Lesson Thirteen — The Flip Side of Names

This isn’t really a chapter, but sort of a mini-chapter. Maybe, more like a long footnote to the previous chapter.

Hopefully, you realize how important names are to people and that people feel like they have some sort of bond with you if you remember their name. Well, unfortunately there is a flip side.

As warm and fuzzy as you can make someone feel when you remember their name, they will very likely feel twice as bad if you mispronounce their name, or misspell it. It is like fingernails on a blackboard, or a dentist’s drill going for a deep nerve. It is just horrible! You know what I mean.

My name is Woodend, one word, but it sounds like two. Like, “the end of the wood.” That’s what I tell people. For some reason, however, at least a third of the people I deal with think my name is “Wooden,” without the “d” on the end. It’s ridiculous. I would think that a person of moderate intelligence would see my name in print and notice, “Hey, that’s a weird name. Wonder why it has a ‘d’ on the end of it.”

I guess that’s the answer to my question.  The folks of moderate intelligence and above get it right.  The rest are morons!  The point is, take the time and trouble to spell and pronounce names correctly.  It is not that hard to do and will really pay off for you if you do.