Pretty much everywhere I’ve ever lived, people have mangled the pronunciation and spelling of my last name. The one exception was San Antonio, Tex., where some people asked, “Are you related to Coach?”
When I worked in the Dallas suburbs, it was particularly horrible. I’d spell my last name, “T-E-L…” And they’d say, “T-E-O?” Me: “No, L!” Them: “O?” Crayton said I should have been pronouncing “L” as the long, drawn-out Southern “Aayyyll,” instead of my clipped California-style “El.” I refused to do it.
Anyway. No longer do I have to worry about such things:
That’s awesome. I have the opposite problem, down here. 🙂