In an earlier episode, a caller named Todd said that people are forever calling him Scott. He wondered if there was some linguistic reason that people so often confused these names. Grant does a follow-up on why people sometimes mix up names. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Linguistic Reason for Name Confusion”
You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.
And I’m Grant Barrett.
A couple of weeks ago, we took a call from a listener whose name is Todd, but he’s regularly called Scott, even when he has a name tag on. And it was a really interesting call. And, of course, we got tons of mail about this.
A lot of people thought it might be because one says, “My name is Todd,” or something like that, and the S sound from “is” sounds like it’s a part of the following word. Makes sense, right, Martha?
Yeah.
Yeah, it could be. But it doesn’t explain all the Scots we heard from who are also regularly called Todd, does it? Interesting.
We heard from a lot of Todds and a few Scots about this, so we can confirm that it happens to more than just our original caller. A Todd in San Diego wrote to say that a few of his coworkers, who he’s worked with for years, still sometimes call him Scott by accident.
Jeff called to say his son is named Todd and his brother is named Scott, and he’s always been embarrassed because he mixes them up. You’d think it would be different for your own family, right?
Yeah, yeah, you would. Well, these aren’t the only names that get confused. Don says people call him Bob. Tracy said people call her Stacy. Michelle says she and her mother regularly mix up Pam and Amy. And Catherine is sometimes called Margaret. Crazy stuff.
Catherine, Margaret, three syllables. I wonder if it has to do with the length of the words. But I remember one of the first emails we received was from a guy named Todd who said, “The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I heard you talking about this because it’s happened to me for years.” I mean, there’s something going on there. It’s a thing.
It is indeed a thing. Thanks to everyone else who wrote, especially you, Todd, and you, Scott. Or is that Scott and you, Todd? I don’t know.
If you’d like to call us and talk about people getting your name wrong or anything else wrong in the English language, 1-877-929-9673 is the number or send it in email to words@waywordradio.org.
