While I was reading today, I came across Dr. Csikszentmihalyi's name in the text and the part where Davis explains that this is pronounced "Smith". Davis goes on to refer to Csikszentmihalyi as "Smith" in the text. I don't know if this is some sort of running joke between the author and the professor or if it is just blatant disrespect, so I thought I'd get to the bottom of it.
I googled Dr. Csikszentmihalyi and found loads of stuff about him (apparently, he's a very well-respected guy) but nowhere did I see anything about "Smith". In fact, I found several websites which contained the true pronunciation of his name (it's CHICK-sent-mee-al-ee).
I suppose I'm a little sensitive about names considering my issues with my own. My maiden name is Oziemblo, which caused me no end of problems growing up. I thought that when I married Mr. Sorby-Firth that things would get easier for me, but they have not. People mispronounce these two simple names in ways that seem unimaginable and get offended when I don't respond! I just know that, if I ever have an extensive, admired body of work such as Dr. Csikszentmihalyi's, people damn well better spell my name correctly.
The point of my story is that I've written to Dr. Csikszentmihalyi to get to the bottom of this. I'll let you know what he says about it. I mean, if he writes back. Which he might not. He's pretty busy and important.
~Heady
LOL! I knew it! I just knew it! I knew you'd be the one to get to the bottom of my this little mystery which all began by the author of our text. I have heard Dr. Csikszentmihalyi's name in other research, but no one has EVER pronounced it the same way. I'm curious to see if you get a response.
ReplyDeleteI too have had issues with my name my entire life since my given name is Tisha, not Trisha or some variation of it, and my maiden name is Admire. I mean it's just like the word, how hard could it be to pronounce.
If you do find out that Smith is being used in our text as a term of disrespect because the author didn't care to take the time to figure out the pronunciation, then I believe the next letter inquiry should go to the author of our text.
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