Blogetary (Weblog + Commentary = Blogetary)

So, sometimes as a break between things I like to Google family and friends I’m trying to track down, especially if I’m feeling particularly nostalgic. I’ve reconnected with quite a few people that way.You also run into quite a few blogs, profiles, pics, and forums for people with the same or similar names, who even look like the friends you’re trying to track down except they’re the wrong age or something. Or you end up with pages and pages of someone who is in science or tv or film with the same or similar name, but it’s not your friend or aunt or cousin, etc.

My last name, Olivier, is French. Old family tales say it actually started in Sicily as Olivieri and then the “i” was dropped once someone moved to England (extension of same legend has it that it was a soprano and a baritone who ran off together to get married since the baritone wanted a divorce to marry the soprano and Italy doesn’t grant them — supposedly the baritone  left the soprano as well). This changed the name from Italian sounding to French sounding, the English hating the French slightly less than they hate the Spanish or Italians ;-P.  Another family legend has it that in one of the generations twins were born. One became a thief and the other went into the church. We come from the thief side and Laurence from the other. Yes, I scoff at that one, too (I mean, if that were true, wouldn’t we have more twins in our family?). Except my Uncle Tony did look an awful lot like Sir Laurence Olivier, my dad only a little less so. And from what I hear, they all had similar temperaments.

Anyway, as long as I can remember I have had to correct people on how they spell and pronounce my name. People don’t see the second “i” so they’ll say and spell “Oliver” instead of “Olivier” or they’ll say “Olivee-er” instead of “Olivee-ay”. I remember going to a legal proceeding and hearing the roll call that was filled with Russian, Spanish, and Chinese names. All those names were correctly pronounced. Not mine.  Automatically, I popped up with the correct pronunciation as the legal people all looked at me as if I had a second head.  Another time I remember getting a new lease from a landlord and called them to correct the spelling of my last name. They had put “Oliver” on the lease instead of “Olivier”. Their reply? “Well, spellcheck said it was the wrong spelling.” *glower*

Now, I know what you’re saying. What’s the diff? I mean, Oliver, Olivier, Olivieri, Oliviera, and Olivera, and all those variations all mean the same thing. Olive, Olive tree, or Peace or some such. Same derivation anyway you look at it. (Maybe that explains why I like dirty martinis.) But having your name misprounounced at you over and over and OVER again can get old. I seriously want to hug people when they get it right on the first try (and have thanked them).

So, that brings me to today, Googling relatives and friends. With my last name I usually end up having to sift through French and Canadian profiles, as well as the regular Laurence Olivier and Olivier Martinez sites.  And if Google thinks you spelled something incorrectly they ask, “Did you mean….”.   Well, today I was doing my little searches and noticed after a while that I wasn’t getting anymore Olivier’s and was getting nothing but Oliver’s. I checked my own spelling, did the same search, same thing. There was no note from Google asking “Did you mean…”.

EVEN THE INTERNETS AND INTERWEBS GET THE NAME WRONG!

Cripes!

What’s that saying? Can’t win for losin’.