If your name isn't traditional, please spell it out.

[cantdrv55]

Kind of a pet peeve. It bugs me when I receive voicemail from anyone with a non-traditional/foreign name and I'm expected to call them back. At the very least, I probably won't pronounce it properly and when asked to respond by email, I'll probably kill it on the spelling. My first name is can be spelled with a C or K so I always say which but my last name is defintely foreign so I make sure to spell it out. Anyway, just ranting.

[Zeke]

You ought to be named "Milt." I have friends that haven't figured it out in years. They write Melt. I have heard back "milk?" as well as Mel 1000's of times. There are even some more obscure misnomers. I always spell it out or just say "Milton." To the Spanish speakers I say "Miltone." That's the way they hear it in their country.

[jyl]

if calling, pronounce as they pronounced on the message

if emailing, dispense with the salutation (no "dear milt") but include a signature, and hope their email reply has a sig line

if their name is unusual, they are used to it being mangled

Kind of a pet peeve. It bugs me when I receive voicemail from anyone with a non-traditional/foreign name and I'm expected to call them back. At the very least, I probably won't pronounce it properly and when asked to respond by email, I'll probably kill it on the spelling. My first name is can be spelled with a C or K so I always say which but my last name is defintely foreign so I make sure to spell it out. Anyway, just ranting.

[Zeke]

Just don't name your boy "Sue."

[A930Rocket]

Add phone numbers spoken one time at warp speed to the rant list...

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by milt

Just don't name your boy "Sue."

When I was in South Africa I had a phone message to call a guy called Suzanne. I cautously called visulising a big bloke in a dress and indeed it was a bloke called Suzanne. I think it's an Africaans name that may have needed translating.

[Buckterrier]

Originally Posted by a930rocket

add phone numbers spoken one time at warp speed to the rant list...

+1 grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[elwood-914]

My name is Willem.
People who don't know me call me "Bill" "Will" "William"
What they don't know is my mom gave me a nick name.......I go by Tim

[legion]

I have a very short, unusual last name, and people who hear it like to add a letter that is not there. I have a very purposeful method of spelling my last name, to emphasize the letter that is not there.

[Hugh R]

True Story, My first name is Hugh. I've had it called Hu, Who, whatever. Anyway I was at a bar as a youth and I told this chick my name was Hugh and she said "I've never heard that name before". I said "Sure you have, like Hugh Hefner" and she said "Wow, are you related?". True story. She was Blond.

[Sapporo Guy]

lolo, English teachers can't even say my name right!!!

2 of the simplest words in English !!!

cars (like in "I have 2 cars)
ten (like in the number "10")

lolo ...

+ 1 on warp speed phone numbers
I'm glad that they know their own number so well that they can say it as fast as their own name, too bad that it takes me up to 4 times to listen to the dumb message just for their number ...

[Chocaholic]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Add phone numbers spoken one time at warp speed to the rant list...

Even worse...phone numbers spoken at warp speed (or mumbled) at the end of a ridiculously long and useless voice message. No way I'm going to sit through that again to try and decipher the number. There's a software vendor that wants our company's business who keeps doing that. Can't understand why I don't call him back.

[dhoward]

Originally Posted by cantdrv55

Snipped... My first name is can be spelled with a C or K so I always say which but my last name is defintely foreign so I make sure to spell it out. Anyway, just ranting.

So it's Cant or Kant?

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by legion

I have a very short, unusual last name, and people who hear it like to add a letter that is not there. I have a very purposeful method of spelling my last name, to emphasize the letter that is not there.

Wow, did you guys know that legion is actually Mr. T?



That's awesome - nice to meet you.

[HunterVonWurst]

I took after Prince and changed my name. Don't know how to tell people my name without showing them, so I stick to e-mail...

[A930Rocket]

I had a guy I worked with for years. His last name was Polish (I'm sure) and he spelled it out every time he spoke with someone. 15 years later, I can still spell it out... CZ, UP, RY, NA.

Bill Czupryna.

[djmcmath]

Asian names are the worst. I had a guy at the local permitting office who was nice enough to spell it out, but it didn't help. He pronounced his name "G," just like the letter, and spells it "Hyi." With the thickness of his accent, I had to listen to the message 5 times to make sure I had it right.

[DARISC]

Speaking of Asians, remember that guy from some TV talent show a few years back who was such a dorky bad singer that he became a pop idol for a while? Well, he wasn't much of a lady's man in appearance or personality - and his last name didn't help when he'd get up the courage to approach a woman in a club and say, "Hi. I'm Hung".

[Z-man]

Want to know my pet peeve when it comes to names?

When someone asks for my FIRST name (via phone, to fill out a form...etc). I will say, Zoltan, and then spell it out. Z-O-L-T-A-N.

Then they will respond, thank you for your last name. Now can I have your first name please?!?

GRRRRR!!!!!

-Z.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Z-man

Want to know my pet peeve when it comes to names?

When someone asks for my FIRST name (via phone, to fill out a form...etc). I will say, Zoltan, and then spell it out. Z-O-L-T-A-N.

Then they will respond, thank you for your last name. Now can I have your first name please?!?

GRRRRR!!!!!

-Z.

I just tell them my mother is Asian and my first names are

SUK MI.

Whoops, already taken by the opposite gender:
Suk Mi | Facebook