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ArchivesContinued mispronounciation after correction... Why?!
I have become fascinated with a pitiful mentality/trend in American Society... The continued mispronunciation of people's first names AFTER that person corrects you. I'm not even talking about foreign or extremely creative "invented" names. Case in point...
Susan vs. Suzanne
I worked in an office with all white, American, English first language people who had no regional accent/dialect, or other conceivable variable that might explain the following. A new employee arrived and introduced herself at a group meeting as Suzanne (like Suzanne Somers from "Three's Company") and pronounced it sue(rhymes with true)-zann(rhymes with can) - i.e. the "usual" way. A significant amount of people who speak to her multiple times daily, would pronounce it Susan (like Susan Dey from "The Partridge Family"). This happened despite the fact they would be right next to her as she would be on the phone saying "Hi, it's Suzanne from..." or hear me, her close friend out of the office call her Suzanne. It's not like someone set up her email box wrong or her name ever appeared in print incorrectly. Our employees were not hicks, illiterate, etc. No conceivable excuse. I think we can all agree that these two names are common. So what gives? Finally one day I yelled to my entire department area, "Why is everyone calling her 'Susan'?! It's not spelled like 'Susan Lucci' or 'lazy susan' and she calls herself 'Suzanne'? Am I the only who notices this?! Why don't you think this is weird?!" One miserable bit#$ replied, "Cause nobody cares!"
Well, that very well is a big part of it. But my point is, even if you don't care, how can you keep saying the wrong thing when it's this obvious. This is by far NOT an isolated incident at an office full of @$$holes.
I have a friend named Adrianna (ah-dree-ah-na) who loves her co-workers dearly with whom she constantly socializes outside work, but half of them call her "ay-dree-anna". Granted that pronunciation of the name has come into the spotlight recently via a character on "The Sopranos", but... SHE'S WORKED THERE FOR YEARS and she is on the phone ALL DAY introducing herself. This is at a MAJOR Hollywood movie studio. I'll bet they pronounce Demi Moore's name right when she's around...
Please give me your feedback, anecdotes, and theories on this baffling and unforgivable phenomenon...
Susan vs. Suzanne
I worked in an office with all white, American, English first language people who had no regional accent/dialect, or other conceivable variable that might explain the following. A new employee arrived and introduced herself at a group meeting as Suzanne (like Suzanne Somers from "Three's Company") and pronounced it sue(rhymes with true)-zann(rhymes with can) - i.e. the "usual" way. A significant amount of people who speak to her multiple times daily, would pronounce it Susan (like Susan Dey from "The Partridge Family"). This happened despite the fact they would be right next to her as she would be on the phone saying "Hi, it's Suzanne from..." or hear me, her close friend out of the office call her Suzanne. It's not like someone set up her email box wrong or her name ever appeared in print incorrectly. Our employees were not hicks, illiterate, etc. No conceivable excuse. I think we can all agree that these two names are common. So what gives? Finally one day I yelled to my entire department area, "Why is everyone calling her 'Susan'?! It's not spelled like 'Susan Lucci' or 'lazy susan' and she calls herself 'Suzanne'? Am I the only who notices this?! Why don't you think this is weird?!" One miserable bit#$ replied, "Cause nobody cares!"
Well, that very well is a big part of it. But my point is, even if you don't care, how can you keep saying the wrong thing when it's this obvious. This is by far NOT an isolated incident at an office full of @$$holes.
I have a friend named Adrianna (ah-dree-ah-na) who loves her co-workers dearly with whom she constantly socializes outside work, but half of them call her "ay-dree-anna". Granted that pronunciation of the name has come into the spotlight recently via a character on "The Sopranos", but... SHE'S WORKED THERE FOR YEARS and she is on the phone ALL DAY introducing herself. This is at a MAJOR Hollywood movie studio. I'll bet they pronounce Demi Moore's name right when she's around...
Please give me your feedback, anecdotes, and theories on this baffling and unforgivable phenomenon...
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