The Name
One pet peeve of mine when I was going through the school system was everyone's inability to say my name. It's not that they couldn't say it, it's just that they wouldn't say it.
A name like mine is as foreign as you can get from the English language. I understand that it's different from what you'd normally see on a piece of paper holding the names of Canadian students.
But if you expect me to say names like "Kevin", "Michelle", and "Jessica", properly, than I should expect the same of you.
I remember my white classmates would react with laughter, or even mild anger, when one of the minority students pronounced an English word, or name wrong.
But those same students never pronounced my name right. And if they did, they completely whitewashed it with their English accents.
Or they tried to shorten it to an actual English name. I usually got Sharan, whether I wanted it or not.
But after highschool, I wasn't going to let anyone call me that anymore.
Hi, my name is Sharanja.
Not Sharioagaongao.
Not Sharaohngoenhegj.
And not "Sharon".
Say it right. Wrap your tongues around it. How can eight letters frighten you so much that you refuse to say it?