app-uh-LATCH-un

It’s all in a name.

The latest spell-check is now “fixing” my name from ‘Joby’ to ‘Jobie.’ I got an email from a dear friend just the other day, addressed to ‘Jobie.’ What gives? Since when was ‘Jobie’ more recognizable than ‘Joby’ to a computer? Mercy, they’re BOTH weird.

My mother Judith spelled her name Judi, not Judy. And her “best friends” always misspelled her name. Best friends, indeed. They also didn’t know the names of her children very well, either.

I have been called ‘Jody,’ ‘Toby,’ ‘Joe,’ and ‘Joe B.’ quite enough, thank you very much. I was once ‘Roby’ in a school yearbook. I have been ‘John’ in junk mail. And I was once ‘Mr. Ray Bell Joby’ on an insurance claim. The dentist’s receptionist once called me ‘Jaby.’

My sister is named Talana. That’s pronounced ‘tuh-LAH-na.’ The poor girl has endured ‘tuh-LAA-na,’ ‘tuh-LAY-na,’ ‘tuh-LOO-la,’ ‘banana,’ and ‘TAAL-uh-nuh.’ But her grandchildren call her ‘la-la,’ which is wonderful.

My alma mater and employer is pronounced app-uh-LATCH-un, not app-uh-LAY-shun nor app-uh-LAYTCH-un. Yes, I know. I can hear you now. If you don’t live in this area, then you think it should be pronounced otherwise. But verily I say unto you, them what live here know what they be doing. When our football team was on top a few years ago, having won three straight national championships plus a surprise win against Michigan in 2007, even the sportscasters had corrected their pronunciation to LATCH.

Well, this is an organist’s blog. Shall we move on to stop names? I’ll not list examples here; organists can provide plenty. But I’ll say that I cut a lot of slack on stop names. After all, they’re usually in some other language, and their pronunciations can be taught and learned. All are forgiven.

For the record, I am named after Job. Mother decided that after 22 hours of two-week-premature breach labor and after a first breath that consisted nearly entirely of amniotic fluid, that I was a pretty patient fellow. Still am. Call me crazy. Actually, call me Joby.