Friday, July 2, 2004 at 10:05 PM A few nights ago Adam complained about a caller named Anna pronouncing her name "än-uh" (sorry for lack of schwas) and suggested she just go by "æn-uh." Her friends would know the right name to call her, and she wouldn't have to spend her time correcting everyone else in the whole damn world. I also have a name that is spelled completely normally, but pronounced differently, and through most of grade school I corrected people - after all, my parents had always called me the variant pronounciation, so I didn't know any better. Then, in high school, it hit me: there was no goddamn way for anyone to know how to pronounce my name that way by reading it. I started going by the normal pronounciation - which I had always answered to - but that's not as easy as it sounds. When someone asks you what your name is and you tell them "æn-uh," it makes it awkward when your older friends come by and call you "än-uh." It also makes it harder to reference you when you're not there - the new person refers to you by the normal pronunciation you told him and is corrected or misunderstood by the others, which makes them wonder why you told them your name was pronounced differently than it is. You come of as just the kind of insane person you were trying not to come off as by pronouncing your name strangely in the first place. The best solution is to start going by the normal pronunciation, brief all your friends on the change and possibly kill your parents. —Dubious Merit | 
