Unfiltered Story #32494

When I was in seventh grade, I took a drama class where the students were all asked to bring in stories about their family history, which we would then perform for the final project. I was very interested in the part of my mother’s family that emigrated from Italy, so I asked my mom for the details and shared them with the class. Other students performed the story I had just explained, and the teacher then asked me for feedback on how they did. During the rehearsal, one student used a more common Italian surname instead of my family’s actual name (which sounds similar, but is by no means the same).

Me: It was good, but the name is pronounced [surname].

Teacher: It doesn’t matter; that’s just a detail. They’re allowed to change it.

Me: But it’s my family’s name…

Teacher: It doesn’t matter!

I had to spend the rest of the term listening to the other students mispronounce my family’s name, and my mom attended the performance, in which they did the same thing.