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My name is Kåre [34]

My name is Kåre

You can't spell my name
You can't even pronounce it.
Even after I explain
You say Kari or Kara —

Damn it.

Because names do not matter.
Because I do not matter.

I've visited Gdańsk,*
had a dorm-mate Cudziło.**
No, I didn't complain
I learned how to say them.

I owed'm.

Because their names mattered to them.
Because they mattered to me.

© Copyright 2021 Kåre Enga [178.34] (8.april.2021)

* gdañsk [practice it]
** sujeewa

I deal with my own misspellings, wrong word, misunderstandings daily. But you ask and my mind goes blank.

But then ... you've hit a sore spot.

My name is Kåre. And no, I'm not being 'cute'. It's pronounced a bit like Cory. Can you say C O R Y? Can you repeat that after me?

But no ... many can't. Can't be bothered to look it up. Immediately assume that I can't spell my own name and write back to me: Kara, Kari, Kare [which I do understand as [å] isn't on everyone's keyboard but my tablet has it and copy/paste takes extra effort] ... thinking maybe it's Karen without the 'n'. I am also guilty of typos it seems.

My name is Kåre. It's Scandinavian and been around for awhile. It was most popular in Norway in the 1920s.

If you google the name like I just did it comes up:

Kåre Dæhlen (Norwegian b 1926 d 2020) ambassador
Kåre Hedebrant (Swede b 1995) child actor
Kåre Schultz (Dane b 1962) business exec
Kåre And the Cave Man (Norwegian rock band 1990-2000)
An older spelling still used is Kaare like
Kaare Vedvik (American-Norwegian footballer b 1994)

and a whole slew of other famous folks named Kåre, mostly damn Norwegians. I'm Swede, by-the-way. I'm not on the list. Sorry.

But that doesn't mean that I don't exist.

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