Wednesday, January 31, 2007

6 Hardest letters ever!

I just got off of a phone call with customer support. She insisted on calling me mister Chuck the entire time. CHUCK? That's not even two syllables. Are the 6 letters that comprise my name really that hard? It's Chill-uck or closer to Chill-ick, when pronounced fast? I've heard all the poor pronunciations before, but missing an entire syllable takes the case. There's been Shill-uck *(at least it's half right), Chai-look (like the tea, at least it's a possible phonetic pronunciation), and my personal favorite the dyslexic Choo-lick. If you don't know how to say a name, at least be coy about it and revert to old standbys such as sir or, hell why not use the first name. At least you won't run the risk of offending through the bastardization of the real name.

My last name is Ukrainian, and the first time I heard it pronounced in proper Ukrainian, I didn't even recognize it. Additionally to pronounce it correctly you need the correct amount of phlem in your throat to properly say the Russian silent C! So to avoid a shower everytime someone tries to pronounce our name we've done our best to Americanize it. I'm really quite proud of my name. My family is one of two extended families with this last name in the entire country. It gives me a sense of uniqueness, and it helps a ton when I'm creating new user-names.

So please be creative your name pronunciation avoidance, and if all else fails, try hooked on phonics. At least then, I know you tried.