I've had an epiphany: Australians are terrified of ethnicity. I don't mean that we're bigoted bastards going round lynching people for having a tan. No, I'm referring to that fact that as soon as an Australian (and perhaps someone from another Western culture, although I'm not really sure) is confronted with the chore of pronouncing a vaguely ethnic-looking name, they panic and start spouting random syllables in the hope that some will stick.
As the proud owner of a last name that sounds faintly like a sneeze, I find this incredibly frustrating. Perfectly intelligent people can easily end up sounding like gibbering idiots simply by addressing someone. At the very least I'd expect a whole-hearted attempt to sound it out pho-ne-ti-cal-ly.
But, no. Instead they hyperventilate, curl into the foetal position, and call me Miss Anasthasafansaffajipoo. C'mon people. You can do better than that.
UPDATE:
This, of course, doesn't refer to certain Eastern-European names. When there are no vowels, all bets are off.
As the proud owner of a last name that sounds faintly like a sneeze, I find this incredibly frustrating. Perfectly intelligent people can easily end up sounding like gibbering idiots simply by addressing someone. At the very least I'd expect a whole-hearted attempt to sound it out pho-ne-ti-cal-ly.
But, no. Instead they hyperventilate, curl into the foetal position, and call me Miss Anasthasafansaffajipoo. C'mon people. You can do better than that.UPDATE:
This, of course, doesn't refer to certain Eastern-European names. When there are no vowels, all bets are off.
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