New Post
Search
Help[Facts] Theary...?
When I went through the checkout line tonight, the cashier's name tag said Theary. She was Asian and her English made me think she was an immigrant. Does anyone have any ideas what country she could be from based on her name? Thanks for any ideas.
1
Replies
A great many immigrants to the USA from Asian or African countries where the names are very different from those Americans are used to use pseudonyms when they become workers in retail and have to use name tags. It is quite possible that "Theary" is a nickname based on her real name that is the closest she or her employer thinks Americans can get to in easy pronunciation.
I had a student from Togo a couple of years ago who got a job in a grocery store working behind the deli counter. His name was Esenam (which I personally think people should have been able to deal with easily), but when he worked in the store, his name tag said "Eric".
I had a student from Togo a couple of years ago who got a job in a grocery store working behind the deli counter. His name was Esenam (which I personally think people should have been able to deal with easily), but when he worked in the store, his name tag said "Eric".
1
Isn't Thierry pronounced somewhere between "Teary" and "Terry"? I was under the impression that the 'Th' was pronounced as a hard T, in which case it wouldn't make sense for it to be spelled Theary if it was overheard.
♦ Chrisell ♦
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.
1
I was thinking more of the spelling, as most languages don't have a sound like the English -th-, and when they do, it gets represented by different letters.
Do you know about Vietnamese sounds, Chrisell? They certainly have -th- appearing in their spelling system, but I don't know how they pronounce it (plus, they were a French colony for a while and it's a sound that gives the French enormous difficulty). And indigenous South African languages can be very confusing because they have a voiced and an unvoiced t, represented as t and th but not pronounced like the English th - so Thabo Mbeki's first name sounds like TAH-boh.
It'd also be helpful to know where the labelled lady originated from!
Do you know about Vietnamese sounds, Chrisell? They certainly have -th- appearing in their spelling system, but I don't know how they pronounce it (plus, they were a French colony for a while and it's a sound that gives the French enormous difficulty). And indigenous South African languages can be very confusing because they have a voiced and an unvoiced t, represented as t and th but not pronounced like the English th - so Thabo Mbeki's first name sounds like TAH-boh.
It'd also be helpful to know where the labelled lady originated from!
1
Where does SA get it's name?
1