Given that he's probably going to be our next PM, why can't people spell his name correctly?

[EmmaGrundyForPM]

I'm on a number of social media threads, including here on MN, discussing politucs/GE/last night's debate. The number of people who cannot spell Keir Starmer's first name is staggering.

It's four letters. It's not difficult. You don't see people writing Tnoy Blair or Brois Johnson, so why oh why are people writing Kier Starmer.

And before anyone says it's because of the "i before e rule" I've never seen Keith spelled Kieth.

AIBU to think that, if you're going to discuss someone, get their name right. Or should that be thier name?

That's a whole other thread!

But yes, I agree.

I'm more annoyed by people who pronounce it wrong. It's not key-a it's one syllable. Keir.

I know a Keir and he was shocked to see that I’d written his email address down correctly. Apparently the vast majority of people think it’s Kier.

My very ordinary name has a slightly different spelling. You would be amazed how many people spell it wrong - and it's not rare!

high five 😂

Thatcher was very often referred to as "Maggie" (which was bizarre in itself as it was known she was Margaret to her friends), especially- again - by the press.

I'm like a dog with a bone with these things, mind. It annoys me like crazy that since his accession, most people refer to the King as "King Charles". Other nations are free to do this (the Americans tended to refer to his mother as "Queen Elizabeth", for example).

But just as to British nationals his mother simply "The Queen" (HM The Queen if you like), just call him "The King". He's the only one we've got!

I always say it with one syllable but someone upthread has pointed out that, depending on your accent, it could be two syllables.

I wondered if it was a random autocorrect thing.
But my phone auto corrects Keir to Weird so maybe not.

It's quite funny the outrage at people not spelling a white, British name properly given the sheer number of white people who mispell Asian/black names.

Now, I'm originally from South Yorkshire, where single syllable words are routinely extended to two syllables (road, for example, becomes "rooad"), so I barely notice!

My mother's pronunciation of 'pork' caused me to say not long before she died (and to her amusement), "Is that spelt 'pooerk' or 'pooark'?

I don’t think how ppl spell his name is the Issue. It’s the fact ppl are gonna vote for him despite him having zero policy.

I'd be equally appalled if people couldnt spell Rishi Sunak. It's not about it being an uncommon name, it's about it being the name of (like it or not) someone who is probably going to be our next PM.

Rishi Sunak is really easy both to pronounce and spell though, because it’s phonetic and there’s not really another obvious way it could be spelled.

I also get mixed up with Kier the construction company - in fact I worked with a lady who has a son called Keir, on a client who had building contracts with Kier, and I’m not entirely sure I even fully registered the difference at the time as they are pronounced exactly the same 😳

I know the four letters I'd use to spell his name😉

mixing ie and ei is a common spelling error.

Loose and lose is another common one. Because lose has a long "o" sound and Loose is not picked up as an error by a spellchecker, just a different word.

Well on MN spelling things correctly is optional and it is mean and nasty to correct people on it. As long as everyone knows who is being referred to then it's fine.

Not just on MN. In real life, correcting strangers' spelling and grammar is rude, unnecessary and largely pointless unless it's in a professional setting or you've been asked to do so. And yes, getting one's message across is almost always far more important.

Edited to add: unless it's your name they are getting wrong, in which case fair enough!

They may be Irish or have Irish friends/relations. I, to my shame, also thought people were spelling it wrong but no they were using the Irish version.

Because he might not be PM then we will all have learned to spell his name for nothing😊

In our case, no. Just people who can't spell.

and don't get me started on practice and practise! Or stationery and stationary....

🤣🤣🤣

I’m from Yorkshire. It’s two syllables for me. I’ve been trying it with one but my tongue won’t do it

Because it's a silly name

Hopefully it won't matter how he spells his name and he can trot off into the distance.

I’ve never met a Keir and have never even heard of it before so I think it’s easily done, especially with the I before e rule.