From: Maia <maia>
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 12:32:27 -0500

Bonnie said: "I have an adult aunt that keeps tells me her name is Marge not Margaret. To the point of threatening to call me an unpleasant name if I don't remember. I also have several students in one class remind me how to pronounce Kirsten on a weekly basis. I think Bud not .... is realistic if not practical."
--Well, as a child whose name teachers could never get right, I can certainly understand the insistence on being named correctly. I was able to stand up for myself about many things, but it always felt so humiliating to remind someone (especially an adult) that my name is pronounced _this way_, and so often I didn't. Even as
"teacher's pet", they didn't get the pronunciation right half of the time! (Interestingly enough, kids almost always got it right. Now what does that mean?)

Personally, I've found the inability of many Americans to pronounce names that don't make it to the "Top 100 Baby Names" lists pretty disconcerting -- as well as that adults are generally unwilling to let a child define him or herself, even in something as simple as a name. I think we get to a subtle power issue here... surely it's not only for "wizards" that names hold


power?

A name can be a metaphor for many things -- a bud is an amazing promise, something on the verge, something sweet and powerful. A buddy is a little person, or a dog, or a tagalong, or someone you pair up with in the swimming pool.

Maia maia at littlefolktales.org
Received on Thu 27 Jan 2000 11:32:27 AM CST