Yeti
Hi, nice to meet you! My name is Amritha. Yeah for sure, I can repeat that. Amritha. One more time? No problem. Amritha. Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t have any nicknames. Ah not quite “Ah-ma-reed-ah”. Amritha. Haha no, not “Ah-meer-thah”. You’re getting closer though! Try “Um-rih-thah” instead. What was that? You would like to call me “Amy” instead? Okay Alexandrina, no problem.
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As I stared into his dreamy blue eyes, I realized that 5th grade might not be so bad after all. He came closer and asked, “What’s your name?” I responded with my full name (Amritha Yelleti) in an attempt to get his. “Haha, I can’t tell what your last name is because it’s so long, but it sounds like ‘Yo-Lady’. I’m gonna call you ‘Yo-Lady’ from now on. Hey, yo-lady!”
“Ew, no! Hahaha, that’s so embarrassing.” In my head I was thinking, Yeah…I’ll be ‘yo-lady’ *wink wink*. Just to be clear, I want to punch my younger self right now.
“Fine, I’ll call you Yeti instead (insert so-called yeti noises here).”
“Ugh, whatever. But only you can call me that,” I said, my naiveté peaking.
Did I ever talk to this boy again? Nope. Was I known as Yeti by the entire 5th-grade class because one jerk of a boy didn’t want to learn how to pronounce my last name and I had no self-respect to correct him? Yep. :)
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I don’t think someone’s name defines who they are. My name is Amritha, which essentially means immortal. Am I immortal? There’s a possibility, but most likely not. If someone introduced themselves as Sarah, I wouldn’t think that they are a princess or a noblewoman because that is what her name means in Hebrew. What name someone was given at birth does not determine their personality. However, names can be a great part of someone’s identity and heritage. They are symbols that represent all of the qualities of a specific person. By refusing to put in the effort to learn how to pronounce someone’s name, you are disrespecting them and their heritage. In “The ‘F Word’”, Firoozeh Dumas discusses the struggles that immigrants face with their names. When people do not try to learn someone’s name because it is ethnic, they are excluding them and being unequal to them. It harms self-image as well. Correctly learning and pronouncing a name is a mere form of respect and people can feel disrespected, outcasted, or simply worthless when someone doesn’t do so. The two anecdotes above serve to show the irony of people refusing to learn ethnic names even when their name is complex and the effects of someone doing so. Pronouncing someone’s name correctly should not be too difficult and seen as a big change. The real pronunciation of someone’s name does not change who they are.
P.S. This is not an attack on you if you refer to me as “Um-ree-tha”. XD If I have never corrected you, I don’t take offense in how you refer to me, because that’s my fault. :) I got embarrassed and tired of correcting my 1st-grade teacher because she looked scary and frustrated with me and everyone was laughing, so I let her and everyone call me that. Since I was too shy to “reintroduce” myself with the correct pronunciation of my first name, “Um-ree-thah” stuck throughout elementary and middle school. It wasn’t until sophomore year that I overcame that shyness and decided to introduce myself to my teachers and peers as to how my name is really pronounced. Even my family in India calls me “Um-roo-thah”. In birthday texts, it’s always, “Happy birthday Amruta!” because that is how my name is typically spelled in India (ok fine, this bugs me a little since my family doesn't even know my name), but oh well. Even many of my closest friends still call me “Um-ree-tha” because they and I are just used to them referring to me that way. This was just to show the importance of correctly learning someone’s name and the effects not doing so can have on a kid.
Hi Amritha!
ReplyDeleteI love your post, especially the part about your relatives spelling your name wrong sometimes too, because I can totally relate. Every Indian person I've ever met is CONVINCED (and I mean CONVINCED) that my name has an H in it, and I just don't know how to spell it. Like, this Indian at airport security, WITH MY PASSPORT IN HIS HAND (which has my legal name printed in big block letters), asked me why my name was spelled wrong on the plane ticket. It's so weird how simultaneously close and removed we can feel from our names sometimes.
Amritha, your blog post is not only really funny but also very informative. Your personal anecdotes at the beginning were a nice inclusion to your post since they support your claim nicely. I agree that names should be respected and learned because they are a core part of who we are as people.
ReplyDeleteI love how your blog is filled with anecdotes, and visual proof that you constantly get called different names. The bits of humor that you've incorporated into your blog not only adds to the comedic aspect, but also shows your distaste in situations like these. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Amritha, this is one of my favorite blog posts that you wrote so far. I loved the narration in your anecdote and the memes. I can also relate to family relatives spelling my name wrong and each time it’s a new spelling too.
ReplyDeleteI like how your blog post is like an anecdote. I also like the meme and puts into perspective how much people with hard to pronounce names feel. I also thought about the red underline as well. Like I typed out Firoozeh on the google doc and it was red. Its almost like the computer is telling people that their names are invalid
ReplyDeleteYo this was gold. You did a great job highlighting the features of your name with numerous anecdotes. Even my family sometimes misspells my name sometimes, I find it funny and laugh it off. This one time in 1st grade this teacher was writing my name for me at the book fair and I told her how to spell it but she pointed out that "2 Es can make an I" but I still told her to spell it with two Es. This other time I went really late to this bowling party and they already had set up my scores and called me yet again "Viksha". I loved reading your post, it was really funny this week.
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