| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Someone's Mom should be ashamed of the name |
| 2006-06-06 |
| Our interview is with Porntip Kanjanniyot, Executive Director of Thailand-U.S. Educational Foundation (Fulbright) who came down to Phuket to give a talk to new students at Prince of Songkla University or PSU to broaden their perspective on educational opportunities. We talked to her and asked for her views on studying in an international province like Phuket. |
| Posted by:DanNY |
| #19 there's a Youngsuck Oh in the NoVa area.. |
| Posted by: IG-88 2006-06-06 19:17 |
| #18 There was a Seymour Waterfalls in Wheaton, Illinois. |
| Posted by: Inspector Clueso 2006-06-06 16:46 |
| #17 I forgot until anon mentioned Mr. Butt. Twenty years ago I bought a house from a Mr. Dick Skinner. I like to think of myself as a reasonably adjusted adult but everytime I think about that name my knees go weak. |
| Posted by: GORT 2006-06-06 15:40 |
| #16 One more thing about customers: My history professor was a Hungarian, one of the 1956 Freedom Fighters who had been an instructor in Tactics at the Hungarian Military Academy before the Soviet Occupation. He made sure we knew Hungary's role throughout History! So when, in Central Illinois, I met a customer named "Frank Deak," I took a good look at him, noticed his Hungarian features, and addressed him as "Mr. Day-ahk." He was delighted to hear his name pronounced correctly. |
| Posted by: mom 2006-06-06 14:42 |
| #15 We have a customer named Mr. Butt. Nicest guy in the world, a genuine pleasure to talk to, you can't help but feel sorry for him being stuck with that name. I usually address customers by "Mr." or "Mrs.," but him, I have to go with his first name. |
| Posted by: Name withheld (one of the regulars) 2006-06-06 14:26 |
| #14 Years upon years ago, I worked in customer service for a major retailer. In one store, we wrote the delightful names (delightful if somebody else's name, that is) on a legal pad. Over the years the office built up quite a list. This store was at a crossroads of ethnic neighborhoods in the Chicago area, so on any given day we might meet customers named Boodoosingh, Guglielmato, Szczech (pronounced "Check"), and such botanical rarities as Dallas Crabtree and Mossie Stone. Mrs. Guglielmato was something else: she worked herself up into a case of heart palpitations getting upset over something which would have taken me 20 seconds to fix, if I hadn't had to spend 20 minutes talking her down off the ceiling first. |
| Posted by: mom 2006-06-06 14:26 |
| #13 http://www.dirtysounding.com/ |
| Posted by: ed 2006-06-06 11:48 |
| #12 Was in the Service with a guy named Raymond Why. He caught o lot of flack from the DI's when they would ask names, "Gimmie your last name first and your first name last. Name!", "Why". "Don't gimmie any bullshit, son, I'll have you runn' till yer legs fall off!" |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2006-06-06 11:08 |
| #11 Funniest name spelling I saw was at the Osan post office. It was Xmas season and lots of packages around. A woman in line had three of them stacked next to her with the address facing out. My eye grew wide and I snickered when I saw the return adressee: "Mi Suk U". |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-06-06 10:35 |
| #10 I knew a guy once, his real name was "Vagina" pronounced as the real vagina was. I asked him why he didn't change it, ne said it was "Unique" OK, it's your name. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-06-06 08:51 |
| #9 Oh we can do pretty well here in the States too. A court case I am familar with mentions one of the kids - it is pronounced "ShehTade" - it is spelled "Sh1tHead". The judge called a recess after he couldn't quit breaking up. |
| Posted by: GORT 2006-06-06 08:42 |
| #8 My favorite was Heidi Ho (much funnier if you are a Brit). Or watch South Park (think Mr Hanky)... |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2006-06-06 07:18 |
| #7 Heidi Hi!! |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2006-06-06 06:29 |
| #6 Many Chinese who work with Westerners adopt an English. Some of their choices are unfortunate to say the least. My favorite was Heidi Ho (much funnier if you are a Brit). Another Chinese name that caught my attention on a resume was Miaow Miaow. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-06-06 06:24 |
| #5 Ran across a guy in Japan whose last name was Morifuku. I remember one of my U.S. coworkers saying "It's good he grew up in Japan. With a name like that he'd never have made it through high school in the U.S." |
| Posted by: mac 2006-06-06 04:06 |
| #4 Had a friend in college, a young Tamil scholar from Sri Lanka, whose first name was Douche. A good guy with a sense of humor about it. |
| Posted by: JDB 2006-06-06 02:17 |
| #3 That's not the worst name I've ever heard. That award goes to the poor Indian gentleman saddled with the unfortunate "Anil Dikshit". I remember a long time ago having this man call a brokerage I worked at. The notes all over his account verified that yes, it was his name, and no comments on it were ever to be tolerated in the presence of the customer. (There was nothing about passing around "Hey check this guy's name out!" notes after the call, though....) I swear, if I ever move somewhere and my name in the native language evokes as much horrified laughter as that, I'm changing it. |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-06-06 00:48 |
| #2 pahty-phuper... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2006-06-06 00:41 |
| #1 Snicker if you will, but in Thai the "r" is silent. It's just there to clue you in to pronounce the "o" as if there were an "r" after it. Think "Pohn-tip". Long "o" but don't accent the first syllable. Phuket is pronounced with a hard P: "poo-ket". |
| Posted by: Scooter McGruder 2006-06-06 00:19 |