Starbucks Cup Challenge: The Perils of ‘Ph’

Thursday, 03 March 2011 | by Pat's Picks

Wow. Our Starbucks name challenge produced some good photos today. It also enlightened me to how widespread the phenomenon is. We got an email from Erika first thing this morning who says she’d just posted her Starbucks cup of the day on Facebook when a friend sent along the details of our cup challenge.

The kicker, Erica writes, was the barista’s ability to decipher her code name: “I just have no idea how you could sound my actual name out from that garble?” She’s right—my guess would have been something like Frcria.

Another reader, Corinne, says today the baristas mounted a good effort—just one extra letter—and got close to the actual spelling of her name (see left, below). That’s rare she says. Usually she gets handed a cup with “some weird variations of Karen.” (see right, below)

My favorite, however, came from a reader named Phoebe. Okay, I can see how the ph-sounds-like-an-f might throw off a frazzled Starbucks employee. But that wasn’t even the problem (see left, below). Phoebe says she was used to getting a phonetic version of her name (see right, below) but her new (and scary) alter ego quickly became one of her favorites.

Check out how our Starbucks: Where No One Knows Your Name project began. And remember to shoot us an email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with your own!