The RubeTube

As you can probably imagine, a lot of people (including my dear friends) misspell "Punzki", intentionally or otherwise. This has led to the creation of such monstrosities as "Poonski", "Punsky", and--God forbid--"Funskie".

(I do realize that this is partly my fault because I don't usually spell out my name when I introduce myself to others as Punzki. But you could have asked, right? I don't bite.)

Let's dissect the parts of my moniker and discuss the common mistakes when spelling them:

• F instead of P in Punzki, e.g., "Funzki"
  
  When people do this, they are usually just trying to be cute, but I get irritated with this particular intentional bastardization of my name.
  
  
• oo instead of u in Punzki, e.g., "Foonzki"
  
  Again, not cute.
  
  
• The n in Punzki is mandatory. You absolutely cannot get this wrong.
  
  
• s instead of z in Punzki, e.g., "Punski"
  
  Conditionally excusable. The exception is when you know what my real name is, which has no letter S in it at all, and you realize that Punzki is derived from my family name.
  
  
• Not putting a k in Punzki, e.g., "Punzi"
  
  Partly excusable, because sometimes the strong "z" sound can overpower the "k" sound and you end up not hearing it. On a side note, my brother's nickname/Net handle is "Punzie".
  
  
• ie or y instead of i in Punzki, e.g., "Punzkie", "Punzky"
  
  Acceptable, although "ie" is very close to qualifying as asking-for-it.
  

Now if you are any good in discrete math, you will realize that given these parameters, there are 48 possible ways that you can screw up my name (48 = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3). Take your pick, please (the ones in bold are palatable for me, most are toward the end):

• Foonsi
• Foonsie
• Foonski
• Foonskie
• Foonsky
• Foonsy
• Foonzi
• Foonzie
• Foonzki
• Foonzkie
• Foonzky
• Foonzy
• Funsi
• Funsie
• Funski
• Funskie
• Funsky
• Funsy
• Funzi
• Funzie
• Funzki
• Funzkie
• Funzky
• Funzy
• Poonsi
• Poonsie
• Poonski
• Poonskie
• Poonsky
• Poonsy
• Poonzi
• Poonzie
• Poonzki
  
• Poonzkie
• Poonzky
• Poonzy
• Punsi
• Punsie
• Punski
• Punskie
• Punsky
• Punsy
• Punzi
• Punzie
• Punzki
• Punzkie
• Punzky
• Punzy

Of course, I didn't generate those names myself... I wrote a program to generate those. Steal the source code, if you wish. (I decided to use C++ because all I've been doing lately is C# and Java and I was afraid I was getting rusty.) The Punzki nickname generator is pretty flexible, so if you have an oft-misspelled nickname as well, you can change the source code and compile and run it yourself, but be sure to let me know about the results!

Labels: C++, combinatorics, geek, math, names, Punzki

For my own reference, SMPC only. It sucks to forget names. I've already lost a few of them. Pardon the spelling errors.

Also under Simon: Jessie (my "buddy"), Cip, Sym, GM, Marvin, Elbert, Eugene (Teves, former DISCS lecturer), Rhea, Lei, Cha, Mads (ECE '06), Francis, Cheng, Choy, Eva, Sheila, Iris, Ryann (MIS '05), Jac, Carmela

New-hires/batchmates: Pierre, Rinah, Reymon, Jay (ME '05), Lailani, Oliver, Sheila, Donna, Paul (ComTech '06), Andrew

Managers: Simon (manager de jure), Jason (Simon's boss), Vince, Jill (ADSI big boss)

People I already know: Shé (taking MS CS at Ateneo), Ian, Debby (Student Ambassador like Ian), Jino (from ACM, CS'05), Bev (MIS '06), Nicole, Cheson (MIS '06), Paul (CS '05)

Others: OJ, Alvin, Karla, Gen, Cherry (14th floor AA), Rochelle (14th floor lobby), Marc, Jena, Sally (7th floor AA), Rich

Labels: friends, HP, names, work