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The next photo is the PROMPT. Remember, all photos are property of the photographer, donated for use in Friday Fictioneers only. They shouldn’t be used for any other purpose without express permission. It is proper etiquette to give the contributor credit.
PHOTO PROMPT ©Jill Wisoff
Genre: Memoir
Word Count: 100
The story you are about to read is true. No names have been changed to protect the guilty.
FAMILY TIES
“Wise-off?”
“No. ‘Wiss-off.’ It’s a short ‘i’.”
Very few can pronounce it correctly on the first try. We were the only Wisoffs in Kansas City—probably the world. Talk about feeling like the odd one out.
“Your great-grandparents who came over from Lithuania with 7 children shortened Wissosky,” said Dad. “There are plenty more little Wisoffs running around back east.”
In 1999 thanks to AOL, I met Jill Wisoff who lives in New York City.
Say what you will about the evils of social media, but thanks to my unique surname, I don’t need DNA to find relatives on Facebook.
Click to hear and see a recent reading I did. Sight, sound and four flash fictions.
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields-Addicted to Purple 
A gem of a story, love the audio clip dimension. As ever Rochelle, you say so much in so few words. An uplifting piece..
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Dear Francine,
Glad you liked it. I wasn’t sure about this as a story at first. But since Jill took the picture…Thank you. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I may change my name
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😀 I did have a cousin named Neil…but he was Weiner…on my mother’s side.
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I’ve been pronouncing your name wrong all these years? I wish you’d told us sooner – I shall have to unlearn it now!
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Dear Liz,
If only I’d known. At the very least it gets spelled half a dozen different ways. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Your surname has likely morphed several times over the ages as the ancestors moved around, the ‘ski’ (son of) added in Poland. Maybe you’ll find yourself related to a zillion Weis(e) descendants? 🙂
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Heart-warming tale, m’lady.
And I too have been mentally mispronouncing your name all these years.
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Dear C.E.
My brother told me that there are Wisoffs in a different part of the country who do ascribe to the long ‘i’ pronunciation. 😉 What’s in a name? Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I loved “listening in” on your conversation with your dad–a simple, yet warm moment in time. And I learned something new about you, too! 🙂
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Dear Jan,
I’m so glad you enjoyed my piece. Can’t exactly call it flash fiction. Flash memoir? Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Oh.. .my wife has a unique last name… Since it’s her grandfather who took the name she actually know every single family member… My name goes back longer and exist in many independent branches. So it has to be DNA for me. Loved the reading.
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Dear Björn,
Since my great grandparents had 8 children…one born in the States…I have cousins I’m not even aware of. I’ve connected with quite a few on Facebook. And a few who’ve married out of the name have connected with me. Names fascinate, don’t they? As for DNA…I did that at my husband’s urging and found out I’m 93% Eastern European Jew…no surprises there.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I have a distinctive name too. That’s a nice advantage , being able to narrow things down while finding unknown relative.
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Dear Larry,
I love my last name now…all the connections aside. As a kid you hate being singled out for any reason. So much pressure to fit in. I never really did. L’chaim to those of us with distinctive names. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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As A kid I was incessantly singled out. My parents were from northeastern PA, and I grew up in New York with a hardcore PA accent. Because of it I got into a lot of really bad fights. That’s just one example of the brazilians of ways I’ve plum never fit in.
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I didn’t get in lot of fights but took a lot of teasing. I was the shortest kid in my class, was Rochelle in a crowd of Nancy’s, Karen’s, Sharon’s and Jennifer’s and Wisoff….well you get it. I look back on those days with gratitude that I didn’t quite fit in. 😉
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I wondered if Jill was a daughter–cool to discover relatives! The other day I was with my daughter when we passed a business owned by someone whose last name was spelled the same as my maiden name–Fullmer. Unusual to see it with two L’s. Made me want to stop and visit, but she was driving and we were on a schedule 🙂
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Dear Linda,
Nope, not may daughter anyway. 😉 She has a lovely sister named Mona. Fullmer is a different name. It’s always interesting to find where names came from, isn’t it? Thank you for reading and commenting.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Interesting.
Thanks to modern technology- the world is a family!
