'T'ain't Whatcha Don't Know Gets Ya into Trouble...

...It's what ya know for certain but it ain't so.

This morning the doctor was trying to learn how to pronounce my last name. It doesn't much matter, as I answer to any version of it, including some nurse just staring at it with a look of dismay on her face. But this doctor was determined to get it right so I tried to help him.

After one mangled attempt, he asked, "Is that it?" and I said no.

"It's really easy," I said. "First, you just say 'Theodore' and then you add - "

"'idis'" he said, pronouncing it "EYE-diss".

"'EE-deez," I said.

"'Theodore - EYE-diss'," said the doctor; "I see." And he said it with such satisfaction I just left it there.

It's utterly unimportant, but it made me wonder and say to myself, "How many things, maybe important things, have you failed to learn just because you were so sure you already knew?"