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I don't vent much about people I don't know. But when there is a funeral precession passing down the road, there is a hurst, and many cars with headlights and emergency blinkers on! Pull over!
OTOH, I downshifted my HURST to slow down for the HEARSE!
I don't vent much about people I don't know. But when there is a funeral precession passing down the road, there is a hurst, and many cars with headlights and emergency blinkers on! Pull over!
For reasons that I have never been able to fathom, many people seem to feel that it is necessary to add an extra letter (sound) to certain words.
For example, the last name of a friend of mine is "Costanza", yet it seems that many (perhaps most) people pronounce his name as "CoNstanza".
Similarly, when many people order Eggplant Rollatini in a restaurant, they ask for Eggplant RollaNtini.
In my high school days, I can recall a lot of guys giving advice such as, "You better use 'protection' if you don't want to get 'the syphT' (translation=syphilis)".
I have heard some women say that they like "RevAlon" cosmetics/hair care products.
So, to people like that, I suppose that it makes perfect sense to pronounce "hearse" as "hurst".
My last name is Poland. Seems easy enough, right? I mean, it IS the name of a huge country in Europe. I'd think people would have at least heard the word before...even though it's not a common last name. (By the way, it's Irish, not Polish, in origin, of all oddities! It means "small pond" - "polin" or "polan" is the original Irish word.)
Anyway, I digress. Here's where things start to bug the heck out of me. ALMOST INVARIABLY, receptionists and people who take my orders, whatever, seem to feel compelled to write my last name out as "Polland." OK - I've never EVER heard the name (or word) "Polland." Not only that, if I write out my name "Poland" on, say, a sign in sheet, the person calling it out nearly ALWAYS calls out "Polland!" (Rhymes with "Holland.") I have even had people ARGUE with me over my OWN LAST NAME!
"It says Polland." Or, "There are two L's in your name." Or whatever. I have even had to say, "Excuse me - is this MY last name or your last name? Which of us do you think knows how to pronounce it?"
Which of us do you think knows how to pronounce it?"
Something else that I have never been able to fathom is the phenomenon of people arguing with me over issues that I would certainly have more awareness/knowledge of than they do.
The best example that comes to mind is from my days as a high school counselor. I have always had a very good memory for both faces and names, and as a result, when former students would come to the office for academic transcripts, it was not unusual for me to be able to recall their names--even if they had not been among my counselees.
Here is a typical scenario:
Former Student: Hi, my name is XXXXX XXXXXXXX, and I would like a transcript.
Me: Oh sure, I recall that you were a counselee of Ms. XXXXX, and that you graduated somewhere around 1995 or 1996. Am I correct?
FS: Yes, she was my counselor, and I graduated in 1996, but...How would you know that? You weren't in this school when I was a student.
Me: Well, actually, I was here. I have been here since 1974.
FS: (adamantly now) No, you weren't here!
Me: I think what you mean is that, even though I can remember you, you don't remember me, and that may be understandable because I wasn't your counselor.
FS: (even more adamantly now) NO! You weren't here!
This exact scenario took place on more occasions than I would care to remember, but I am still at a loss to figure out why people are so insistent that they are correct when arguing with somebody who would certainly know the information.
Something else that I have never been able to fathom is the phenomenon of people arguing with me over issues that I would certainly have more awareness/knowledge of than they do.
<snipped>
This exact scenario took place on more occasions than I would care to remember, but I am still at a loss to figure out why people are so insistent that they are correct when arguing with somebody who would certainly know the information.
Dumb, dumber and dumbest covers a very large contingent.
Dumb, dumber and dumbest covers a very large contingent.
Overall, I agree, but in many of these situations, those former students were at least average in their intelligence, and some of them had been very good students.
In many of these situations, while they were ridiculously and needlessly argumentative, they were also not "dumb". Hence, my confusion regarding why some people have seen fit to argue with me over issues about which I would certainly be more aware/knowledgeable than they were.
Something else that I have never been able to fathom is the phenomenon of people arguing with me over issues that I would certainly have more awareness/knowledge of than they do.
The best example that comes to mind is from my days as a high school counselor. I have always had a very good memory for both faces and names, and as a result, when former students would come to the office for academic transcripts, it was not unusual for me to be able to recall their names--even if they had not been among my counselees.
Here is a typical scenario:
Former Student: Hi, my name is XXXXX XXXXXXXX, and I would like a transcript.
Me: Oh sure, I recall that you were a counselee of Ms. XXXXX, and that you graduated somewhere around 1995 or 1996. Am I correct?
FS: Yes, she was my counselor, and I graduated in 1996, but...How would you know that? You weren't in this school when I was a student.
Me: Well, actually, I was here. I have been here since 1974.
FS: (adamantly now) No, you weren't here!
Me: I think what you mean is that, even though I can remember you, you don't remember me, and that may be understandable because I wasn't your counselor.
FS: (even more adamantly now) NO! You weren't here!
This exact scenario took place on more occasions than I would care to remember, but I am still at a loss to figure out why people are so insistent that they are correct when arguing with somebody who would certainly know the information.
I had a conversation once with a man who insisted my father was a plumber, that I lived on a certain street, and that I had a sister who had "the rickets".
The man was a long-time resident of my small town and an alcoholic. He thought I was my mother. My GRANDFATHER was a plumber, my mother grew up on the street the man insisted I lived on, and my aunt had cerebral palsy. He had many of the details right...but he was thirty years in the past and a generation off! I guess I looked enough like my mother at the same age that he "recognized" me.
I had a conversation once with a man who insisted my father was a plumber, that I lived on a certain street, and that I had a sister who had "the rickets".
The man was a long-time resident of my small town and an alcoholic. He thought I was my mother. My GRANDFATHER was a plumber, my mother grew up on the street the man insisted I lived on, and my aunt had cerebral palsy. He had many of the details right...but he was thirty years in the past and a generation off! I guess I looked enough like my mother at the same age that he "recognized" me.
Well, at least there was a semi-plausible explanation for that old alky's confusion.
How would you explain young people (in their 20s, usually) who assumed that they knew more about my work history/place of employment than I did?
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