a monosyllabic surname of ambiguous non-anglo-ethnicity

[trochee]

The Chinese project manager two desks over is on the phone, talking about a project I'm working on. He mis-spells my surname, scrambling the coda consonants. He notices me flinching at the mis-spelling, and corrects himself. He then compares it to "uh, a Persian king yah", hears me laugh, and looks up at me: "what -- no?"

"It's just a name," I said. I don't want to go into the extended history of the consonant sequence, which derives from an old name for one of the Hebrew tribes. It's anglo-homophonous, but not anglo-orthographically identical to the name he's thinking of, nor is it ortho-identical to a certain even-numbered science-fiction sequel. He turns back to the phone. I turn back to my terminal.

"No, I don't think so," he says after a moment. I turn back. He looks up -- "No, I don't think he's Vietnamese," he says to the phone. I sip some coffee, and go back to work.

Comments

[xaosenkosmos.livejournal.com]

Man, i hope i get to meet you in person sometime, entirely so i can use your last name, 'cause none of the above had occured to me when i saw it.

I assume from this that you've got the intarweb situation at work sorted?

[trochee.livejournal.com]

just spare me the William Shatner impersonations -- everybody thinks it's original, but I have heard it.

[xaosenkosmos.livejournal.com]

Can i at least shake my fist a little?

[trochee.livejournal.com]

I should really be insisting that you have to buy me a drink in order to do the William Shatner thing. It's just the price of admission.

[xaosenkosmos.livejournal.com]

Fair enough.

(Has anyone ever told you that you haggle as well as any Vietnamese street vendor?)

[chachachana.livejournal.com]

thanks for making me laugh! :)

[congogirl.livejournal.com]

I sure wish I knew what your last name was :)

And, I am immensely enjoying your workplace observations!

[trochee.livejournal.com]

um, I'm trying not to put my name in the googleable parts of LJ. Some recent friends-locked posts, though, lead to easy links (e.g. the one pointing to the webpage describing my MA). But I actually think that you can work it out from the pop culture references if you want.

trombo2 has something to answer for here.

[congogirl.livejournal.com]

One of these days when my concentration is up, I will work it out -- I understand making your LJ google-proof, I try to do the same...

[trochee.livejournal.com]

or you can follow the link in this post. The abstract is enough to help you with this mystery. (oo, mystery! *wiggles fingers*)

[congogirl.livejournal.com]

haha, yes, your entry is much funnier now! Well, it was still pretty rich what with the comparisons to Persian kings and Vietnamese folks...

Nobody gets my name mixed up, in anglophone land, but here in DR Congo or anywhere else francophone, it's a bit difficult, because it has 3 sounds that you don't have in French. Orthographically, they exist, but in English they are pronounced completely differently.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

oh, and I never underestimate the smarts of Google. But I can make it difficult, if not completely proofed.

[congogirl.livejournal.com]

good point.

[soliss.livejournal.com]

This is why I wish I had a cooler last name.

I've been seriously considering changing it. To, say, "Smith" or "Doe", maybe.

This way, though, I can at least say it's my family name, and get out of the blame for it. If I changed it, I'd have to admit to having voluntarily picked whatever it was. Plus, I'd be easier to identity theft.

[trochee.livejournal.com]

hmmm... I don't know your real surname either. I'll think about it and see if I can figure it out.

[soliss.livejournal.com]

Best of luck.

If you can find it anywhere online, using any legal means you have at your disposal, I've failed.

[lapartera.livejournal.com]

I laughed out loud at this and immediately called trombo2 to come and read it.

Vietnamese???

[trochee.livejournal.com]

um, consider the (Anglo-)silent consonant. now move it to second position, and copy it to the end as well. google for this and you will find a number of Vietnamese pop stars and an exiled leader or two.

[lapartera.livejournal.com]

OK. Never thought of that!