*rolls eyes*

[heathershaped]

Dear New Person Who Has Transferred To Our Building,

You seem like a perfectly nice, well-intentioned woman. Really. But you work on a campus with people who hail from all over the world, from Mongolia to India to Nigeria to Greece. Additionally, you look old enough not to be new to this field, and for pete's sake, you're a scientist. So, when you introduce yourself to me and I tell you my name, and you express your relief at finally meeting someone with a normal, easy-to-pronounce name, I hope you'll understand why the smile drops rather comically off my face. Please understand that saying stuff like that aloud doesn't exactly reflect well on you, nor is it funny just because you are talking to another American with a western name.

Also? 'Hong' or 'Raj'? No less difficult to pronounce than Heather. Try it! You'll see.

With exasperation,

Me

p.s. Nice to meet you, too.

Comments

[glass_icarus]

*facepalm* :| i... yeah, no.

[heathershaped]

My thoughts exactly. -_-'

[bossymarmalade]

You should see what happens when you're a poc with a normal name! I have heard so many attempts at wrangling some kind of "Indian" pronunciation for my very accessible surname (Sammy) that I just don't bother trying to correct people anymore.

[heathershaped]

I am a poc with a "normal" name, LOL. People generally don't know what to do with brown-skinned girls named Heather. :p But at least they don't try to make up some other pronunciation to fit their 'exotic' impression of me. Good grief, I'm sorry that happened to you.

[bossymarmalade]

oh shit, sorry, boo! I had a total brain blip there. *g*

It's even more lame when people struggle to spell Sammy, like there's NO WAY it could be spelled exactly how it sounds. heh!

[heathershaped]

Hee! No worries. It's not immediately obvious through the internets. <3

It's even more lame when people struggle to spell Sammy, like there's NO WAY it could be spelled exactly how it sounds. heh!

*facepalm*