Thursday, April 17, 2014

O: O apostrophe

A short rant expanding on my April 10th post.

How many people in the US identify as Irish American?  Lots.  I don't have a number, but I know it's lots.

I hate having to fight and have my name spelled correctly.  Unless the person I'm talking with also spells their surname with O', people look at me like I have lobsters crawling out of my ears.

"O apostrophe capital R?  Why does it have to be capitalized?"

Because that's how to spell it!!  If your name is Katherine, I bet you'd get ticked if I kept spelling it as C-a-t-h-e-r-i-n-e.  Even more so if I went the route of K-a-t-h-r-y-n.  Yeah, pisses you off, right?

And my fellow Irish and even Scottish with Mac or Mc in their surname have it just as bad.  You and I both know it's MacFarlane and McIntire.  Yet you'll have your name tag printed as Macfarlane and Mcintire.

Oh, I know why (other than people just not understanding).  Computers.  I understand.  Whatever "language" your system uses to operate won't allow an apostrophe because it screws with the code.  It's 2014.  I know for a fact that this isn't a valid excuse anymore.  If a friggin' bill collector can spell my name out properly on the next harassing letter they send me, then AT&T can do the same with my monthly bill that I've had for six years.


End rant.

4 comments:

  1. I'm with you, Dara. There is no reason why they can't figure out how to include the apostrophe and capital letter. If we can put a man on the moon and map the human genome, we can figure out how to spell people's names correctly on an airline ticket.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is a sign of respect to write a persons name correctly especially if they want money. Unfortunately respect is in short supply these days. If you tell them that unless it is spelled correctly you will not pay the bill because it is for someone else they will fix it pretty quickly. That has been my experience in recent times. Insist that legally the bill is addressed incorrectly and you are not obliged to pay it and see how fast it is fixed. Good luck. I have my name incorrectly spelled all the time, first and last. it is universal laziness I think.



    http://ceciliaaclark.blogspot.com.au

    ReplyDelete
  3. LOL, my friend's surname is O'Rourke and before that it was simply Buss (her maiden name). She's already experienced some headaches over people's inability to get it right (and especially on government documents!).

    I agree w/ Cecilla on when it comes to respect, in that I wish people would be a little more careful saying and writing down names properly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I usually don't get my name spelled wrong although I used to with my maiden name (Burt). You're rant reminds of of my sisters married last name: MacKay. Not only do they have issues with spelling, but pronunciation too. It's Ma-KY not Ma-kay

    ReplyDelete