Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Say My Name, Say My Name

I've never been good at saying my own name.

The lack of any strong plosives or gutturals in "Julian" doesn't combine well with the muted tone of my voice. Upon introducing myself, most people ask me to repeat my name or, better still, take a crack at it themselves. Like the primary school receptionist who asked, "Julia, is it?" (That's right, you half-wit, my name is Julia; the only reason I'm wearing this necktie is to throw the fellas off the scent.)

Anyway. Last week I had a long enough conversation with another supply teacher to warrant an introduction, albeit at the end of the conversation.

"I'm Julian," I said, shaking her hand.

"Justine."

"No—Julian," I enunciated a little more forcefully, and leaned in.

"Yes. My name is Justine."

Ah, good; I'm glad we understand each other.

4 comments:

gerrod said...

I totally empathize with you, Julia. In fact, I once appealed to the masses to try and get myself a nickname because I was sick of people getting my name wrong.

It didn't work.

Sweet Olive Press | Helen said...

You could always take the famous "Reeve. Richard Reeve." approach.

(He argued that it left no room for misunderstanding. I argued that, since people still managed to call him Richard REEVES, it actually did.)

Stac said...

I hear you. For some reason people very often think I say my name is Daisy. That's not my name. My name is Stacey. Yes now I'm singing.

Sweet Olive Press | Helen said...

I get Kelly, Ellen and Melanie.
I also frequently answer to "Hello".

It's a shame.