they’re not dots but they are NECESSARY
when i was in third grade, mrs. hunt (boy was she a piece of work, but she pretty much straightened me out for the rest of my life) used to dock points from my assignments if i didn’t write my name correctly. “e.j.”, she would write, “is spelled with periods after each letter.”
always striving to achieve (read: i got annoyed when she would take points away for stupid stuff), i quickly adapted and have not, since the third grade, written “e.j.” as “ej”. (e.j. is not a radio name, it’s what i’ve gone by since day 1.)
what i find odd is that since coming to kansas city, i have rarely found anyone that spells my name correctly (most of the time, my name is written by someone at work). all my name tags at work read ej. memos ej. emails ej. no periods. not even a space. the e and the j always look so crowded and uncomfortable. i feel for them and it pains me to look.
it’s become so commonplace that i rarely if ever say anything. and i remain perplexed at how the misspelling of my name has only been an issue for the last 2.5 years and only here in the heartland.
i take from this that kc (or wherever my colleagues grew up) didn’t have a mrs. hunt (or they didn’t have a grade riding on the proper use of nominal punctuation). or perhaps the problem lies with me. do i need to change my approach? instead of spelling my name “e period j period” maybe i will adapt to the times and the lingo that folks are more likely to understand today — “e dot j dot.” i’m fine with that as long as i’m not asked to help change a flat or scrape an aminal from the road.
but i can’t help but think that either way, mrs. hunt would not be pleased.