Misnominalorthography

<Rant>
Only those in similar circumstances can appreciate how damn annoying it is when people misspell your name. After years of suffering the frustration of having Mackie spelled as Mackay or Mackey (not to mention Gordan and Gorden), things have recently taken a much worse turn.

Somewhere, some business analyst or software developer has decided that they know best when it comes to the capitalisation of surnames that begin Mack... and have decreed that the K is to be capitalised. That same someone has managed to get their arbitrary rule incorporated into some of the most common CRM software in use in the UK. As a result, on countless mail-outs from the banks, high street stores, credit card companies and other large organisations, I have become Gordon MacKie.

Now, even when I point out this misspelling to them, by letter or in person when my details are being taken in a shop for entry into their customer database, the spelling cannot be changed as the software will not allow it; despite willing employees retyping the entry, as they type the k it automatically and stubbornly becomes a K

Argggggh!! Stop it!!

Stop dictating to me how to spell my name! I know how to spell my own bloody name!

Unless I and the Mackenzies, Mackinlays and other Macks of the world fight this, then it won't be long before the casual observer will assume that this is the correct rule for the spelling of our surnames. We need to resist this outrageous abuse before it's too late.
</Rant>

First post...

I don't like blogs generally - in principle they are a great idea, in practice they are often not much more than an electronic version of vanity publishing. Just because you have an opinion doesn't mean that the whole world has to hear it or that your views are any more valid for being blogged. The Your shout approach only works if you know what you are talking about. All too often I find myself agreeing with Sid Vicious' response when he was asked about 'the man in the street' - track the quote down...Tony Wilson is fond of using it.