How Do You Spell That?
Spelling the Unspellable.
It has been quite a week. My poor husband is finishing the battery of tests today—five days of it—and today will be the worst. We are grateful that there have not been unexpected red flags.
For my part, I have done a lot of sitting, waiting, listening intently, looking up medical terms, and asking questions. Oh, and spelling my name. McConnaughey is challenging to spell out, but Janyne is the one that always causes confusion. If I say it first, then they spell it wrong, think of Janyne like Jeannine. If I spell it first, then they say it wrong. It is almost always a no-win situation. When I go to Starbucks, I tell them my name is Jane. There is no reason to go through all that confusion for a cup of coffee.
I am not sure why I keep having to spell my name. I am not the patient after all. Yet, here we are. (I have been saying that phrase a lot lately.) Many years ago, a friend said, “Your name is unspellable.” She was an English professor and that isn’t really a word, but it is true most of the time—especially when I added McConnaughey.
BTW, Matthew McConaughey is missing an “n”. Poor guy. I would give him my extra one in exchange for paying our medical bills. Can anyone connect me?
This morning I received a message from a friend who runs a non-profit thrift store with the two pictures. Look carefully!
Yep, the first one was a fail. How do I know which one was the fail? Because that extra “n” never gets there by accident. Well, maybe it would if someone knew me, but it is unlikely. I have no idea who James is, but my friend said, “He has options.”
Many things have been tossed because of this extra "n" problem, business cards, checks, forms, etc. One time when checks were printed incorrectly, the person argued with me about how I was spelling my name. I was so baffled by this.
I told her she could ask my parents about it if she wanted to. That story is that it was the name of a little girl in their church in Idaho and they determined if they ever had a girl, this would be her name.
The spelling is more common than one would think. When claiming a domain for my website many years ago, “Janyne.com” had already been used by a realtor. Thus, Janyne.org was chosen by my friend who was helping me design the website. About a year ago she ran across me on LinkedIn and reached out. We had a good laugh at all the complications our name caused us. I felt very validated and seen.
I am off for another day in the hospital. My day will be easier than Scott’s after a long exhausting night of “prepping.” IYKYK This is the test that everyone we meet here wonders why it was never done. I feel so validated in my frustration about this.
I will hopefully finish my grading while I sit and wait and wait and sit.
Thank you to my friend who started my day off with laughter.
Glad you can have a laugh through all of this! When I say my name, Sherryl, it's usually spelled with a C. That's fine for a coffee cup! If I go for an appointment when I check in they see the spelling and will say Shirley! Lol. My maiden name is DeWitt (gets confusing with multiple capital letters), but it doesn't get any easier wit my married name. It's Magee (pronounced McGee). Sometimes people will say, "Maggie" when they see it. If I spell it, they want to make the "g" capital. Hopefully this will help you to have a laugh!