Wheel of Fortune THIS

[Tonichelle]

I bet many of us have relatives whose family nickname came from the way a younger sibling pronounced their name, or the way they said their own name when they were too young to make it come out right.

That's how I got "Tonichelle"... I introduced myself as Toni 'Chelle reitter all one word really fast lol

[CoyoteChris]

whups! I think I need to go and get my prostrate checked out.....I have a slight speech impediment. I couldnt say "available" till I was 40. I still cant say burgalary...cant spell it either...

[Olympia]

There's a sizable number of people in the Northeast who say "Italian" without the i: "Itayan."

I love this language! It's so full of textures and idiosyncrasies.

[Scrufflet]

"Stragedy"!
And I have never been able to manage "anthropomorphization" and I'm sure I have that wrong.

[Olympia]

I was just thinking today that my workmate Megan has three names, all spelled the same way. I have always called her "Meegan," with a long /e/--don't know why. Everyone else calls her "May-gan," with a long /a/. She doesn't seem to mind either pronunciation (I've asked very apologetically). She calls herself "Meggan" with a short /e/.

[Tonichelle]

My first name is Antonia it's pronounced either as "Anne-Tone-EEE-ah" or "Anne-tone-yah" or "Antonio" (as in San Antonio)

[Olympia]

Anne-Tone-EEE-ah is the way we were told to pronounce it for the name of the heroine of Willa Cather's My Antonia, which we read in sophomore year in high school. Generally, the Antonias I know pronounce it your second way, though. It's a great name; it seems to have a stateliness about it.

[Tonichelle]

I go by either way... I HATE the Antonio, though... my dad's best friend calls me San Antonio because when I was little it would send me through the roof lol

[Olympia]

People can be so annoying about finding your weak point and then teasing you. And some of these teasers think they're being amusing. As you get older, you become more able to handle it or shrug it off, but it's no fun being, say, eight and being teased by a grown man (it's usually guys for some reason) who doesn't pay attention to the effect it has on you.

[Tonichelle]

I actually love it now lol when I visited them in Texas a couple years ago we went to San Antonio JUST so I could get a pic under the sign gave it to him as a gift lol he loved it.

[Olympia]

Yes, it's not everyone who has a city with her name!

By the way, now that we've drifted onto city names--don't you love this topic? Start with Vanna White and end up with Toni having "her own" city--did you know that cities named Salem are named in honor of Jerusalem? That, at least, is what I heard, though someone from Massachusetts or Oregon might have more precise information.