Step-Grandmother Misspells My Kids' Names

[Anonymous]

Just got the in-laws' Christmas card and MY name was spelled wrong on the envelope, and one of my kids' names was spelled wrong two different ways in their horrific holiday letter (all about FIL's self-published conspiracy theory book, his blog and step-MIL's intestinal ailments, with a sprinkling of erroneous statements about what each of their kids' families are doing). Last year they sent the girls personalized t-shirts with their names spelled wrong. And they are both spelled in traditional ways. FIL is just a complete narcissist and can't imagine that he ever gets anything wrong.

Every year it's so fun to get the letter and find all of the crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm 38 and one of my mom's sisters has mis-pronounced my name my entire life. She is bizarre and weird and quirky and all those things. My mom says she corrected her for a few years and just gave up. I don't know how she doesn't hear that everyone else pronounces it
Elizabeth (with the "I" pronounced like "it")
And she insists on saying
Eleeeeezabeth

Maybe this doesn't help your situation but she may just be tone deaf or clueless or really bad with names

Do you use an unusual pronounciation? I have a friend who has an unusual pronunciation of a moderately common name (something akin to Liza instead of Lisa). All of the other people that I know with that name use the common pronunciation. I try hard, but sometimes end up saying the common pronunciation. Pre-kids, I caught myself the infrequent times it would happen and would correct and apologize. With active twin pre-schoolers, my memory in a lot of areas is more shot. It happens slightly more often and I know on at least one occasion, I didn't catch it until signififcantly later thinking "Why did I call her that and not catch myself?" It may be an honest mistake or age-related.

No my name is Elizabeth. Traditional pronunciation and we are all native English speakers here for generations (English and German)

[Anonymous]

OP, if she did it to be petty, the absolute best thing you can do is to ignore it. Don't even bring it up with her children because it will make it back to your step-mom and she will get her satisfaction. Don't give her the satisfaction of getting your goat.

My mom can be really passive aggressive and I can tell drives her insane when I completely ignore all her little barbs and attempts at manipulation.

And if the misspellings were accidental then you won't feel like a heel for getting so upset about them.

FWIW, I used to work for someone who never, ever spelled my name correctly on cards she gave to me for Christmas or birthdays. But I loved her dearly. She recently passed away, and I keep one little card on which she misspelled my name on my desk. It always makes me smile.