Mispronouncing a classmate’s name once is normal. Not bothering to learn it after they correct you isn’t.

GRATITUDE

WHAT THIS MEANS

Everybody gets a first attempt wrong and nobody minds that. What stings is the fifth time, after the correction, because by then it is not about difficulty, it is about priority. A name said carelessly over and over tells somebody they were not worth the ten seconds. The mistake is forgivable, and the shrug afterwards is the part people remember.

Go and ask them to say it slowly, repeat it until they nod, then use it in your next sentence. Write it in your phone the way it sounds if that helps it stick.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Whose name have you been saying wrong for far too long?

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