Friday, February 16, 2007

Monday Rant: Spell My Name!

I don't think my name is particularly difficult to spell. Like the very word "spell" itself, there are

TWO L s at the end of my last name.

Not one, TWO.

Please stop refering to me as "Brummel" or "TheBrummel" or "thebrummel" or "Thebrummel". All of these are wrong.

Do two vertical lines adjacent cause you trouble? Do you frequently mistake movies for their own prequels? Do you not understand the field-goal in American football? Does the distinction between monorails and standard railroads give you pause? In short, are you a complete moron?

5 comments:

Carlo said...

Well Brummel, I've given up on this sort of thing. After having been called Carlos Archery more times than I can count, I've decided that the ridiculous degree of non-standardization within the English language is going to make this a constant source of woe.

The only thing that still gets me is when people mis-transcribe my name (i.e. they take my PRINTED name and copy it down wrong onto another piece of paper...).

I've actually got a ridiculous story about this (That everyone keeps laughing about in my lab). Remind me to tell you about it... maybe I'll comment it in if I'm bored later.

TheBrummell said...

the ridiculous degree of non-standardization within the English language
Given how many names in Canada are derived from languages other than English (including a large fraction of English names), I doubt another language would help much. This is probably a general feature of stupid people (i.e. everybody).

Please tell me your ridiculous story! Sounds fun.

The whole adding-an-s-to-the-end phenomenon also bugs the hell out of me. Certain close relatives of mine do it chronically. This is why I sometimes over-compensate, and drop an s from some names.

The mis-transcribe thing is just mind-boggling. It happens to me, too, but generally it's just the double-l at the end of the name, which is why I put in the stuff about pairs of vertical lines.

Also: Brummel

DAMN YOU! I WILL DESTROY YOU!

I had to get that out there.

Anonymous said...

This will probably show me to be a "complete moron," but I would have assumed that your named rhymed with "pummel" rather than with "spell".

TheBrummell said...

Anon, I doubt your moronic status.

It's true that my name does rhyme with "pummel". But it's not spelled that way.

Mispronounciations of my name can be reserved for a separate rant.

King Aardvark said...

Sorry if I've ever misspelled your name, Mr. Brumell.

Sucka!


My brother is normally in the same boat as you with people dropping out one of a set of double letters. However, that's not the only thing to happen to him. It's not a spelling thing, but one time my mom accidentally called him "Walmart".