Say Your Name Slowly

It was a dark and stormy night or at least I remember it that way. I had just moved out of Pennsylvania for the first time in my adult life and was far removed from the imposed social circles of hometown as well as college.

One of my best friends was a brilliant man named Ed. Ed helped me kick start my running career and we did some crazy stuff together. We both had vivid imaginations.

One day Ed told us a story about a professional meeting he attended. His boss told him he would be meeting people whose first language was not English.

“Ed please speak slowly when you are introduced “

Simple enough

So he was introduced to a gentleman from India, I believe.

“Hello there my name is Mujibar”

Very slowly Ed says “Hello my name is Eeeeeed”

Yes he completely screwed up giving his first name to this person. Yes he had one thing to do and he screwed that up.

Since that day on, he has been called Eeeed. How many of the letter E is in his name can not be nailed down. I believe it to be three.

I have talked to Eeed infrequently over the years. His contact in my phone is listed as EEEEEEED followed by his last name

I received a phone call from him today. We talked like we never skipped a beat.

When I went to answer the phone, Siri pronounced Eeeed slowly and with precision.