What’s the name of the game?

When I was a journalism student, my tutors engineered a diabolical assessment for us that has haunted me ever since. We had to call up a (fake) witness, a person who had seen something “happen” that day and interview them in a way that made them want to talk.

We had to pick up on cues, dig deeper when we could smell the story, and untangle an eye-witness account. What made it interesting was the witness was reserved, almost shy. You had five minutes to crack that nut.

It was a great way to learn how to interview but the most important lesson we were being taught was about names. The witness said his name was John Smith. And we had been told by the tutors that if we spelt the name wrong we would automatically fail as correct attribution is a fundamental of journalism.

At the very end of the call, I asked one last question: "Hey, so how do you spell your name?"

Turns out he spells his name Jon Smith.

Quite a lot of people failed that assignment but we all learned something important: spelling someone's name right is an expectation. Not spelling someone's name right immediately puts them offside. And when you're emailing someone and their name is RIGHT THERE, there's no excuse.

☝️ Imogene! Hell naw. Do I look like an Imogene? Am I wearing a black beret and drinking a dry martini at 11am? Do I drive a red sports car while wearing a scarf around my voluminous hair? No! I am not an Imogene although I often wish I was.

Also! This rule applies brand or business names and these can be trickier. Think Chloé, Go-To skincare, or HoMie. Pay attention to how they write their brand name - the case, hyphens, any aesthetic full stops or apostrophes -and mimic them.

TL;DR? Double-check the spelling of names before you send, publish, post.