I wonder about these kinds of things

A college friend of mine is named Matt. We called him Woofie.

His father was Polish and was named Mieczysław. It was pronounced “Ma-CHEEZE-Wuff”. Which is how Woofie got his nickname. One of Mieczysław’s (pronounced “Ma-CHEEZE-Wuff”) friends called him “Woof” for obvious reasons. And he referred to my friend Matt as “Little Woofie” when he was born.

You needed to know that.

Not really, but sometimes I wonder which of our names is our real name. The one we spell, like Mieczyslaw or the one we say out loud, as in Ma-CHEEZE-Wuff? Or the Duke basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski, who pronounces it “Sha-CHEF-skee”. Which one is the real name?

My name is Woody. But what if I wanted to spell it “L-o-i-s”? Or if I wanted to keep spelling it "W-o-o-d-y", but started pronouncing it “CARL-ton”? Or even “Mon-SAN-to”? Seriously. I mean, it's MY name.

We should think about these things. I do.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with advertising, but it’s been on my mind.

(P.S. The guy in the picture is not my friend Matt. It's Mieczyslaw Weinberg. A composer.I should not have to explain these things.)