Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Nom de somebody else

A woman called just moments ago with a list of books, all by the same author, to be ordered through interlibrary loan.

"Okay," I told her as I finished transcribing the list, "I'll see if I can find those and we'll call you when they come in."

"Would you like my name, its spelling, and my phone number?" she asked.

I wondered why she would need to tell me her name again, and it sounded like an easily spelled moniker, so I spelled it back to her myself.

"Okay," she said, pausing, "except that's the author's name. Would you like mine?"

I wouldn't have been able to spell her actual name, either, if I had already heard it.

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