Overheard at Work

[gooki]

Also I have an American relative called W. Richard Surname, and we're like, 'What's the W for?' and he's like, 'Er,it's just W', and we were like, 'What?'. That is not a thing in the UK either.

I'm less concerned about the W. and more concerned that your relatives last name is Surname. That's fucking comedy gold right there.

[Squirrel away]

And just to keep this on track, my co-worker was telling me about his cool weekend plans. They are paying £100 per person to go to a regular office building and be locked into an office. They then have to open filing cabinets and desk drawers, and crack codes until they find the key to let themselves out.

I was like, dude, I have an office, I'll lock you in it for free.

LOL.:P

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

I think it's in Argentina that it's common to name people with just an initial in the middle: Juan R. Nombre. Just R. Then the person decides when they're an adult what R. stands for.

[theadvicist]

Also I have an American relative called W. Richard Surname, and we're like, 'What's the W for?' and he's like, 'Er,it's just W', and we were like, 'What?'. That is not a thing in the UK either.

I'm less concerned about the W. and more concerned that your relatives last name is Surname. That's fucking comedy gold right there.

That actually made me LOL.

[One Noisy Cat]

Naming conventions are so interesting! When you register a birth in the US then, are you allowed to include apostrophes in the name? I don't know if that would be allowed in the UK.

Hyphens are ok, Sarah-Louise or Sarah-Lou was popular when I was young. la-dash-a was definitely the first time of hearing it for me!

Also I have an American relative called W. Richard Surname, and we're like, 'What's the W for?' and he's like, 'Er,it's just W', and we were like, 'What?'. That is not a thing in the UK either.

(Insert joke about socialism v freedom here).

And just to keep this on track, my co-worker was telling me about his cool weekend plans. They are paying £100 per person to go to a regular office building and be locked into an office. They then have to open filing cabinets and desk drawers, and crack codes until they find the key to let themselves out.

I was like, dude, I have an office, I'll lock you in it for free.

President Harry S Truman had "S" as his middle name. The S was to please both his grandfathers Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young.

[infogoon]

A woman I dated was a high school teacher and had a girl named "La-a" in her class.  On the first day of class when she was trying to pronounce it, it was quickly pointed out to her that it was pronounced 'La-dash-ah'.  :|

This is a common story, along with the famous mythical twins "Orangejello" and "Lemonjello".

[GuitarStv]

We're part of the funny name club . . . named our kid ";DROP DATABASE" just to see what government agencies properly protect against injection attacks.

[jordanread]

We're part of the funny name club . . . named our kid ";DROP DATABASE" just to see what government agencies properly protect against injection attacks.

?

Although my absolute favorite has to be this one:


(There is a better picture somewhere in which it doesn't have a misspelling of table, but it's still damn funny)

[shotgunwilly]

A woman I dated was a high school teacher and had a girl named "La-a" in her class.  On the first day of class when she was trying to pronounce it, it was quickly pointed out to her that it was pronounced 'La-dash-ah'.  :|

I'll just leave this here: http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/le-a.asp

As to whether there is such a child, despite our hearing from dozens and dozens of readers who have claimed to us a girl bearing such a name was in their class or was in a class taught by a relative or acquaintance of theirs, we've yet to find documentation of anyone's bearing a name of "Le-a" that is pronounced "Ledasha" (or any other way). What we found through searching online Social Security databases (which are not complete repositories of information and thus aren't the final say in the matter) showed that while there were more than 4,000 "Lea"s, there weren't any "Le-a"s. For what it's worth, references in various news stories document that "Ledasha" (fully spelled out, not in a "Le-a" form) has indeed been used as a girl's name.

Wow, just kill all the fun. :P

Correcting stupid urban legends that are being passed on as true isn't killing fun. Snopes is wonderful. :)

Also can you remove or shrink the image in your signature?

