I stole this idea......

My good friend Leah just wrote a blog on how to pronounce her name.  Check this out here.  I thought this was very clever, so I'm going to do something similar.  Of course, anyone reading my blog would already know this information, but writing it down makes me feel better.

First off, my name is Kathleen.  Not KATHY, not Katherine, not Katie (although my parents were calling me this for a few days when I was born....obviously, didn't stick).  It happens SO often at work when I meet people.  I clearly introduce myself as Kathleen and I am pretty confident in my enunciation skills that I'm sure they hear me, however they clearly aren't listening or they just don't care.  5 mintues after meeting with people I'll get an email "Dear Kathy - it was great meeting you today....."  Really?  If you really thought it was great meeting me, you may have decided to catch my name!  I make a point to correct people even if it is in a round-about way.  See, my signature block for my email says "Kathleen R. Diehr" but sometimes I feel the need to close with "Thanks, Kathleen" just to let them know.  This, however, does not work.  I have actually written back and said "Thanks for the note, however, my name is Kathleen".  It does depend on the person who sent the email though.  I'm not writing that to one of our high up consultants who works with our CEO!  I can undersand the reverse of this though.  If I were to write an email to Lee for the first time and I looked him up in our company directory, I may address the email to Robert because that is his legal first name.  This would not be incorrect.  However, after I did this, if he wrote back and closed with Lee, I would have to make a note that this is his preferred "call sign".  But, if somebody sees Robert and decides, "what the hell"  I'll just call him Bob.  Well, that's just wrong.  Don't assume people have nicknames!!!

On to my last name.  Growing up, Greeley was just TOO hard for people to handle.  I've seen it spelled a billion different ways, Greeky beeing my favorite.  But why do people insist on putting an "n" in there?  It's not GreeNley!!!  So, as much of a pain that was, try being a Diehr and being called Dear all the time!  Where that is a nice gesture, I know that people are just mispronouncing my name and it not just a form of flattery!  I definitely understand this one is a little tough, but to clear it up for those of you who may not know or are afraid to simply ask, it's "Die Er".  Hope this helps! 

So, thanks Leah for giving me the idea because otherwise, I wouldn't know when my next post would come!!!

Thanks,
Kathleen