What's in a Name? A Lot...

The question of the day: What’s in a name? My answer: a LOT, especially when you get the name wrong.

We’ve all said the wrong name to someone when we see them out in public – called them Sam instead of Stan or Mary instead of Amy. We’re thinking too quickly, and our minds aren’t where our mouths are. Some of us are smarter than that, saying a simple “Hi, Sweetie” or “Hey, Handsome” when the name eludes us. My parents taught me my manners well and I use it to my advantage when it comes to names, calling someone “Ma’am” or “Sir” when I can’t remember their exact name.

However, when you’re printing a name you simply can’t mess up. And yet, last week I did. In a pretty big way, at that. You’ll notice that on page 8 there is an engagement notice reprinted from last week. You may also notice that the names are correct this week! I’ve known Colton pretty much since he was born. I’ve also known Mesquite for a long time. But when it comes to Colton’s last name, I automatically think “Kountz”. It’s funny, because I have brought up my oops to several people and all of them said they didn’t see anything wrong with it – “that’s the Kountz boy” – but he’s not! Even Colton’s mom joked that it happened often and that her husband thinks he should have taken her last name, instead of vice versa.

There’s a crazy little thing called the Mandela Effect. It is “an unusual phemomenon where a large group of people remember something differently than how it occurred”. I urge everyone to Google this and enjoy; I’ve spent countless hours with friends going through Mandela Effects and having a great laugh. I blame my name association on the Mandela Effect!

So, take a moment today and Google the Mandela Effect; in the meantime I wholeheartedly apologize to Colton Noyes and Mesquite Melton for my mistake on their engagement announcement, and have humbly reprinted it correctly. However, I do hope that you’ll keep both in a scrapbook and laugh about it someday in the future!