I have no problems believing that someone could misspell a baby’s name on the birth certificate. My middle name is “Philip.” My father’s middle name is “Phillip.” I was supposed to get the same middle name as him, since I’m a “Jr.” However, my father is a bad speller.
And then there’s Condoleezza Rice, whose mother, being a musician, thought she was naming her baby “Con dolcezza,” which means “with sweetness.” The difference, of course, is that Condoleezza doesn’t spell anything backwards like Oprah does.
Azzeelodnoc, the forgotten Marx brother.
The OP’s article reminds me of C.S. Lewis’s “Screwtape Proposes a Toast”:
Even if one is an atheist, I imagine it must be kind of disturbing to see so many people turning into sheep trotting such a bellwether.
My mother is a bad speller, she is also horrible at pronouncing names - for her there is no difference between Carolyn and Caroline. Mary and Marie. Marci and Marsha.
And she misnamed me. Meant to name me the same thing one of her girlfriends named their daughter, but the combination of “she can’t spell” and “she can’t tell the difference” means I’ve gone by the ‘wrong’ name my whole life.
Pretty much exactly the Oprah story.
She did just misspell my sister’s middle name. No excuse there since its also HER middle name. But since we never used my sister’s middle name, its always been spelled wrong on official documents, pronouced correctly.
IIRC this is what happened to the King; his middle name on the birth certificate is “Aron”, but the gravestone says “Aaron”, which is how it was meant to be spelled.
That’s it! Oprah is a cargo cult!
“If I watch for long enough, maybe I’ll find the keys to a new car under my couch!”
This is really quite disturbing. I think Oprah might actually believe that the Secret is the key to good things happening in her life.
Actually, being a billionaire with an army of assistants trying to anticipate your every move and engineer a perfect day for you might have something to do with it.
Jonathan Franzen doesn’t count?
Last year I was reading Eckhart Tolle’s first book, and found it to insightful and profound. It was endorsed by a number of people whose opinions I really respect. When his 2nd book came out, he was on Oprah’s show, and she was practically fellating him. That really made me wonder if he’s just some new age moron, just by association.
Thanks, Oprah.
I think this is a good time to repost a link to this amazon review (archived for posterity) about how The Secret saved the life of a prison inmate:
Trust me, it’s well worth a read 
I’ve never watched Oprah, or read her books. Probably for the best.
That was awesome. My fiancee has a copy of The Secret and the urge to surreptitiously burn it is increasing.
The plus side is Oprah helped Obama get into office…then again, she helped Dr Phil rise to his notoriety.
On a side note, I have an aunt who is 58 this year. When my grandmother, her mother, died, she got her baby book and her birth certificate which had a different birthday than the one she was celebrating for her whole life. She’s a smart person but can also be quite clueless at the same time. I’m not sure how this bit had slipped by her (oddly enough, even her driver’s license’s birth date was the one she had been celebrating). My grandma had 8 children so it might have been easier to celebrate it on a different date.
Just show him this.
Oops.
*He’s *also a she. And a rather scrumptious she at that.
So what IS the conspiracy theory behind why Oprah is really called Oprah then, if it’s not a misspelling of Orpah?
My therapist recommended his first book to me last year. Eventually I got around to going to the bookstore, only to find giant displays everywhere extolling his latest as seen on Oprah.
I wouldn’t have bought the damn thing but I’d promised I’d read it. I can’t say I was terribly impressed. He seems to have taken a bunch of old, mostly Eastern, ideas and renamed them as his own.
FWIW, I also know someone who goes by her “misspelled” name. Her parents left out a letter on the birth certificate. When it was discovered (pretty early), they just went with the name as spelled. I think that was in around 1915 or so (can’t remember her exact age).
Holy God! That is the funniest thing I’ve read in weeks.
THIS is utterly VILE. I HATE this kind of thing. I’ve been in that position where ‘the boss’ has a birthday or it’s Christmas and the ultra-rich asshole is expecting gifts from his low-paid employees! A token gift won’t do, and it has to be thoughtful, useful, and show creativity??? I think it should be a law that any gifts to ‘the boss’ should be token gifts, or donations to a charity. What does he need bottles of expensive liquor, gold cufflinks, gift certificates to spas for??? He can buy and sell the employees! Once I was approached at the office for a donation to put on a baby shower for his wife!!! I dug out a dollar bill and told the girl collecting to knock herself out, and have a nice time. (It was changed to a luncheon out with the other bigwigs.)
Hey, Oprah - I don’t care if you give tons of shit away, you can afford it. Stop expecting your employees to turn themselves inside out to give YOU stuff.
(too bad she isn’t reading this, for all the good it would do :(:(:()