One interesting thing that I´ve noticed the past three months is that people here have found inventive and imaginative ways to mispronounce my name. Now, my name is really quite simple. Ann Marie White. Simple. Very. Even the Japanese could pronounce my name. Except for the "Ho-whito" part. :)
When I first came to Brazil, my team thought it was funny that people pronounce my name "awhn." In fact, Meredith (who´s name is even funnier in Portuguese) still calls me "Awhnie" at times. But by and large, my name was largely left in tact.
Not this time!
I am called a number of ways. Some people call me Ann. Some people call me Annie, and some people call me "Uhh-nee", for lack of a better what to write it. This one sweet lady found out my name was Ann Marie (Ana Maria here, very Brazilian), but when she tries to say it in English she calls me "Annie Mary". It´s really quite funny. :)
Ali Gonçalves came down here and started the Ana Branca revolution, which is Ann White translated into Portuguese. Lots of people call me Ana now. Generally, I used to be so against when foreigners came to America and changed their names to something super-American like Bob or Susie (I experienced this a lot with the Asian students I worked with at OC), but now I understand. It´s kind of better to be called a different name than to have your name hacked up. But in my defense, Ana is basically Ann.
So I´m Ana Branca a lot. Then this turned into Ana Branca Franga, because my dear friend Jandira started calling me Franga... she says it´s some slang term from the 70s for a girl. Then she dubbed me Ana Branca Franga da Silva, because she says all Brazilians have like, 7 names (which is totally true), and since White is a common name in the US, da Silva is very common in Brazil.
So there you go. I am Ana Maria Branca Franga da Silva.
Also, I found this toy on myspace. I thought it was a cool way to display a lot of pictures. Enjoy! Or don´t, it´s really up to you. ;)
3 comments:
Very fun!
I don't know if I ever told you how I hated when Brazilians called me "Pumeila" (For lack of a better spelling) when I first moved there. Then I just got used to it and I actually introduced myself with the Brazilian accent. As for Brazilian nicknames I have my fare share of those too. I also didn't enjoy the first one, Pepa, at first but it too has grown on me.
I must say I enjoy your Ana Branca name. The Ana Maria Branca Franga da Silva is just to much for me to say though so I'm sticking to Ana Branca. :)
Love you girl!
Talk about immersion into the culture! I enjoy the full version of the name. :) But you're still the same Ann to me, you know, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. :) I look forward to actually hearing how everything's going. Right now my life's kinda boring though.
Beijos! Cherry Renae
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