Assisted Procrastination

DH shared the following story with me. We’ve checked Snopes and not found anything definitive on its authenticity as of yet, but false or not, it’s still something to which I’m sure we can all relate. It hurts me to think what these parents and kids must be thinking.  For those of you who may not have read it, I highly recommend Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt. It’s a quick, easy, thought-provoking read and contains an entire section on the impact of a name on a child and society.

An educator friend of mine forwarded me this gem via email.

How would you pronounce this student’s name: “Le-a”?

Leah? NO
Lee – A?  NOPE
Lay – a?  NO WAY
Lei?  Guess Again.

It’s pronounced “Ledasha.”  Oh, yes, you read it right.  This child attends a school in Livingston Parish, LA. Her mother is irate because everyone is getting her name wrong.  If you see something come across
your desk like this, please remember to pronounce it correctly.

When the mother was asked about the pronunciation of the name, she said, “The dash don’t be silent.”

This entry was posted on October 15, 2008 at 9:49 am and is filed under Ponderings. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.