Livin' With Locals #2: "I'm A Little Bit Country..."

My parents gave me the name Courtney...
I've never really cared one way or the other about my name. I don't remember ever wanting to change it, but I WILL say that it's had it's share of difficulties. See, for some my name is a little hard to say.
Kids under the age of 4 usually have a hard time with it. Hence, this is why I'm called Aunt CaCa (and yes I'm aware of it's meaning in other languages!) by my nieces. Carsyn couldn't say Courtney when she was learning to talk, and so we had MaMa, DaDa, and CaCa...Since the other two were obviously spoken for...I took what I could get :) And I've grown to love the fact that when I would get off the plane and Carsyn would see me she would yell (very excitedly and loudly) "CA CA!!!!" And I would have the priviledge of smiling while everyone looked to see WHO IN THE WORLD SHE WAS CALLING "CA CA" :)
While working with children throughout my life I've often been called Courty and Court. One of my favorites though is that some people of other cultures who aren't use to the whole "T" being next to the "N" thing often call me Corny :) Which if they understood the context in English they'd know why I giggle a little when they say my name.
My name being prnounced wrong doesn't bother me. I often realize the person is trying to acknowledge me, and it's just not that big of a deal to have to correct people.

So begins my second story of my "family" that I'm living with here...
There is a little boy in the family who is almost 5 years old. He is a typical plays hard, wants to karate chop things, gets dirty, loud, funny, and is just described by the word "BOY". He's precious, and often cracks me up. (For the purpose of telling these stories and not having to write "the little boy" we'll call him "Amir".)

My self-proclaimed (almost) 5 year old "boyfriend"

Since I've been living with the family, we (Amir's parents and myself) have been working with him on pronouncing my name (moreso his parents than me). Here, my name would be spelled Kortni. So, it's not THAT weird. I mean no one here is named Courtney, but the letters are pronouncable. The mom and dad can pronouce my name, but poor litte "Amir" has a very hard time with it.
See, "Amir" calls me "Country" :) And given the fact that I AM from MISSISSIPPI and am often given a hard time for the "y'alls" and drawl in my speech, this is not only ironic, but rather humerous.
The other night "Amir" was talking with his grandmother on the phone. His grandmother knows I'm living with them and was asking about me. He kept saying, "Country, blah, blah, blah..." Then she responded by saying, "Country?" because that's what he said. And Amir got a little angry and said, "NE! (No) COUNTRY!" She responded again, "Country?" And even louder "Amir" said, "NE!!!! CCCCCOOOOUUUUNNNNTTTTRRRRYYYYY!!!!" because when he heard her say my name she was saying it wrong! :) He was getting very upset that she was pronoucing my name WRONG! :) Finally, his mother got on the phone and told the grandmother that my name is pronounced "Courtney" and the grandmother said it back to "Amir". He was pleased with this and said, "Da (yes). Country." :) HA HA!!!
The poor thing probably has no clue why his parents and I keep trying to get him to say "COURTney". In his mind he's saying it right. To him, I'm "Country".
Now, it just really cracks me up everytime he says it...and I've gotten to where rather than correcting him I just look at him, smile, and say,
"Yep, I'm Country" with as SOUTHERN an accent as I can :)

This is the pose I got when I told him I was taking his picture :)