DEAR ABBY: I have an irritating problem I'm sure many people can relate to. My name is "Phoebe," pronounced "Fee-bee." Why is it the majority of people pronounce it "Fobe," "Fobee" or "Phobia"? Is there an appropriate method of correcting people?
This is especially embarrassing when I visit the doctor and the nurse steps into the waiting room and calls for "Fobee" or "Fobe." It aggravates me that so many people have such difficulty with my name, yet no one seems to mispronounce Phoenix. Why is that? -- PHOEBE
DEAR PHOEBE: Try not to be embarrassed when people mispronounce your name. Simply correct them and move on, knowing they probably won't make the same mistake twice. I'm sure you're not the only one with this problem. It probably also happened to Caesar.