The F Word

Firoozeh Dumas wrote an article called The F Word talking about her experience having an Iranian name in America. She used humor in her writing to convey her message but I do not think that it was exactly humor. She uses brutal honesty that to us may come off as comical. We laugh because we know its true but we do not really plan to do anything to fix it. In her essay Dumas mentions how in America the name Richard is some how shorted to Dick. It does not make any sense. Most American people have no idea how Richard evolved into Dick and she calls us out on this foolishness. We laugh because she is right but no one cares to find out why. I looked up how we get Dick from Richard and I found in the 12^th and 13^th century rhyming names became popular. Dick rhymes with Rick and it became very popular over time. Dick is an awfully unfortunate name because of its modern day connotations but in America it is still not as bad as Firoozeh.
Dumas later talks about how her brothers did not agree with her choice to change her name to Julie but they later became Fred and Sean. We laugh because its funny that they so drastically changed their minds about her decision that they did it themselves. But what made them change their names too. They were probably made fun of for their names as well. They saw how much easier life had become for ‘Julie’ than it was for Firoozeh. They wanted the same opportunity, acceptance, and respect as everyone else. Julie taught them that to do that all they needed was to change their names.I think that Dumas’ choice to use this brutal honesty that would seem to be comedy is extremely effective. She makes you laugh at a matter than is not funny but a sad reality in our country. We find it funny that she was called "f word" but it is extremely rude and disrespectful. It is a sad reality that ones name can take away so many opportunities. Dumas could not get a job when she used her real name but as Julie she was open to many more opportunities. It reminds me of my mother who's name is Juvenilia will use my name or my dads when ordering food and other things to avoid having to spell and pronounce it. It is sad to realize how unaccepting Americans are to anything that is foreign. This is so ironic because everyone in is an immigrant to America. America is an immensely diverse country where everyone is expected to be exactly the same.