To set the scene:  spring semester freshman year at grand ole UGA.  Athens is covered in dogwood blooms and the most beautiful and least dressed young women on the planet.

I had a relationship with this girl named Erica (I would change the name but it is crucial to the story) in high school.  Despite her desire to stop talking to me after I graduated I managed to rekindle things over my fall break.  I went home to visit her a lot but after Christmas she transferred to a private school 1000 miles away in Michigan.

This put a strain on things.  Not to mention that I had been studying about 25 hours a week for this horrendous class with a close female friend of mine - who was tall and hot as the dickens but also a genius and total ice queen.  Exactly my type.  I was falling in love with her as I grew distant from Erica and I hardly realized it.  Her name was Amanda.

So I have dated a lot of girls since high school and many of them at the same time (to their knowledge, I'm not that sneaky) - and I had always prided myself on never calling anyone the wrong name.   Which is funny because my dad never called them the right name when I brought them home.  He called all of the blondes "Jessica" and all of the brunettes "Rachel."

But I screwed up.

I was on the phone with Erica one spring day and she was blathering on about something very culturally specific to her new private school and hence very boring to a freshman at UGA.  My mind drifted to Amanda just a tad.  I realized it was the point in the conversation where I respond with "Erica, that's very interesting, blah blah blah . . . "

But I found myself saying "Amanda . . . " - and my mind was screaming NO! STOP! SAY ERICA!  YOU'RE SCREWING UP!  YOU'RE SCREWING UP RIGHT NOW!

What came out was the following:  

Me: "America!"
Erica: "Huh?"
Me: "Uh, um, it's a great country."
Erica (miffed that I am not paying attention to her story): "Okay . . ."


Now let me ask you:  is there any other combination of girlfriend and illicit interest that could result in me calling my girlfriend the wrong name, reversing in mid-word and resulting in something that made sense in English?  

If I had said "Rebe . . . Erica" or "Ama . . . Krista" or something else I would have been sunk.

God Bless AmErica.

great story

Quoted:

+1 Patty

Good one!  

At least their names weren't Clara and Doris

Quoted: At least there names weren't Clara and Doris

LOL

I was sleeping with a girl named Susan and called her Theresa once.

Or how about last summer when I broke up with Bekah for Becky?  I had to really work to not screw that one up.  Especially when Bekah and I got back together many months later.  

The whole Jessica/Rachel thing with my dad is pretty funny.  I think he went about three years where he never called a single girlfriend of mine the right name.  It was not always accidental but he did it even when he tried not to.  

Next time your buddy introduces a girl to you, before you get her name say "you must be Sarah, Ive heard so much about you"....

Great recovery!