PROJECT: DECIPHER

No, that's not a title of a new SciFi movie. As promised in my last post, here's a special interpretative/collaborative post. When I got this beverage a couple of days ago, I knew it was mine because I was the only person there who ordered an iced latte, but you wouldn't know it from the writing on the side of the cup.  I had a couple of theories as to what it said:  Sherl, Shurl or even Cherl--if that loopy first letter is a C--but I just wasn't sure. So I decided to ask for a little help from my friends (via Facebook, of course)--

What do you think?

--everyone was pretty much as puzzled as I was, but here are a couple of alternate interpretations: "Sherlu! That's short for Cheryl-Lue" - John; and "I think they were trying to call you sherbet" - Susan.

But as much as I like those two ciphers, I'm going with "PHERLI" as suggested by my friend Todd because you just can't deny that first letter looking like a P. So I declare Pherli to be the second recipient of the LEFT FIELD award.  Say hello to Mr. Ted Williams and thanks for playing!

So far to the left...

not even in the ballpark!

Something you haven't seen yet --

Nearly three weeks of blogging here and this is the first time my name has been spelled 100% correctly.  Granted, I'm not at Starbucks or any other major chain, but I'm sticking to the rules of the quest.  Below you'll see my order slip for a delicious black bean burger and fries.  Not only is it spelled correctly, there's some nice penmanship going on; so I'm giving plus five (+5) style points for being readable and elegant (a true rarity, as my dear readers know).

BINGO!

Here I am with the lovely Priscilla, who works at the company commissary.  Before this encounter, we didn't know each other, so it wasn't as if I beat her over the head with a stick and made her memorize my name.  Of course, this rare Bingo happened on a day when I wasn't wearing any makeup and basically rolled out of bed, so please excuse my pale ginger-ness.

Cheryl (L) with Priscilla, the spelling bee champion!

Priscilla, you're the first BINGO AWARD winner on "The Name Is Cheryl" blog.  I'm sure your family and friends will be so proud...and happy Friday to everyone!

First Guest Submission - RYAN/RION

This is a case of  poor attention to customer service and detail.   My dear friend spells his name RION, which I believe is a more traditional Irish spelling.  According to Name Voyager, Rion has never been ranked in the top 1,000 popular names for any given year.  However, Ryan has quickly increased in popularity since the 1930's and 40's and was the 12th most popular name in 2003.  I'm a little divided on the issue.  My uncle's name is Ryan and I went to college with Ryan Murphy, the creator of the TV show "Glee" (hey Ryan, if you're out there, I have some scripts I'd love for you to read!).  But whatever the spelling, my Rion is #1 in my rankings.

I'm going to rate this one on the same scale that I rate my own name.  This is an acceptable spelling, but just not the proper spelling for the person who actually ordered the tasty beverage.   RYAN is the first official recipient of the HALF-BINGO award.

Good enough for government work, you basterd.

The Rules of This Quest

Now, dear readers, this seems a good place to explain the rules of this quest -- which, of course, are subject to change at my whim at any given time.  In order to be a BINGO, the subject must get the spelling EXACTLY right: Cheryl.  However, I will reluctantly consider Sheryl a HALF-BINGO, as it is a proper spelling of the name, but it's just not the way I spell it.  When -- or if I ever -- get a direct full-on Bingo without any prompting or support (i.e., they don't ask me how to spell my name), I will take a picture of me with that barista or clerk and post it on this blog.  To tell you the truth, I'm not so worried about that happening because I don't remember the last time someone actually spelled my name correctly.

It's a BINGO!

STYLE POINTS will be awarded purely at my discretion.  These can be doled out for any reason at all:  unique handwriting, interesting combo of syllables, a spelling that I've never seen or considered before, or just because I was in a good mood and my latte tasted extra yummy that day.

SPECIAL AWARDS will evolve as this blog does, but at this moment in time, I have three special awards:

- The CHARO, which will be given to anyone who has the balls to bring the cuchie cuchie.

- The CHERRELLE, as this is the nickname some of my dearest friends use with me, it deserves a special award.  I'll consider Cherrelle or Cherelle a direct hit with this award.

- The NO CIGAR, (as in close, but no cigar...) which will be given for a letter reversal or one wrong letter.

C/SHERYLL -- so close, but yet so far...

Another Starbucks attempt at spelling my name, and the first winner of the "No Cigar" award (as in close, but no cigar) on this blog.

C/Sheryll

She almost had it!  But alas, the double L is a deal breaker.  Maybe she did it this way because Cheryl loosely rhymes with Darnell?  But she got the Y -- and the order of YL correct -- which seems to be one of the most difficult components for the below-average speller.  However, I will give her +1 style points for the cleverly crafted first letter.  Look how she eloquently covered her bases by putting a little curly twist on the end of the C, so it could also be interpreted as an S.  Way to play both sides of the fence -- Impressive!

CHAROLE

Starbucks:  One of the worst offenders out there as far as misspelling names.  A couple of years ago I got so sick of it, that I decided to switch coffee names and give them an alias.  My middle name is Ellette, which I wouldn't expect anyone to know how to spell or even pronounce unless they had taken a couple of years of high school French.  I decided to tell the barista my name was "Elle".  After all, this was the era of Legally Blonde and Reese Witherspoon.  Surely everyone knew how to spell the heroine's name?  Nope.  When I picked up my venti soy latte, there was just one thing written on the cup:  a single letter L.  So much for trying to make it easy.

Anyway, adding to the Starbucks Dumbass Hall of Fame, here is today's entry on The Name is Cheryl.  I give them +2 style points for combining musical luminaries "Charo" (as in Cuchie cuchie) with "Carole" (as in King).  Or is it Char-Olé!?  Or Sha-ROHL-ay?

CHAROLE

As a side note, after the barista made my drink, he was puzzled/undecided on how to pronounce my newly mangled name, so he just called out, "venti soy latte!"