Woman accused of 'ruining' girl's life for correcting the pronunciation or her Irish name
In all fairness, this was an easy one to mess up.
Irish names are notoriously hard to pronounce for non-Gaelic speakers.
In a classic case of “no good deed goes unpunished,” a woman recently shared a story about how her attempts to offer a simple name pronunciation correction turned into being accused of “ruining” a young girl’s life.
It all started out as a pleasant, civil conversation. The woman, from the UK, started talking to an American woman and her daughter after the girl took an interest in her colorful leather jacket.
But as soon as the little girl revealed her name, things took a turn.
"The mother mentioned that her daughter's name was 'Grain' so I assumed for a while that she was another mother who wanted something 'special' to call her child. I remarked that it was a unique name and that I'd never met anyone called Grain before," the woman shared in her Reddit post.
The mom then explained how ‘Grain’ was named after her Irish great-grandmother…which set off “alarm bells” for the UK woman since the child’s name is likely spelled Gráinne and pronounced “Gro-nyuh, or thereabouts.” Certainly not like the plant.
Trying her best to be "tactful,” the woman said and “Irish has such an interesting alphabet. How is her name spelled? Irish names can be tricky.” But sure enough, the name is spelled G-r-á-i-n-n-e.
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At this point, the woman’s partner, who has studied just about everything about Irish culture and history, “stuck somewhere between stifling a laugh and dying of embarrassment” on the mom’s behalf.
Still the woman made every attempt to remain polite, and even offer "an old-school name and a more modern pronunciation. I think that's a great way to pick names” as a compliment. But this only caused the mom to ask “what do you mean,” forcing the UK woman to say it plainly: “in Ireland, they typically pronounce it like 'Gro-nyuh.' "
This was when the mom’s “face went red,” and she began lambasting the woman for correcting the pronunciation in front of her daughter “because now she's going to grow up knowing that her name is wrong and feel bad about it.”
The UK tried to steer things in another direction by apologizing and reiterating “that it's a lovely name in both ways and a fantastic nod to her heritage." But the mom wasn’t having it.
"She told me that I 'ruined her daughter's self-esteem' and that her 'life [was] ruined' by me saying that 'her existence is wrong,' " the woman wrote. "I didn't say that, by the way. I said that her name was pronounced atypically.”
Still, the woman wondered if she had, in fact, been in the wrong, writing, “Hindsight says I should have kept my mouth shut and waited for somebody else in this city to say something.”
Down in the comments, people were quick to reassure this woman that she had done nothing wrong.
"It's better for the kid to learn the correct pronunciation now rather than face it later with potential bullying," one person argued. "The mom needs to take some responsibility here!"
Another said this woman actually did the mom a favor, writing, “She can either spell or pronounce it differently or even change it. She’s in an awkward position now, but at least she can do something before school. She should have thanked you.”
One person of Irish heritage pointed out that "pronouncing Gráinne as Grain is the equivalent of calling the child Sarah but spelling it as Stella."
The Irish language is well known for having spellings and pronunciations that seem bewildering to non-speakers. Just ask Saoirse Ronan or Barry Keoghan. So it’s understandable that this mom attributed the pronunciation she’s more familiar with to her daughter’s name. However, it seems that this mom was offered real kindness by a stranger who did their best to inform her of a mistake in a thoughtful way. Hopefully she can see the gift in that after she cools off. And hopefully this woman can feel less guilty for trying to do what she felt was the right thing.
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An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.