The Virtual Pub
Come Inside... => Saloon Bar => Topic started by: Pastis on May 26, 2009, 03:16:29 PM
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Having a surname that I usually have to pronounce two or three times, then spell out to the person enquiring, I have taken for many a year to using a more common name to make things easier. It's simpler, less time consuming and all in all a safer bet angel1
I only use this technique on trivial, unimportant things like ordering a take-away, the dry cleaning, shoe repairs etc and now most of the regularly used services know me by my alter ego... simples 8)
Not this afternoon however Banghead. A new employee at the dry cleaners eeek: It went something like this:
Is name, please?
Walker
Wok?
Walker
Sorrys, spell him, please?
W A L K
W?
Yes
O?
A
K?
No L!
WOL?
No! WAL
Ok. then?
K
8?
K!!
A?
K!!!!
Ah K... sorrys
E
P?
E!!
D?
E!!!!!!!!
E?
YES!!!!
R
UR?
R!!
Oh.... R.... thanks you, Meester Woker
FFS.... Why do I bother? Shrugs:
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happy001 happy001 happy001 happy001 happy001 happy001
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Oh dear!
I have suffered from the fact that there are two acceptable ways to spell my surname and many more to misunderstand it. God knows why but many people hear it as Morris (which it is not) so I thought I had solved the problem by saying "As in Arabia" after giving the name (OK so now you've worked it out). Anyway this worked quite well until one day I said it and the guy writing it down stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth and carefully printed Mr O'Toole. ::)
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What if he'd written Mr Sharif? eeek: ;)
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What if he'd written Mr Sharif? eeek: ;)
Or "Cairo Fred" as Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers used to call him.
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I used to work with a guy that couldn't pronounce his own name...
It was 'Dave' but he couldn't do the 'vee' sound... it came out 'wee'...
So listening to him on the phone was hilarious...
Call Centre: What is your name
Him: Daweee
Call Centre: Can you spell that?
Him: D. A. WEE. E.
Call Centre: Dawee?
Him: No, Dawee
Call Centre: Dawee?
Him: No, Dawee
Call Centre: Can you spell that?
Him: D. A. WEE. E.
Call Centre: Dawee?
Etc.
Hilarious! lol:
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As Dr David Bellamy once said "Only an idiot would marry someone called Rosemary when they cannot say the letter R" as he introduced his wife "Wosemawy"
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Imagine the mirth when Col. and Mrs Clive Bottham announced the arrival of their daughter, Ophelia eeek:
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We'll be playing Mornington Crescent next.
What think we of three guest hosts to replace Humph in the new series? Stephen Fry, Jack Dee and ....... errrrr...... someone I have never heard of will be taking it in turns apparently. Stephen Fry says it was an awesome experience that he had serious doubts about but the "Team" carried it off. Also new member of the panel is Victoria Wood and those that have seen her in it at the recording say she is brilliant..
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I'd look forward to any of those three guesting it. My choice, had I the influence, would be Barry Humphries (as himself, obviously).
Urbane, witty, eloquent, slightly tired but still wickedly satirical.
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Can any of them play the trumpet...?
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I'd look forward to any of those three guesting it. My choice, had I the influence, would be Barry Humphries (as himself, obviously).
Urbane, witty, eloquent, slightly tired but still wickedly satirical.
Did you catch him on Desert Island Discs earlier in the week? Lovely man. He wants to write his own obit to ensure there is no mention of Edna. ;D
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Can any of them play the trumpet...?
Does the pink oboe count?
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Can any of them play the trumpet...?
Does the pink oboe count?
Tsk!
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Can any of them play the trumpet...?
Does the pink oboe count?
noooo:
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I'd look forward to any of those three guesting it. My choice, had I the influence, would be Barry Humphries (as himself, obviously).
Urbane, witty, eloquent, slightly tired but still wickedly satirical.
Did you catch him on Desert Island Discs earlier in the week? Lovely man. He wants to write his own obit to ensure there is no mention of Edna. ;D
Yes. The first time I was aware of him was via Private Eye and then as "Envy" in that film with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook, "Bedazzled"
A superb talent.
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Having a surname that I usually have to pronounce two or three times, then spell out to the person enquiring, I have taken for many a year to using a more common name to make things easier. It's simpler, less time consuming and all in all a safer bet angel1
Indeed you should dumb it down for us simpletons whistle:
Pastis
Pasty
Pastry
Past it
Smith cloud9: cloud9: cloud9:
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Having a surname that I usually have to pronounce two or three times, then spell out to the person enquiring, I have taken for many a year to using a more common name to make things easier. It's simpler, less time consuming and all in all a safer bet angel1
Indeed you should dumb it down for us simpletons whistle:
Pastis
Pasty
Pastry
Past it
Smith cloud9: cloud9: cloud9:
Spoken like a true friend. eeek:
Anyway surely it would be Psmith (One there for the Wodehouse fans among us ~ the p is silent as in bath)
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Surely it reflects my ignorance more than anything else though Snoops whistle:
Pastis knows I am only jesting cloud9: ..... I am in no position to criticise anybody's surname sad24:
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Surely it reflects my ignorance more than anything else though Snoops whistle:
Pastis knows I am only jesting cloud9: ..... I am in no position to criticise anybody's surname sad24:
point:
scared2:
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Surely it reflects my ignorance more than anything else though Snoops whistle:
Pastis knows I am only jesting cloud9: ..... I am in no position to criticise anybody's surname sad24:
point:
Oh ~ and you are I suppose?
