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Show The identity you mistake may be mine the editor3 s It's hard to develop a personality of your own when everyone keeps confusing you with everybody else. And if that confuses you, just ask me. I know. I found out about it early, because of my name. You'd think that a name like mine would be pretty hard to confuse with another. Afteralf; - Marc- is.the French spelling of a common name -- there just aren't a lot of people with enough class and culture to spell it that way. And Haddock -- there aren't a lot of those around either, unless it's my relatives. Oh, there were a few problems in my younger years when my cousin Ed decided to name his son Mark --and --and then had the gall to move into town, bringing this other Mark Haddock with him. It was bad enough that I'd get his mail - even though his name was spelled correctly on the package. But even in a small town, the postman couldn't keep everyone straight. It got worse when we had to take the 'nifty plastic Woody Woodpecker, puppet -he had mail ordered over to his place after it had been delivered to ours -- and I wanted it for myself. It looked like the confusion would end when cousin Ed moved his family to Big Piney, Wyo. And it did, at least for a time. But It all started up again at Brigham Young University, where I was managing editor of the Daily Universe and some guy named Mac Haddow decided to run for student Frfim (mini norro the problem has struck again -this, time with a local resident named Mark Hadlock who, incidentally, got here first. Mark's wife, Carol, has been named the employee of the month at the American Fork Hospital - and I'm sure to get some congratulations for that. The compliments will be passed along. After all, the Hadlocks have been good enough to bring me the mail that has been misdirected to their home. (Alas, there have been, however, no Woody Woodpecker puppets come my way.) All that confusion about names has been minor, however, compared to the confusion of personalities which takes place at my home daily. Alexander Graham Bell can take the credit for this most confusing of all confusions, because each time my wife or I answer the telephone, no one knows who they are talking to. This husband and wife team sound disconcertingly alike when we speak. And it's giving everybody fits. It's not that my voice is all that high pitched -- although it is higher than average. Nor is hers all that deep - although it is lower than average. It's just that combination. When the two are placed together, it's just hard to tell the difference. And there have been occasions when we have carried out a short phone conversation acting as the other person just to save the caller some embarrassment. For example, when someone responds to my initial "Hello" by leap.ng mto a breathless versation about this meeting onw appointment as if they were lalk,r to my wife, I just play along, n J a lot of time. I've gone the other route sometimes you have to Fj example, my mother used to be embarrassed that she couldn't it! us apart. But you wouldn't exwt Nancy to try to fool my mother to very long. That was always dilfrt The most amusing telephon; conversations are with people i are aware of the problem and dor.t want to make a mistake. Here's tht scenario: The telephone rings. "Hello," answer after picking up receiver. And a long silence greets me as the caller tries to decide which one of us is on the line. Uk they decide to forge ahead, they invariably guess the wrong on Then they apologize profusely. Sometimes it can be comical, Bui I never understood how so mast people could make the same mistakt until my ' kids tape recorded w breakfast conversation. (Withotf z knowing, of course. The two olte ones have aspirations of joining li CIA.) And as the conversation u played back, I heard myself savin; things I had never said - because my wife was actually saying them. Now that's confusion. It's a good thing we don't hear ourselves as other hear us, or els I'd never know who was talkinj around my own house - unless she was giving the orders, or course. By MARC HADDOCK body president. Haddow had already made a name for himself as a debater. I had made my mark (ouch!!) on the editorial page with several comments that had generated their own share of comment. And while Mr. Haddow probably didn't have any trouble with people thinking he was me, I heard about it all the time. Haddow went on to become a crony of Orrin Hatch, and a state representative from Salt Lake County' where he attracted more than his share of attention. After he was voted out of office, he landed a bureaucrat post in Denver -- spoils, I assume, for his previous deeds. But by the time he was making his name, he used a different one. He dropped the Mac and adopted a more dignified C. MacLain Had-dowas Had-dowas his sobriquet. That was probably his real name, anyway. Thanks, Mac. Since moving to American Fork, |