The world turned upright?

I was reading another blog (here), and I was reminded of a story I heard recently.

For the longest time, I remember being in classes, and the teacher would be taking role call (aka attendance). My last name is relatively easy to pronounce, especially based upon the following.

- "L" - "N" -
(Hint: It is not Jacketelenextremesports)

Anyway, the teachers would still ruin my last name on occasion, but I really feel bad for those poor Muslims who had their names butchered regularly. Although it doesn't seem that hard to pronounce the names since becoming Muslim and learning some Arabic, I remember it was very difficult to do previously. That is why the name Salman often became Salmon.

So my friend was telling me about one of the happiest days of his life. He was in a new college course, and he saw that the teacher was a desi uncle. The uncle/teacher began pronouncing names and would say: "Smite, S-s-Smith, Joe Haan (يعني Smith, John) or While Yam (William). He continued to straight up slaughter the non-Muslim names, but when he came to Muslims, he pronounced them exactly right (same with the Hindu names).

My friend was exuberant. He could believe what he was hearing. After years of living in a small town and having the first day of school being a guaranteed laugh fest at his cost, a day of being confused with a fish, he now had the tables turned. If only the uncles could get my last name correct instead of sounding like they're choking on a chicken tikka bone each time they try to say it.