I’m Claire. With an ‘I’ and an ‘E’.
And I’m ‘Cronshaw’, like the fruit…?!? 🤔🤔
I should explain.
In 2009, after almost three decades of being a Cherry 🍒, I got married. I chose to take my husband’s name, just because I wanted to. 😍 Anyway, I was so much in the habit of using ‘like the fruit’ as a quick indicator of how to spell my surname that when I became a Cronshaw I managed to confuse a call centre operative.
‘Cronshaw, like the fruit…’
Jon was there in the background laughing at me. I didn’t even realise I’d said it.
These days, I just spell it out. C-r-o-n-s-h-a-w.
🙊 Job done? You’d think so. But do you know what? More and more people are pausing when I get to the ‘H’: the ‘aitch’. I’m a proud supporter of accents – pronounce things how you want – but I grew up with teachers who’d correct the ‘huh’ pronunciation. If you didn’t, honestly I really don’t care. Say it how you want, but try to recognise my pronunciation. I say ‘aitch’, but I probably draw out that first sound: aaaaiiiiiitch. That’s the Cumbrian influence.
Why am I bringing this up today? A couple of reasons. There was a story in the news about accents in the workplace and I got chatting to someone on LinkedIn about it.
And another thing is that on other social media networks, there’s been some confusion about my name. I’ve been called Cherry several times by several people. My business name is Cherry Edits. I can see why they’d think I’m Cherry and I edit. Yes, I am, but Cherry was never my first name. It was my surname. I can understand the mix-up.
And several people have called me Clare. What’s weird about this is that it’s people who’ve been calling me Claire for ages, but for whatever reason, the ‘I’ in my name seems to have gone for a wander.
So there you are. Just some random musings about my name.
🔗 …I better make sure my name on Mastodon is clear to give folk a fighting chance of getting it right. Yeah, I’m there. I don’t really have an opinion about Musk. (Take that to mean I cannot be bothered debating him.) But I just thought I’d go and have a gander.
Smooth segue to anyone on there talking about books and writing (that’s what I’m there to discuss.) https:/mastodonapp.uk/@cherryedits
Book and writing people. Let’s connect and try and get our feeds filled with bookish stuff.
❓How about you? Do people get your name right? And, are you doing the Mastodon thing?
CherryEdits 