That lying bitch...... :D

[MishMash]

A woman I dated was a high school teacher and had a girl named "La-a" in her class.  On the first day of class when she was trying to pronounce it, it was quickly pointed out to her that it was pronounced 'La-dash-ah'.  :|

I'll just leave this here: http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/le-a.asp

As to whether there is such a child, despite our hearing from dozens and dozens of readers who have claimed to us a girl bearing such a name was in their class or was in a class taught by a relative or acquaintance of theirs, we've yet to find documentation of anyone's bearing a name of "Le-a" that is pronounced "Ledasha" (or any other way). What we found through searching online Social Security databases (which are not complete repositories of information and thus aren't the final say in the matter) showed that while there were more than 4,000 "Lea"s, there weren't any "Le-a"s. For what it's worth, references in various news stories document that "Ledasha" (fully spelled out, not in a "Le-a" form) has indeed been used as a girl's name.

Wow, just kill all the fun. :P

Correcting stupid urban legends that are being passed on as true isn't killing fun. Snopes is wonderful. :)

Also can you remove or shrink the image in your signature?

That lying bitch...... :D

,
It may have started out as urban legend, but my mother works in a low income subsidized child care center in a ghetto and some bright lights out there really are naming their kids some stupid shit, she's gotten everything from the puns to the "future famous rapper" names, like Little Lay Lay and and William "Un" Rest (a brother and sister pair about 5 years ago).  Those aren't nicknames, those are no shit on the birth certificate at registration names She's also had her fair share of miniature phsychopaths over the years (she's been doing it 22 years now)

[gimp]

All children are psychopaths, man.

But yeah, poor people (and trash with money) fucking love weird-ass names. Race and culture don't matter, they all have 'em. Who the fuck names their kid Trig?

[fartface]

A woman I dated was a high school teacher and had a girl named "La-a" in her class.  On the first day of class when she was trying to pronounce it, it was quickly pointed out to her that it was pronounced 'La-dash-ah'.  :|

This is a common story, along with the famous mythical twins "Orangejello" and "Lemonjello".

TRUE STORY: Had a former student in my school district named D'iar Rhia 

When you say first and last together,  it sounds like diarrhea

Another student - from the middle east - had a name which sounds like SITH-HEED, however, it was spelled Shithead!

[MgoSam]

A woman I dated was a high school teacher and had a girl named "La-a" in her class.  On the first day of class when she was trying to pronounce it, it was quickly pointed out to her that it was pronounced 'La-dash-ah'.  :|

This is a common story, along with the famous mythical twins "Orangejello" and "Lemonjello".

TRUE STORY: Had a former student in my school district named D'iar Rhia 

When you say first and last together,  it sounds like diarrhea

Another student - from the middle east - had a name which sounds like SITH-HEED, however, it was spelled Shithead!

I knew an Indian boy named Gorung, which I am likely misspelling, but it sounded like "GO WRONG!"
 
Another one named Faqad, which when pronounced sounds like, $#% head." At least for him, his family was in India when he was born and moved later.

[mtn]

A guy I used to autocross with was from Korea. His name was You-Suk. He went by Alex.

[GuitarStv]

I work with many Asian engineers.  There's a Hu, Hao, and Yu on my team alone.

I've heard some hilarious unintentional Who's on First style conversations because of these names.

[Pooperman]

I work with many Asian engineers.  There's a Hu, Hao, and Yu on my team alone.

I've heard some hilarious unintentional Who's on First style conversations because of these names.

Hu's on first, Yu's on Second, Hao'd they get there, only Yu know :D.

[GuitarStv]

I work with many Asian engineers.  There's a Hu, Hao, and Yu on my team alone.

I've heard some hilarious unintentional Who's on First style conversations because of these names.

Hu's on first, Yu's on Second, Hao'd they get there, only Yu know :D.

- You on project A?
- No, Yu's on project B right now.
- Who's on the project then?
- Yes.
- Yes, what?
- Hu's on the project.
- That's what I asked!

[Malaysia41]

I work with many Asian engineers.  There's a Hu, Hao, and Yu on my team alone.

I've heard some hilarious unintentional Who's on First style conversations because of these names.

Hu's on first, Yu's on Second, Hao'd they get there, only Yu know :D.

- You on project A?
- No, Yu's on project B right now.
- Who's on the project then?
- Yes.
- Yes, what?
- Hu's on the project.
- That's what I asked!

A former co-worker's surname was Yew Fat Kok. 

with a short o vowel sound,mind you.

[dragoncar]

I work with many Asian engineers.  There's a Hu, Hao, and Yu on my team alone.

