Vemusement

I answered a call at work today. The caller was from an international entity (I think Russian) and was inquiring as to the proper address to which to send an invitation. My office address is actually quite simple but the street name -- Glebe -- is uncommon and ordinarily I have to spell it out.

You recall, I'm sure, that I have a bit of difficulty with the letter "B" -- more often than not it sounds like the letter "V." When my caller repeated the address back to me, he said "Gleve." I corrected him, but when I did so it sounded like "Gleve." I don't know why, but it was important to me that the name be spelled correctly and I continued to stress the letter "B" even though my pronunciation of it was clearly confusing. He finally got it right (or maybe I did), thanked me and rang off.

Why did I care so much that it be spelled correctly? Why did I continue, given the fact that the more I persisted the more tired my mouth became and the more difficult I was to understand? It's not even that big a deal -- we receive plenty of mail where the street name is misspelled. Clearly I am out of my mind. Or maybe I am trying to exert control over even the most unimportant things since I have very little control over some larger issues. Yes, that must be it. I am satisfied with that analysis.

Time for ved.