Spelling 101 -- Your Name

[Cheerful]

What does it mean when a student spells his/her own name wrong on a paper?

[Parasaurolophus]

*studies shoes*

[wellfleet]

Sloppy typing?

[Hegemony]

It means they have a learning disability.  My teenage son regularly spells his name wrong. If you say, "Can you see someone spelled wrong here?", he will identify it about a third of the time.

If his experience is anything to go by, it will also mean that he has had years of teachers slighting him and responding harshly, believing that he's slacking, that he's lazy, that he's too stupid to bother teaching, and that, to quote one of his teachers verbatim, "We figure what's the use, because somebody always has to be the dumbest kid in the class."  So it also means that he expects to fail and he doesn't expect that he needs support or that he will be granted support, much less sympathy or any kind of recognition that he's trying really hard.

[Cheerful]

Thanks for the enlightenment, Hegemony.  All the best to your son.  May he persevere and get the courtesy and support he deserves.

I'm stunned at the quote from the teacher.  Seriously?  In 2019?  A public school?  So sorry.

I would never chastise someone for such a thing.  I won't go into details but the case that motivated my post wasn't one of a learning disability.  My innocent attempt at light humor failed.  Sorry I ventured back to "the fora" after time away.

[Hegemony]

Cheerful, it sounds as if you feel we responded harshly or inappropriately, and if I have that right, I apologize.  It's hard to tell from a single sentence what kind of tone is being set.  I thought it was a genuine question.  And of course my anger stems from the shoddy way my son has been treated, and I didn't mean to seem to be directing it at you.  I do sometimes hear people exclaim things like, "Who would ever do [whatever thing]??" and my son, who does whatever thing often, is sitting right there, so I think I start out rankled with these kind of questions, which is not always appropriate.

If you're talking about a president of the United States, well, I do think that sometimes someone has to be the dumbest kid in the class.  Or in government.

[namazu]

I won't go into details but the case that motivated my post wasn't one of a learning disability.

Well, you can't very well leave us hanging like that!
Was this a Fake Jayk [sic]?  Someone impaired by substances?  Other?

(And welcome back.)

[ergative]

It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.

[craftyprof]

This is one of my most common typos.

Autocorrect has mastered the art of turning "teh" back into "the" for me, but leaves me hanging when I transpose the last two letters of my name.

I'm sure it's something to do with the relative dexterity of my non-dominant hand, but it's super awkward when people watch me type.

[ciao_yall]

It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.

I have a slightly unusual spelling of my first name and I did not like being different. In the second grade I went through a phase of spelling my name the "normal" way which, for some reason, really got my mother upset.

My dad shared with me that when he was young, he did not like his name "Alan" and started spelling it "Allyn" to be cool.

[marshwiggle]

It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.

I have a slightly unusual spelling of my first name and I did not like being different. In the second grade I went through a phase of spelling my name the "normal" way which, for some reason, really got my mother upset.

My dad shared with me that when he was young, he did not like his name "Alan" and started spelling it "Allyn" to be cool.

Does your Dad, by any chance, have a pretty common last name? Since I have a last name that I always have to spell out for people, I would never give a kid a hard-to-spell FIRST name on top of that.

[wellfleet]

I often mistype the first letter of my first name, replacing a letter to turn my name into a common and not complimentary adjective. I usually catch it, which is good, because spellcheck absolutely won't. I have sent emails signed "adjective," though. More often than I like to admit.

And mean teachers suck.

[ciao_yall]

It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.

I have a slightly unusual spelling of my first name and I did not like being different. In the second grade I went through a phase of spelling my name the "normal" way which, for some reason, really got my mother upset.

My dad shared with me that when he was young, he did not like his name "Alan" and started spelling it "Allyn" to be cool.

Does your Dad, by any chance, have a pretty common last name? Since I have a last name that I always have to spell out for people, I would never give a kid a hard-to-spell FIRST name on top of that.

No. I think he just thought of himself as more complex than a basic Alan.

It was probably the first time I saw my dad as a complex person with an inner reflective life. One of the few times, actually.

Our students often experiment with name spellings and nicknames. Another wrinkle is our Asian immigrant students because the Romanji system of representing their names is either inconsistent with precise pronunciation or doesn't look jaunty enough, so they fool around with Lung, Leung, Lyung, Layung, etc.

Speaking of immigrants, we have many who are illiterate in their native languages or don't know the data we often use for identification, such as date of birth. Name spellings and dates of birth then vary as they settle into a new identity.

Or they are using a friend's greencard data for some registrations but not all.

Recently we had a student who was legally a 3rd but our magic registration system couldn't recognize III so the student is in our system as Firstname Lastname Iii. 

[Cheerful]

Thanks, namazu and Hegemony.  I sincerely appreciate what I learned from your posts on this issue, Hegemony. 

It could also mean that Keighleigh got sick of her parents' kri8tive ethos and is trying to take back control of her life.

Haha!  Also enjoyed others' contributions, thanks, Chearfull.  : )

[onthefringe]

This is one of my most common typos.

Autocorrect has mastered the art of turning "teh" back into "the" for me, but leaves me hanging when I transpose the last two letters of my name.

I'm sure it's something to do with the relative dexterity of my non-dominant hand, but it's super awkward when people watch me type.

+1. Approximately 60% of my emails end with the phrase "Thnaks, Frineg"