I've heard some hilarious unintentional Who's on First style conversations because of these names.

Hu's on first, Yu's on Second, Hao'd they get there, only Yu know :D.

- You on project A?
- No, Yu's on project B right now.
- Who's on the project then?
- Yes.
- Yes, what?
- Hu's on the project.
- That's what I asked!

A former co-worker's surname was Yew Fat Kok. 

with a short o vowel sound,mind you.

LOL, Asian names sound so funny in English.  Honestly, what were they thinking?????

[Hunny156]

More from the redneck boss files:

We had a trainee here from Russia, his first name is Evgeniy.  My boss is horrific at pronunciation, so he asked him how to say it.  My boss attempted it, and came up with You Guinea.  For two weeks, imagine a white haired old man walking down the halls, calling out for "You Guinea!"  How I kept a straight face, I don't know....

[klystomane]

LOL, Asian names sound so funny in English.  Honestly, what were they thinking?????

Because when the parents were naming their kids, just like everybody else, they totally thought: "Hmmm, I wonder if the name will sound silly in English, or German, or French...or Spanish..or...."

[secondcor521]

I work with many Asian engineers.  There's a Hu, Hao, and Yu on my team alone.

I've heard some hilarious unintentional Who's on First style conversations because of these names.

Hu's on first, Yu's on Second, Hao'd they get there, only Yu know :D.

- You on project A?
- No, Yu's on project B right now.
- Who's on the project then?
- Yes.
- Yes, what?
- Hu's on the project.
- That's what I asked!

A former co-worker's surname was Yew Fat Kok. 

with a short o vowel sound,mind you.

LOL, Asian names sound so funny in English.  Honestly, what were they thinking?????

Reminds me of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TihDszl-67A

Humorous names at fifty seconds or so into the clip.

[Cheddar Stacker]

Reminds me of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TihDszl-67A

Humorous names at fifty seconds or so into the clip.

Absolutely awful time for jokes, but LOL that shit was funny.

[commodore perry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gODZzSOelss

[MrsPotts]

Tr3y.   The 3 is silent.

Also I just read the entire thread.  It took me 15 months.  Do I get a prize?

[1967mama]

Overheard the receptionists at a doctor's office chatting about where they were going for lunch today and what they would be buying --  it seemed to be a regular occurrence. No bagged lunches for this crew :-/

[Nudelkopf]

OK, let's go back to stupid names for people's children.  Specifically Kaylee in all its variations.  The legitimate word is Ceilidh (Scots Gaelic) or sometimes Ceili (Irish Gaelic) and it means a party with alcohol and music and dancing and basically having a grand time.  Do the people using this as a girl's name have any clue as to the original meaning?

Okay - how about Stelmo for a little girl we know of? Our own children have old fashioned names so I can't laugh and point fingers. ;) Didn't want our kids to have any of the top 50 (especially the top 10) current names. I was one of those kids way back when. When they called my name about four or five of us all jumped to attention.  :)

Oooh! I'm a school teacher, I've taught some doozies!

My favourites:

• Doobie (female)
• Shoushan (female)
• Dorsey ('door-see')(male)
• Jacqualee ('ja-kah-lee') & Jamarlee (they're brothers)
• Teniqua, Tanika, & Tamika (all in the same class)
• Shonkiqua & Shaniqua (in the same class)
• Tyreke and Tireek (again, in the same class)(and then I got a 'Tyreece' this year)
• Phyia ('fire')(male)

There's lots more, but they get less funny.

Bloody Queenslanders. Can't even name their kids properly :)

I may have posted this before but friend of a friend knows a poor girl out there named "Abcde" (ab-see-de)

Didn't have the heart to ask if the surname was "Fghij"

Haha, I've heard the Abcde one before - is it real, though?

I've got some more: Jyiah (female), Shakotta (female), Shimayher (female) and several variations of Khoya/Kioha/Quoya/Saquioa.

I don't have any cool foreign names that sound funny in English. I just have random ghetto names.