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Surely it reflects my ignorance more than anything else though Snoops whistle:
Pastis knows I am only jesting cloud9: ..... I am in no position to criticise anybody's surname sad24:
point:
Oh ~ and you are I suppose?
redface:
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I have not reverted to my maiden name due to The Brat really and having some consistency for her - however I am now wondering why the hell that matters rubschin:
It could be time for a change I think 8)
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Well I know the origins of my surname ~ could be a conversation starter for Friday night if everyone else did too ~ and not just because it was your dad's name either!
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noooo:
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noooo:
Aw ~ come on you old spoilsport, there must be an interesting history in your name.
Mine has a fascinating tale behind it.
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noooo:
Aw ~ come on you old spoilsport, there must be an interesting history in your name.
Mine has a fascinating tale behind it.
Look mine up and you can tell me all about it on Friday then... whistle:
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No:
Aw ~ come on you old spoilsport, there must be an interesting history in your name.
Mine has a fascinating tale behind it.
Look mine up and you can tell me all about it on Friday then... whistle:
You have prolly already done an internet search for it ~ most people have. I can tell you that there are more people with your surname in the old records than I expected BUT the usual sites can offer no explanation of its origins which looks as if it is a corruption of a foreign name or an invented name used by record keepers when your ancestors arrived on these shores and nobody could understand them. There are a fair number with the same surname in the USA too. Interestingly looking at the name distribution in 1891 there are large portions of the UK where the name does not appear on the records at all and the biggest concentration is in the South East. Most are in London, then there is an even spread throughout Essex, Middlesex, Kent, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire. Few in Wiltshire and Dorset and a lot again in Devon. None in Cornwall or Wales (Scotland keeps its own records so is not included) None in Derbyshire or Cheshire. A scant few in other counties. This would indicate that the immigrant families had become well established by 1891 but tended to remain in and around London where the work/money was. I would suspect, given your known colouring (hair etc), that the family origins lie in the Northern end of Europe rather than further south towards the Med.
Tell me on Friday how wrong I am and how you are really descended from a long line of Mexican bandits. lol:
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Alternatively he is an alien
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Oink! whistle:
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Danish origins then ~ Like Mr Nick
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Ahhhhhh my long lost cousin scared2:
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Ahhhhhh my long lost cousin scared2:
No he's not. ::) That is just a threat to keep you in line.
Your surname and his both have the same derivation and it is trade/occupation related.
Mine is Church related
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Keep me in line eeek: - that's hardly necessary now is it noooo:
Thank heavens surnames don't emerge to readily now from trades / occupations !!!
"Hello - pleased to meet you , what is your name ? "
" Hi - I'm Ms Traffic-Warden " eeek:
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lol:
Fortunately the need to have surnames is now so well established that it is no longer necessary to invent them ~ except to use as "Stage" names and the like.
It all started with population growth and the need to differentiate between one person and another of the same name as in David that became firstly David son of David which soon contracted to Davidson and variations thereon (Davison etc).
Anyone called Cooper probably had an ancestor who made barrels. Thatcher is pretty obvious as well. Others were called after a local landmark or church within which boundaries the person had been born (as in the case of my ancestors) but it is no use looking at modern landmarks and trying to equate them as the name game started hundreds of years ago. Biblically it is starting to be used as in Joseph of Arimathea simply to show that he was not some other Joseph.
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Hello ~ BM has gone. Was he bored with what I was saying or is Firefox not as fixed as he hoped?
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Both?
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Ahhhhhh my long lost cousin scared2:
No he's not. ::) That is just a threat to keep you in line.
Your surname and his both have the same derivation and it is trade/occupation related.
Mine is Church related
Charlotte?
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Did you miss me again...? cloud9:
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In Iceland they do it differently!
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Ahhhhhh my long lost cousin scared2:
No he's not. ::) That is just a threat to keep you in line.
Your surname and his both have the same derivation and it is trade/occupation related.
Mine is Church related
Charlotte?
lol: lol: lol: noooo:
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In Iceland they do it differently!
Where do they put the eggs in Iceland then...?
PS You are in the wrong thread... ::)
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In Iceland they do it differently!
Seldom in the open air I would imagine whistle:
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::)
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In Iceland they do it differently!
Where do they put the eggs in Iceland then...?
PS You are in the wrong thread... ::)
You should ask that Katona person.
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Or Magnus ~ Son of Magnus whistle:
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Or Magnus ~ Son of Magnus whistle:
The cider tycoon?
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Or Magnus ~ Son of Magnus whistle:
The cider tycoon?
::)