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#5: Pronunciation

nekoewen

on Oct. 12, 2011

This is about my friend named Thinh; we usually say his name like "Tin," but it's actually in a form of Vietnamese that even other Vietnamese people seldom say right. (So I'm not the only one around with a weird name.) His family were among the Boat People who left communist Vietnam after the war by boat, though they were smart enough to go to a neighboring country first. The people who tried to cross the Pacific? There are apparently some really scary stories about what happened to them.

Anyway, Thinh can be tactless at times, but he's actually a very good friend. It's just that there are certain things he can't help that are hilarious, especially about how he talks. (We like to ask if someone was "So nave he got kicked in the crouch.") He also has a sort of mental blind spot for remembering names, which wouldn't be too bad except he wants to reference names of games, people, movies, etc. more than basically anyone ever and has to flail around with trying to give people hints.