[aussiesaver]

I work in schools as a casual teacher so I'm used to not being able to pronounce half the names. I'm getting used to unusual names but its the random made up spelling that drives me crazy. When a kid tells me I said their name wrong I really want to tell them that their parents can't spell.  The most recent one was pronounced Sam but spelt Sahm??? I've also had names like Atlas, Ancient and a kid called Happy Farmer.

[Albert]

I work in a very international environment so I'm used to all kinds of names plus mine is weird to local people here as well. I haven't encountered anyone with intentionally stupidly spelled name, though.

[1967mama]

My kids had a swimming teacher named Dusktill Dawn -- seriously! First name: Dusktill. Last name: Dawn. I asked her name so that I could talk to the kids about their lessons afterwards. I had to say, "Pardon me?" twice.

[mpg350]

Two recently I heard at work…

1. I can't afford to save for my 401k

2. Cars don't last past 100k miles

I work with some financial idiots.

[SwordGuy]

I work in schools as a casual teacher so I'm used to not being able to pronounce half the names. I'm getting used to unusual names but its the random made up spelling that drives me crazy. When a kid tells me I said their name wrong I really want to tell them that their parents can't spell.  The most recent one was pronounced Sam but spelt Sahm??? I've also had names like Atlas, Ancient and a kid called Happy Farmer.

We had a friend who was a social worker.  Part of her job was to tell the parents that the pretty sounding word they heard at the hospital was not a good name for their child.   Names like "Vagina",  "Si-phyllis", etc.    There are some truly ignorant people out there, and way more of them than you might imagine, too.

[Indexer]

I'll just leave this here: http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/le-a.asp

As to whether there is such a child, despite our hearing from dozens and dozens of readers who have claimed to us a girl bearing such a name was in their class or was in a class taught by a relative or acquaintance of theirs, we've yet to find documentation of anyone's bearing a name of "Le-a" that is pronounced "Ledasha" (or any other way). What we found through searching online Social Security databases (which are not complete repositories of information and thus aren't the final say in the matter) showed that while there were more than 4,000 "Lea"s, there weren't any "Le-a"s. For what it's worth, references in various news stories document that "Ledasha" (fully spelled out, not in a "Le-a" form) has indeed been used as a girl's name.

I have met someone named Na-Na, and that was the name on her driver's license.  She pronounced her name Nadashna and if you called her Na Na she would quickly... and rudely correct you.  I don't know about the exact story snopes is referencing, but there are people who have a dash in their name and actually expect you to pronounce 'dash'.

[lostamonkey]

The office I work at is next to a bankruptcy office.  I used to share an office with a coworker which shared a wall with the bankruptcy office. We could always hear babies crying in the bankruptcy office. We had a running joke that babies make you bankrupt. 

[Sam E]

The office I work at is next to a bankruptcy office.  I used to share an office with coworker which shared a wall with the bankruptcy office. We could always hear babies crying in the bankruptcy office. We had a running joke that babies make you bankrupt.

Maybe the babies were the ones filing for bankruptcy... that would explain why they were so upset.

[Malaysia41]

Frothing this foam:  My sister met a woman named Laundetta.  My sister asked, in all innocence, the origins of hername.

Laundetta answered, "I was conceived in a laundromat." 

Classy.

[forummm]

I ran across a lady named Mighty Fine.

She was OK.

[mrcheese]

My sister works for legal aid and had to explain to a new young mother that the hospital had NOT named her baby girl for her. She thought that "female" was a pretty name (pronounced feh-mah-lee) and was going to leave it as that.

[forummm]

My sister works for legal aid and had to explain to a new young mother that the hospital had NOT named her baby girl for her. She thought that "female" was a pretty name (pronounced feh-mah-lee) and was going to leave it as that.

<head desk>

[notquitefrugal]

I have met someone named Na-Na, and that was the name on her driver's license.  She pronounced her name Nadashna and if you called her Na Na she would quickly... and rudely correct you.  I don't know about the exact story snopes is referencing, but there are people who have a dash in their name and actually expect you to pronounce 'dash'.

Am I the only one thinking it would be "Nahyphenda," and Na--Na would be "Nadashna?"

[RyanAtTanagra]

Do you guys realize you're basically making fun of others for cultural differences?  It doesn't even have anything to do with finance.  I'm all for going off topic, but this is just showing the wrong colors for this forum.

