TOW #26: "What Your Name Says About How Believable You Are," Matti Vuorre

Growing up with a name like "Kayleigh," with all those silent letters, there have been many a time where people had to repeat it back to me a few times before they finally mastered it. I personally do not think it's hard to pronounce, but the world seems to disagree with me. I have never believed that this difficulty with pronunciation and memorability could mean something else for how I am perceived.  In the article, "What Your Name Says About How Believable You Are," by Matti Vuorre, I realized that people may think me a liar due to reasons as simple as my name. The article opens with the word "imagine," clearly in order to provide a hypothetical situation for audiences. This creation of a real life situation allows readers to put themselves in the context of the argument. By asking people what they would do, Vuorre is able to potentially support the article with that evidence. Reader's gut reaction would probably be to pick the easier name to say, whether they realize it or not.After that, the author made a comparison to turtles, saying that "if I told you that turtles are deaf, unless you are an expert in sea-dwelling reptiles, you probably have little information to help you decide whether the statement is true or false." By comparing this issue to turtles (something many people know a lot about), Vuorre is able to aid with comprehension for everyone reading this article. Finally, the author includes a personal anecdote, describing events from his life as a recent immigrant to the United States. By keeping this story in the piece, it adds an appeal to ethos because it shows he has experienced the struggle of a difficult name and the hardships it entails. This article was very well written and spoke to me, as I remember all of the substitute teachers that butchered my name. This information is solely based on studies, so it could be a coincidence, but if there is ever a situation where you have to pick from two otherwise equal candidates, remember that you could be unknowingly biased based on name.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-your-name-says-about-how-believable-you-are/?WT.mc_id=SA_Facebook