Monday, September 27, 2004

Pet Peeve of the Day

Prepare for a completely useless rant.

My name is Barry. It's been Barry for most of my life. In fact, probably all of it. Rumor has it that I was born with it. My parents chose it because they didn't want a name that was easily nick-named. Except for one early friend calling me "Bear", Barry is all I've even gone by.

Well, except for "Mad Dog", but that's another story.

Anyhoo - how many of you out there have ever heard of other people named "Barry" in your life? Besides me, that is. There's Barry Sanders, former NFL running back. Barry Williams was Greg Brady on the Brady Bunch. Barry Goldwater was a politician. Barry Bostwick is an actor. Barry Manilow writes the songs...well, you know. Barry Allen was the secret identity of The Flash.

You get the picture. Not the most popular name, but not unknown, right? Surely everyone out there has at least heard the name "Barry" before...

And, more importantly, knows how to spell it?

Ok, now think - how many people have you every known named Berry? First name, not last - forget Chuck, forget Halle. First name?

I Googled "Berry" just to see if there were any references to anyone who spelled their first name B-e-r-r-y. The closest I found was Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records. Any others? I couldn't really find them.

So why....why....why when I tell someone my name, 99% of the time, they write it down B-e-r-r-y? I want to ask them, "Why?? Why??? When have you EVER heard of anyone named Barry whose name WASN'T spelled B-a-r-r-y??"

Sure, it's petty. But how would you like it if your name was constantly mispelled, for no reason? It's not like it's a hard name like oh, say, Fistandatilus? Penelope? Aloisius?

This is a painful burden I've been forced to endure for years. Please, all you waitresses and order-takers out there - spell my name correctly. It's for the children.

Ok, that's my totally pointless rant for the day. I'm done. Go back to your grape juice.

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