The year -- 1952
The place -- John Harris High School, Harrisburg, PA
The event -- Tenth Grade history class.
I don't remember much about the class, not even the teachers name.
I do remember some things about her.
Thin. Dark hair kept close to the head. Arms kept close to her sides when she walked. She said that we should all do that. If we didn't we would all look like apes. I suspect she was not enamored of evolution.
There are two things I do remember from that teacher that made sense and I follow to this day.
1. People have the right to have their names spelled properly.
2. People have the right to have their names pronounced the way they want them pronounced.
When I was in basic training in the Air Force, one of my colleagues had the name of:
Spelling - Pryzkop
Traditional pronunciation - Schekup
The family pronunciation - Jacobs
It was always an interesting experience when we were on base detail waiting for our detail. We both had to pay close attention for the mispronunciation of Prizecop & Kitchenhopper.
Ah well, I have learned many things, some of them in 10th grade history class.
6 comments:
Kochenour = (Coke-n-our)
between accents and misspellings, there's barely ONE last name that's made it across the seas to our lands and hasn't been completely bastardized and slaughtered by us... ask any immigrant from "back in the day," most of their last names were cut short or changed to be easily spelled and pronounced.
damned shame. although likely easier to fit on an SAT test...
giggle
Agree with names being spelled properly. But sometimes it's challenging not only with last names, but first, as well.
For example: how many spellings are there for Kathryn, Catherine, Katherine? Even my name is sometimes spelled Karren or Karin. That was one thing I tried to be very cognizant about when naming my daughter Lisa, but you guessed it, sometimes it gets spelled incorrectly... Lesa, Lessa, *sigh*
oh, btw, my last name is Durling and it gets misspelled as Darling. But I tell people, that's okay, it's beats the hell outa being called *shithead*, lol!
I always try to pronounce people's names correctly. I've often surprised the hell out of customers when I get their names right. One thing I remember about working with this gentleman who hailed from Nigeria. I asked what his name was. He told me I could "just call him..." what everyone else called him. I said, NO, what do YOU want to be called. I called him by his given name and he was always so thankful. The others had Americanized his name and I was disappointed in them.
I could have mentioned the following pronunciations:
coach nour
pop clock
pepsi a minute
crock more
coachner
cockanhour
but why bore you all.
Interestingly, the teacher used Smith and Brown as examples. They may spell it S-M-I-T-H and want it pronounced Brown. If so, that is what we do.
It is the least we can do for each other. What better way to show respect for each other?
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