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.

Cherrelle Didn't Mean to Turn You On

Although it's the obvious nickname, no one has ever really called me Cher.  Oh, occasionally someone is lazy or in a carb coma and can't say the second syllable of my name.  I've often thought it would be sweet if a boyfriend would call me Chére, as in ma chére, but alas, I've never had a French boyfriend.  The only nickname that's ever really stuck with me, other than my childhood pet name, Sissy, is Cherrelle (pronounced Shar-RELLE, with the emphasis on the last syllable).

For those of you who may not be familiar, Cherrelle was a late 80's R&B/dance performer.  She had a couple of hits with "Where Do I Run to?" and "Saturday Love".  But the favorite of my little group of party people was "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On," which Robert Palmer later covered.  This was a favorite pre-disco song.  That is, we would dance in our various apartments to this while we got pre-drunk for going out to get more drunk and to dance some more.  Ah, the 80's...

And while we're tossing around "80's R&B for $800, Alex," an interesting fact about Cherrelle is that her cousin is Pebbles of "Girlfriend" fame.  I would be absolutely thrilled if a barista spelled my name Cherrelle or Cherelle, but alas no one has been that creative yet.

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!"