When I chose the name Alkelda as my blogosphere user-name, I didn't anticipate the number of times it would be misspelled "Akelda." I should have-- my real name, Farida, has had variant spellings: Frida, Florida, Fareda,Vorida, Florinda, Farinda, and Fareakda are a few (though the last one is really a friend's play on the word "freak"). We shan't even delve into the mockery names such as Burrito, Fajita, Fifi, and "Far from the Ida"-- for some reason, that last one drove the eight-year-old me absolutely bezoomny.
I told Bede, "I'm about ready to give up correcting people. It's starting to get awkward and pedantic. Should I just change my blog-name to 'Akelda?'"
"No," Bede replied, as if I had proposed surrender to the Puppet-Masters. "Because then they will have won."
Aha!
So, ALkelda it stays. If it helps you to remember, you can call me Al.
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12 comments:
Hey, Al, thanks for putting that Paul Simon song in my head today. I'm not being sarcastic. I love that song, and it has such a fabulous last verse.
Jules, 7-Imp
You could have picked a pseudonym they would never have got wrong - like "X", "Dot" or "America". Perhaps it serves you right for raiding the great pantheon of half-remembered English history and myth without the express permission of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II! Off with her head Sir Lancelot! If Aklelder is "gleeful" what is Farida... perhaps Farida the Mysterious... Farida the Loquacious?
Jules: I'm glad! That whole album is a pick-me-up, even though some of the songs themselves are sad.
YP: I've got two words for you in regard to raids and such: Elgin Marbles.:)
I suspect I'm Farida the Curmudgeonly or Farida the Foggy-Headed these days. Bah, humbug.
DO NOT change your name--your blog moniker or your real name. They are both lovely and get this...easy to spell.
Bede is a wise man. "They will have won." Love it.
HWM: Never fear, I was actually being a bit sardonic when I asked Bede if I should change my name. I did like getting that Puppet-Masters allusion in, though, as I had just finished reading it. Oy, what an interesting book. The younger me could have easily filtered out the sexism and anti-Communist jingoism. Now, I have to read those parts aloud to Bede with much drama.
This is a test. I can never remember my name
If I have ever misspelled Alkelda, it is a typo and I apologize. My problem is more in the rare instances when I speak it... my husband has mentioned that it sounds somewhat close to a certain nasty group of folks...which I would never have thought myself.
Yo, AL! I am giggling over here, because I'm a stickler for spelling of people's names, real or not. I remember being corrected, ahem ahem...
I DO like Al, though! And my new favorite word of the day is bezoomny. I can guarantee to fit it into at LEAST 4 sentences or exclamations today.
I don't really have that problem with "Limpy"
Certain other problems, sure, but not misspellings.
Melangell: I know the feeling, only with me, it's my age.
LSM: My father has noted that association, too. But of course, no matter what I chose, someone somewhere would have a bad association with it. I feel bad for the guy who had a restaurant called "Osama's."
Lady K: Bezoomny is an apt word at times, I've found. I originally read it in Burgess' A Clockwork Orange, which is rather wild in its vocabulary offerings.
Limpy99: What I want to know is, who are the other 98 Limpys?
Oh, great. Now I'm going to have that darned song stuck in my head ALL DAY!!!!
Glad you're keeping your name, even though I don't know where it came from . . .
:-)
Callie: The name comes from Saint Alkelda of Giggleswick. Here's a link to a more in-depth explanation: http://saintsandspinners.blogspot.com/2007/03/interview-meme.html
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