[Hedge_87]

When talking about cattle brands something that looks like C-H would actually be read C bar H. So I could see how we could start throwing in symbols into people's names.

[CWAL]

Do you guys realize you're basically making fun of others for cultural differences?  It doesn't even have anything to do with finance.  I'm all for going off topic, but this is just showing the wrong colors for this forum.

If my name was spelled completely different than the standard spelling and or my expected pronunciation of it, I would expect others to at a minimum be a bit sceptical of it.  If a perfectly normal English name happened to be a rude comment in another language, I would expect speakers of that language to find it amusing.

Additionally, I don't think general ignorance/lack of education is a cultural trait, but if it is, that is extremely unfortunate for that culture.

[forummm]

I have met someone named Na-Na, and that was the name on her driver's license.  She pronounced her name Nadashna and if you called her Na Na she would quickly... and rudely correct you.  I don't know about the exact story snopes is referencing, but there are people who have a dash in their name and actually expect you to pronounce 'dash'.

Am I the only one thinking it would be "Nahyphenda," and Na--Na would be "Naemdashna?"

Fixed

[Strawberry]

Do you guys realize you're basically making fun of others for cultural differences?  It doesn't even have anything to do with finance.  I'm all for going off topic, but this is just showing the wrong colors for this forum.

+1

This foam is embarrassing and boring.

[Strawberry]

I work in an office where about half the people own homes and the other half are freaking out about how they will ever afford a home in the Bay Area. CW 1 bought a house in an amazing town with great schools in the pre-recession bubble. Just by sheer luck of timing, I bought mine after. We have very different views of home ownership and I've been trying to convince him for years that he's not in as bad of shape as he thinks he's in. After all, he at least partially owns a home that is now increasing in value again. Then comes the following, as we're talking to CW2 who is excited about closing on a house in my town (she owned in her previous town and likes the idea). CW3 is the one who is freaking and will probably not buy until this bubble bursts.

CW2- We're closing this week. I'm so thrilled!
CW1- Welcome to the nightmare.
Me- Come on, dude, you own a beautiful home in a beautiful town with fantastic schools. You weathered the recession. What's the problem?
CW3- Yeah, I'll never own my own home if values keep rising like this.
CW1- Well, I don't really own the home.
Me- You have equity, man. Just look at housing values now. They have recovered and you're in a good position if you want to sell and move to more affordable town.
CW2- I don't have any equity.
Me and CW2 and 3- Huh? You bought your house 10 years ago? You have to have equity.
CW1- No, we're barely hanging on. We bought when you had to take an interest only loan.
Me- What?!!! You HAD to take an interest only loan?
CW1- We couldn't afford it otherwise.

Turns out they paid ONLY interest for 7 YEARS. OMG!!!??? No wonder he's bitter. I didn't say it, but obviously he just couldn't afford a home. I lost a whole lot of respect for the guy when he claimed he "had to" do it. Do I feel fortunate that I have a cheaper home? Yes, but I also bought what I could afford in a crappier town.

[Davids]

While off topic as we are discussing names last year before my son was born I found a really cheap baby swing on craigslist to buy. As I was prepared to meet this woman to buy it I asked her what her name was and she told me her name was Shanky. At that point I decided to cancel the purchase. With a name like that I decided to play it safe and not be a craigslist victim.

[nobodyspecial]

Turns out they paid ONLY interest for 7 YEARS. OMG!!!???

Isn't this actually a brilliant stratergy ?
You pay 1/2 price "rent" on a property while you live there.
If the price goes up you sell and pocket the profit, if the price drops too far you give the keys back to the bank and walk away.
It's like a $1M free options contract on a REIT - with discount accommodation thrown in !

[runningthroughFIRE]

My mom is a public school teacher, and she's heard some odd names over the years. One that always sticks with me is Lord Dorian. That whole thing is his first name, by the way. His mother "didn't want him to be disrespected". I don't think she was aware of what middle school kids are like.

[forummm]

My mom is a public school teacher, and she's heard some odd names over the years. One that always sticks with me is Lord Dorian. That whole thing is his first name, by the way. His mother "didn't want him to be disrespected". I don't think she was aware of what middle school kids are like.

Talk about unintended consequences...