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a monosyllabic surname of ambiguous non-anglo-ethnicity
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.
"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.
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I assume from this that you've got the intarweb situation at work sorted?
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(Has anyone ever told you that you haggle as well as any Vietnamese street vendor?)
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And, I am immensely enjoying your workplace observations!
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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.
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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.
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If you can find it anywhere online, using any legal means you have at your disposal, I've failed.
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Vietnamese???
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