As I sit here trying to force myself into writing an article I am not all that interested in my mind is riddled with little nit-picky things that I can’t seem to clear out. I thought, perhaps, if I wrote them down somewhere then maybe I could move on from them.

These few things are, I grant, irrational, but nonetheless stunting my productivity. They mostly have to do with the way people pronounce certain things around my office. Or, should I say, the way they refuse to pronounce them correctly.

Example 1: We have a client with the last  name Richard. His name is also in the title of his company (and subsequently on all the products associated with his company, brochures, ads, flyers, business cards, etc). The woman in charge of his account knows him personally, they meet on a regular basis, she is in constant communication with him. However, somehow, she still manages to exclusively call him Richards. Or worse, Richardson. Never once has his name been Richardson. There is only one of him, he will never correctly be Richards. I have figured this out, I’m sure he’s got it down, but she can’t. She won’t. I, I don’t understand it.

Example 2: I have been interviewing people from a group called NRIO (Neurological Rehabilitation Institute of Ontario); despite being at this job nearly a year, I am still learning of new groups on a daily basis. I  had never heard of NRIO before I was asked to contact someone from there for an interview. I was given the name of the contact and the “name” of the organization (I was told the acronym). Unfortunately, the person who gave me the contact insisted on calling it N-I-RO. I understand her desire to want to pronounce the acronym, that would be my first inclination as well, but some acronyms just aren’t fit for pronouncing, like AT&T, or WTF, or Coors Light Iced Tea. Regardless, I was told to contact “NIRO,” so for a few minutes I googled away unsuccessfully until I realised what the problem was. The things is, she knows what it stands for, she knows what order the words go in. The correct acronym is an essential part of their email addresses, she has to know what it really is. But she still says NIRO.

It’s almost as bad as when my friend Amanda kept saying Slovaki instead of souvlaki.