I humiliated my elderly neighbour by picking a stupid name for my dog – people now hate me in my new area
HE thought he was being funny when he chose his dog's name.
Instead of going for a "traditional" name such as Rex or Spot, he opted to call his pooch Askim.
He hoped that if anyone asked him what his dog was called he could reply "Askim", and the person would then turn to the canine and ask what its name was.
And while the man's joke worked in the beginning, it ended up backfiring when he moved to a new area and was asked by an elderly female neighbour about his dog's name.
"I just moved into a new neighbourhood with a great park that has lots of dogs and very chatty regulars," he explained in his post on Reddit.
"An elderly lady asked Askim’s name.
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"She said 'what?' so I repeated myself and she turned to my dog and asked him his name.
"I quickly explained but instead of getting the usual chuckle she became extremely upset and felt very humiliated."
Since the embarrassing and awkward situation, the man has been approached multiple times by strangers in the park, who said they had "heard about his joke" and "didn’t appreciate pranks in a nice family park".
"This is a pretty close knit community and she sought support from her friends who just took her distress at face value and confronted me about it," he added.
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"The truth is that I say the word Askim multiple times a day.
"I’m aware that the name originated in a joke but at this point it’s just a thing I call my dog.
"When going out, I’m not looking for new victims or inviting people to get tricked, and I wasn’t trying to trick her.
"It was small talk and I didn’t even think about it until I got a negative reaction.
"It’s been pointed out that elderly people can feel really insecure about their diminishing faculties and I know from personal experience that it’s very true."
The majority of people in the comments section agreed that the man hadn't done anything wrong.
However, some came up with other ideas for a reason he could say for naming his dog Askim.
"It's quite close to aşkim (pronounced like ash-keem) which means 'my love' in Turkish - you could always tell people that's what he is named after," one wrote.
"I kept thinking you were referring to the Turkish aşkim (my love) and didn’t understand how that was a joke and/or offensive," another added.
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"I had to say it out loud to get it.
"It’s harmless fun and nothing any reasonable person would get upset about."