labels: Catherine, Cathy, get over yourself, Katherine, Katheryn, Kathryn, Kathy, names
posted by Wanderer at 9:48 PM
4 Comments:
steve- i feel quite enlightened. thank you. mostly it's just good to hear from you! incidentally, when i was a kid we moved from Kathryn Ave. in one city to another city onto Katherine Rd. It took me years to get that sorted out. :-)
Like Cindy said, it's good to see you!
One wouldn't think my name is hard, but when I was in high school I had a teacher who called me Erwin the entire year, even with repeated correction. When I got married one of my sister's-in-law told me that my last name wasn't going to be Word...it was going to be "W-O-R-D Word". As in spelling it, then saying it, every time. It's amazing how many times people spell it Ward or Wood. But I try not to get huffy about it, because it's not another person's responsibility to know my name.
I used to know a woman who spelled her name Kaethe, you'd think "Kathy" but it's pronounced Kay-ta.
What I can't stand is people on the phone mispronouncing my last name, McMahon (Mick Man).
I wouldn't mind the occassional "Mick Ma Hoon, or Mick Mah Han... but you know what pisses me off and is also, ironically, the most common? Mick Cammon. There is no pronunciation with the letter provided that could ever be anywhere close to that. Same for the second most popular, Mick Hammond.
You can see where the damn H is even if you don't understand Anglo-Gaelic pronunciation. And you can understand that a syllable that starts with an M can't be "Cammon" as long as you aren't illiterate.
This, of course, is not even to mention how many famous McMahons there have been from which you could have learned the name.
Jim McMahon - Super Bowl star QB of the Chicago Bears
Ed McMahon - Long time sidekick to Johnny Carson, also Star Search host, also the sweepstakes commercial guy
Vince McMahon - Owns the WWF. Has two actor children who both use the name.
Mike McMahon - Current NFL backup QB.
etc etc etc.
Like I said, I don't get angry at Mick Ma Hoon or Mc Mah Han. But, I do tell callers to try again, and then hang up on them, if I get McCammon or McHammond.
Ha! Very funny. "Cath-wrens" is my favorite version of the name. Suggests the image of a flock of angry little birds flying around your head.
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