Open letter to anyone who has ever got my name wrong ‘Err..Its JEHOSHEBA’

Pronouncing your name the wrong way can be annoying and hilarious at the same time .
I am not usually offended by this.People have difficulties getting their tongues trained to deal with certain names, its inevitable. I screw up too.

Hello my dear online readers,
I thought I should share my journey with this beautiful name .

Originally posted on #dearbiblepeople

(The above image shows what ‘JEHOSHEBA’ stands for , It’s a Bible character. Not me!)

My parents gave me a lovely name from the Bible “JEHOSHEBA”, which is pronounced as ‘dzhee-HAHSH-ee-bah.’  which means Lord is an OATH .It is a Hebrew name but I personally don’t think its that difficult.

I never thought it would have so many weird pronunciations Until..

1.During my middle school, my teacher used to call me ‘Gee-ho-shi-ba.’
I did try to correct her at first but then gave up when she could never get it right.
Ah! well ..leave it ..She was my teacher , you know you can’t correct your teacher!

2.The hilarious thing happened when I joined my university
(umm.. hi ! if you are reading this , No offense 😛 )

My seniors from Nepal used to call me ‘Jeey-ho’ with an accent. At first I thought it was just the Nepali accent . One day they were having the usual gossip sessions and the conversation went like this ..

Senior 1    : I think Jehosheba is a very religious person.

My friend : hmm..what makes you think so ?

Senior 1    : Her parents must be really thankful to GOD, may be thats why they named her like this.

(My friend is totally confused.. Having no idea what he was talking about )

My friend : What! Do you understand Hebrew language?

(Senior 1 assumes he is drunk and ignores )

Senior 2  : Haha .. Why do you have to know Hebrew ?
Clearly It is a hindu name.

My friend: What do you mean ? She is a Christian.

Senior 1   : ‘JAYHO – SHIVA ‘ 
Meaning *Long Live Lord Shiva *.

My Friend bursts into laughter . ( ROFL ,like literally .)

{For those who are like what the heck is she talking about; Lord SHIVA is the God for the followers of Hinduism, Indian Religion}

It was epic when I heard about this. I know I’m being mean but its okay. I used to see my seniors like everyday for the past  365 days and I was like ‘have they been calling me like this all this while ?!’
Hmm..No big deal.

3. And some others used to call me ‘Jo-shi-ba’ eating up the *ho*.
You know Nobody got time for that !

Few others thought I had the same name as that Indian song  “JAYHO” from the Oscar winning Movie ‘SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE’ and so they would sing my name .
How Cool ! Ha ha..

4. If you follow my blogs you know that I am an overseas medical student.
One day during my CHINESE class ,  Laoshi (teacher) called out for ‘Juu-shee-ba’. My classmates thought she was saying ‘Jehosheba’ and were looking for me until we realized that she meant the ‘Roll number 98’ ( 98 is Jusheeba in chinese) and thus I was nick-named 98.

As a kid you know, we would be really offended if someone called us differently. While in primary school, my best friend used to skip school just because of it and her mother had to fight tooth and nail with every grade teacher to get it right.

By making a sincere effort to learn its real pronunciation, that person takes one more step to earning  my respect and admiration. It is very rare for me to encounter people who genuinely want to pronounce my name properly.

The sweetest sound to anyone’s ears is the sounds of one’s own name.

So please , make an effort to get people’s name right. They’ll definitely appreciate that, and take it as a sign that you’re genuinely interested in them.

UNTIL NEXT TIME,
XO

This is JEHOSHEBA signing off ,
Be kind always !

Will you be offended if someone pronounced your name the wrong way? Let me know in the comment section below and feel free to share your story.

PC:Google 🙂