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My boss, who I've worked for for 3 years, introduced me to someone the other day as "Alan For-ay" (pronoucing the e at the end of Fore instead of leaving it silent). I just stared at him for a second until he realized how dumb that sounded. Then asked, "How long have I worked for you Chirs?"
People are always doing that though. Doesn't anyone play golf!?
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I think it's one of those things where we don't often address a person by their surname anymore. Everyone it seams is on a first name basis. Truth be told, I've worked with some people for years without ever knowing their surname at all, never mind how you pronounce it.
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I was going to write a long rebuttal about her statement, but people like that aren't worth the effort. I believe the statement "What a bitch." sums it all up.
Registered: Jul 2006
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Stupid people like this always make me question if she even realizes nearly everyone in America is an immigrant. At least someone in their family had to move here from another country. I still have relatives in Germany, France and Russia to name a few.
My dad's side of the family is German, starting with Franz Joseph von Herbrock from I think it's called Zweibrücken, Germany before coming to the US in the 1800s.
As for my mom's side, mostly Russian sounding names like my great grandmother Tatyana Savitsky-Durnovo. My great-great-great grandfather or uncle, forget which was the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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Hell, unless you're from East Africa, everyone's an immigrant. I'm traditionally English: 1/4 Scottish, 1/4 Irish, Bit of french and bugger know's where the rest comes from. Last name (Knott, which always get's mistaked for Knight, which was nearly cool in the 80's) is Galic for hill....
-------------------- Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...
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Hang on, didn't they do this a few years ago with "encouraging" all them folks picking cotton in thier fields with the funny african names...
-------------------- Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil...prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...
quote:Originally posted by tricky: Hell, unless you're from East Africa, everyone's an immigrant.
True. I was actually able to trace my family tree that far too. Earliest known family member was Ibrahim Hannibal from Eritrea. Brought to Russia by Peter the Great, and became a major-general in the Russian military.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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I'm changing my name to "Steve Rogers". Or I'll keep my lousy surname, buy a cheap tin crown and declare myself "King of all Caldwell"- my first official act: evict GWB from his ranch to live under an overpass.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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I'd hate to see this woman try to get by at my university. Profs have names like Valsangkar, Yevdokimov, Haralampides, Bhattacharyya, Danielescu...
-------------------- I haul cardboard and cardboard accessories
Registered: Mar 1999
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That woman would absolutely love it around here. Besides the Polish and German names, you have plenty of Native American surnames, not to mention some of our roads. You can tell if someone's not from around here by how they pronounce the Scajaquada expressway...
-------------------- "Kosh, I'd like to introduce you to our Resident schmuck and his side kick Kick Me."-Ritten
"Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity". -George Carlin
Registered: Jul 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: I'm changing my name to "Steve Rogers".
Only if I can be Bucky and ride a Nazi rocket into space.
Actually, by current continuity, you'd get your arm blown off, fall into freezing water and get picked by the Russians- then brainwashed into being their top wetworks operative (kept in suspended animation when not on assignment). Lots of stuff happens, lots of people die.
Eventually you become Captain America. So everyone's happy (everyone that's not dead anyway).
back to the topic at hand, it would be intresting to trace this old bat's family tree, contact some living relatives of her's overseas and get their opinion.
Registered: Aug 2002
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
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...only to find out their last name is "Zwekjakl;sdfg874" before immigration changed it, prompting her to go "SEEEEEEEE!?"
Registered: Jul 2005
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Most people don't even *try* to say my last name - Olejnik. Apparently my ancestors were intelligent enough to keep the original spelling, because I've seen all sorts of alternate spellings like Olenik, Oleynik, O'lennick, etc. However, my family doesn't exactly pronounce it the original way - we keep the J silent, while I *think* the original Slovak pronunciation is more like o-LAY-nick.
quote:Originally posted by Fabrux: I'd hate to see this woman try to get by at my university. Profs have names like Valsangkar, Yevdokimov, Haralampides, Bhattacharyya, Danielescu...
Yeah, I had a lot of Indian and Chinese professors too.
Registered: Jul 2002
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Anglo Saxon names can be wacky too. I had an English teacher called Chermsidesurgeson. Our first English lesson with him was learning how to spell his name.
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