exaggeration and tall tales galore

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Name Game

Just a quick note while i'm waiting for the accounting thingie(we're moving on to computers now! no more tedious handwritten ledger work!)

My name is no longer Atiqah M*khtar. Nope. Since coming here, my name has now been changed to I'm Sorry I'm Not Sure How To Pronounce This Atiqah M*khtar ?

Notice how my new and improved name has a question mark at the end. Damn unique.

Another variation of my new name is Atiqah Did I Get That Right ?

I'd forgotten that mat sallehs can't grasp the phonetics of Malay names. I've been trying to make my name mat salleh-friendly, but cannot la. I'm usually called A-tee-quh( i don't get it. I tell them my name is Atiqah, and they still go A-tee-quh. cannot pronounce 'Ah' is it?).

When they introduce me to someone else, it's like they're going, "this is a Teequh". like i'm some exotic plant or animal called teequh.

Maybe i should just shorten my new name. make it easier for everyone. "Hi, my name is I'm Sorry I'm Not Sure How To Pronounce This Atiqah M*khtar, but you can call me I'm Sorry."

10 comments:

aman23 said...

Atikus is good XD

mostlyepiphanies said...

I usually go by muhammad, since people generally know how to pronounce it.

The pronunciation scheme for my name is I-Zoo-Dean. Going by dean would sound to oh-so-mat-salleh.

Hehe.Help,I'm drowning in schoolwork!

aman23 said...

oh, and my Mat Salleh name would be A Man. haha.

Aki said...

Hahahahaha that's so funny!

A said...

aman: atikus IS good(heh), but then they'd think it's like Atticus. which is a guy's name. which i don't want. A Man!hahahaha, how appropriate.

aijud: Dean!!glamourous,haha. i wish i could help with the homework, throw you a liferaft or something. hang in there, dean! swim!flap your arms!

aki: are you referring to aman's highly amusing mat-sallenized name? i must concurr. it IS funny.

Anonymous said...

Can they pronounce your father's name correctly, Mokhtar?

Try if they could pronounce Ayang? Maybe you should be known as ayang...since they have no clue what it means...


I think my name is Mat salleh friendly...

Nick Chef-Fick ... easy huh? Prasaaan.

Let me know how it goes! Ayang...

A said...

Mokh-tare. bolehlah.

haha, i think Ayang would actually be harder. besides, if they read it out, i'd be A Yang. they'd think i'm chinese. and then wonder why i'm so dark.

ur name IS mat-salleh friendly! i bet everyone'd just call you nick.

Aki said...

Hahaha, no. I was referring to your blog.

Anonymous said...

hi atiqah. i think i know why they pronounce 'qah' as 'quh' sebab u know in english how Q is usually followed by U. like queen, quest, etc etc. unless if you yourself pronounce your name without them looking at how the name is spelled, mesti they will pronounce it right. mat sallehs tend to pronounce the U as well whenever they see Q in the word. my name also ada Q so thats why i know, or at least, ive been told. dah duduk overseas for 5 years now, i get used to it oredi whenever ppl mispronounce my name :(

-silent reader-

A said...

aki:whoops!my bad. why, thank you, haha.

anon:wah,my very first betul2 anonymous comment. hello!

hmm, that DOES make sense. the whole pronouncing the 'u' after 'q' thing. (i tried thinking of a word starting with 'q' that doesn't have a 'u' immediately after, and i got stuck :p)

thanks for the insight. maybe now it won't be so annoying when they get it wrong(it was cute at first, but it get's tiring when your name becomes I'm Sorry)and i apologize on behalf of the ppl who mispronounce your name, haha. 5 years?fuh.it's no wonder you've gotten used to it.