I’m beginning to t’ink t’e letter ‘h’ ‘as gone on strike or disappeared… For mont’s now people ‘ave been calling me Katie or writing ‘dear Katie in t’eir emails and ot’er correspondence. But I’m sure I’ve seen it in ot’er words so w’y can’t t’ey see it in my name?
Someone did say to me that they were ‘h’ blind and just didn’t see it. I’d never heard of that before. I get it on the phone constantly whenever someone rings and asks for me by name. I’ll be at business events and my name will be in large letters on my name badge and still I’m called Katie. People will reply to my emails and respond to Katie (or sometimes Kathy). My name is right there in front of them.
It never used to happen – I’ve been Kathie for 50 years now so what changed and when?
People’s names are important and when you don’t take care to spell them correctly or when possible, pronounce them correctly, it can make the owner of that name feel like you are not really interested in what they have to offer or who they are.
Don’t get me wrong – people can make mistakes and not realise. And it’s easy to mispronounce a difficult name or one that is foreign to you, i.e. from another culture, but my name is quite ordinary and common in English speaking countries. However, it seems to me that my name has been Katie more this year than it has been Kathie and I can’t help wondering why?
Takuya Misawa says
Often foreginers call me Takoya, or Takura. For them, it seems it’s difficult to pronounce my name, Takuya.
Joshua Krafchin says
Ha. Good point about spelling names correctly. I take tremendous care with spelling. My philosophy is that I’d rather someone disagree with my ideas than with the way I spell and word them.
Brenda Young says
Hi Kathie / Kat’ie,
This was my chuckle for the day. My name is Brenda, but I have been called Linda, Deborah, Debbie, Bonnie, Barbara, and more — anything that remotely has a “b” or an “a” in it. It used to bother me, but there have been times when I have forgotten someone’s name or called them by the wrong name. So I finally decided that everyone is charge of remembering their own name. and don’t spend too much time worrying about it anymore. ;0)
-Brenda, Linda, Deborah, Debbie, Bonnie, Barbara and all the rest of “us”