Growing up with an eleven letter, four syllable, Sicilian last name, I envied my classmates with shorter names. All except for my best friend, whose last name was actually Zitt.
But, except for her, I thought people with short names had it made. Imagine. Making a phone reservation without having to spell. No more cringing at egregious mispronunciations.
I tell ya, Love Story had it all wrong. Love might mean never-having-to-say-you're-sorry, but True Love means never having to correct your husband's spelling. Or, better yet, hearing him rattle it off without a hitch. *Sigh* I still get goose-bumps remembering the first time...
Or, in my SIL's case, exchanging her six letter, almost impossible to mispronounce, household-word of a last name for my brother's. See now, that's True Love!
True love, or complete insanity...I'm not really sure which.
But, like I said at the top. Reality. Does it ever live up to imagination? Not in this case. Forte. It looks soooo simple doesn't it? But, ahhh, the variations I've been treated to over the years! One syllable. Two syllables. Stressed syllables. Short e's. Long e's. Silent e's. Accented e's. You name it.
I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. After all, I have a cousin whose last name is Bach (yes, like the composer). You wouldn't think that would be hard, either, would you? Think again.
Hence, this blog. And a chance to Finally! set the record straight on the name thing.
So, once again...Forte. Five letters, two syllables. No accent. No stress. And, you know the rest, right?
If not, scroll back up to the top of the page and check out the title. Ah, yes. Now you've got it!
