Tue, November 16, 2004
"Hello, Mr. Thompson..."—9:50 AM
Don't get me wrong, I love the people at Westside Volvo (405 and Washington Blvd, Culver City – if you're buying or servicing a Volvo in L.A., go to them; they'll treat you right!) – but you take a look at the following work order and see how you'd pronounce the name.
"JAY-mah-sun SIM-muns"? "JAYM-sun," perhaps? I get that sometimes. It's a little weird, but it's not a super-common name so I cut people some slack. However, this is how two separate people pronounced it today: (Keep in mind, both of them were reading it off this printout at the time.)
"Jason Simpson."
Joe Mulder — Tue, 11/16/04 2:42pm
I shuddered when I read this. I have a theory that the easier a person's name, the more frustrated that person will get when it's mispronounced. I get reasonably upset when people mess up mine (especially since "The X-Files" entered the cultural vocabulary – and don't give me "I never saw 'The X-Files;'" you've heard of Mulder and Scully. You just have. If you don't think you have, you're just too dumb to have remembered it).
So, based on how easy your name is, I think Steve Vargas (or, as he himself would pronounce it if it weren't his own name, "Stove Vegas") should be thankful you did't stab him in the eye with a pen.
Brandon — Tue, 11/16/04 6:17pm
lol, Stove Vegas... I'm legally changing my name!