“Hey, did I ever tell you about my friend named Dushaw from university?”
“Wait, what– was her name?”

“It’s exactly what you think. Her name was literally pronounced ‘douche-ah’. Just like the vaginal irrigation device.

Her family came here from Slovenia when she was seven. She probably didn’t know what her name sounded like here. Certainly, it couldn’t be like our word which means ‘vaginal irrigation’…

I say good for her; she never changed her name. Why should she? Why should she change herself, for us, to make us less uncomfortable? In her language, it could mean ‘pretty flower’, for all I know.

We were roommates in our first year; that’s how we met. It became apparent to me that she’d been in the ‘popular crowd’ at high school.

This feat amazed me; with a name like that, how did she manage? Even with a regular name, I’ve never been popular.

Maybe it was because of her name: her boldness and confidence, her uncompromising attitude.

Seriously though, she really was a bit of a douche…"