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Dear Anita,
Too bad not everyone sees the world as a family. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Loved it! My name is often mispronounced and I always have to tell people: Eames as in Dreams. 🙂
Susan A Eames at
Travel, Fiction and Photos
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Dear Susan,
I’m convinced there are people who can mispronounce Jones. 😉 Glad to know I’ pronounce your name correctly. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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There are some good things about Social Media… For some reason the first thing I thought of with your story was a cartoon that I once saw that showed a tomb stone, “In loving memory of our dear father” with a very Eastern European name and then followed by 10 kids name that were each a slightly different variation of that name. Glad you found some other Wisoffs
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Dear Trent,
Bader was the original family name but the passport my great grandparents acquired was for “Wissosky” (Not sure of the spelling). When they arrived in America, they simply shortened it rather than go through the legal hassle of changing it back. At least that’s the way I heard it. 😉
As the tombstone in the cartoon shows…so many names have been anglicized. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
Love this – plus hearing you read your story! You and I have discussed the benefits of social media and this is proof positive that, if we choose, we can find good. What a wonderful thing it is to discover a relative we didn’t know!
Lotsa love,
Dale
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Dear Dale,
While others tout the evils of social media, and rightfully so, I’ve reaped the benefits. Finding relatives has been a bonus–making new friends, a joy. 😉 Thank you for being at the top of the list of those.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Yes. I choose to hide the evil from my page and spread the love and funnies… and yes, you, too, are top of my list! xo
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❤
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❤
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That’s great. I have thousands of would-be relatives, I’m afraid. Carroll is one of the most popular names in Ireland. I’ve had a doppelganger with my name and birthday who has caused some confusion over the years, too.
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Dear Josh,
My brother has found two other Jeffrey Wisoff’s. One is a surgeon or a pediatrician, I think, and the other’s an astronaut. I don’t think there’s another Rochelle Wisoff. 😀 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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AOL? Wow, we’re both old.
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😜
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You are lucky, with my surname it’s a needle in a haystack. Great story 🙂
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I don’t even have a surname. 😛 We use our father’s given name as our surnames/ initials in our community. Tracing our lineage is next to impossible after a couple of generations. 😀
Lovely anecdote, Rochelle. Think it’d be fun to have a unique surname.
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Dear Iain and Varad,
Growing up I felt conspicuous with my name. Either people pronounced it wrong or made fun of it. Now I’m kind of pleased that I have the name. I am lucky. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Enjoyed your bit of history. Surnames + family histories are indeed fascinating — but you never really start digging until you’re over fifty and the ones with the most info are gone. 🙂
My Great-grand was John Smith. Can you imagine?!
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Dear Christine,
You are right about that. And the ones I could’ve asked are gone indeed. That applies to both sides of the family.
THE John Smith? OR just John Smith? Yeah…good luck finding anything there. 😉
Originally our family name was Bader but it those days, to get out of Eastern Europe any passport would do. Also one passport covered the entire family. My great grandparents’ passport was for Wissosky which they shortened to Wisoff. As far as we know, our family name is unique to our family.
Thank you. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Actually a long-lost cousin told me John Smith was kidnapped by a press gang when he was nine, so we don’t even know for sure if that was his original name — or just tacked on by the British navy.
We have friends in Penn whose ancestors came in the 1700s when apparently there was a tax on each letter of a name. So many families shortened their names. And the (Swiss) Bitschi clan changed their spelling to match the pronunciation — and avoid the obvious. They’re now Beachy and Peachy.
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Dear Christine
Love Beachy and Peachy. I have a friend who changed his last name from Liebshitz to Liebshutz. 🙂 True story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Don’t blam him one speck. 🙂
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We also have a unique name and there is a town in Germany where my husband’s family migrated from called Templin. We were there in 2016! It was so exciting! The town is small and founded in 1268. The sitting Chancellor Merkel is from there as well. When we come across other Templins we know we are probably related somewhere down the road! 😉
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Dear Courtney,
I love the way my ‘story’ is bringing out others’ stories about their names. Fascinating bits. 😀 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Interesting Rochelle. I’ve always pronounced your name the correct way, but that could fit into my Australian accent. I’m not sure.
I have been torn over using my “maiden” name and married name for 16 years now and have kept my driver’s licence and credit card in my name and changed the rest over. My surname is Curtin, which is clearly Irish and my mother’s surname was Haebich and clearly German. The surnames reflected my identity. My husband is Newton and that doesn’t really mean anything. Well, that is other than the scientist. I wonder how many other women find changing their name such an issue. Or, should I say, NOT changing their name.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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My maiden name was simple: Vance. Oh, the “good enough” jokes I have to put up with now!
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Christine, you should’ve stayed with Vance.
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I told DH he should shorten it to Good, but he likes being part of the prestigious Goodenough–Goodnough–Goodeno–Goodno–Goodenow–Goodnow–etc., clan. 🙂
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Dear Rowena,
When my husband and I were counselling with the rabbi he gave me the option of keeping my maiden name. I laughed and said I was marrying a ‘normal’ name. Who would’ve guessed back then I’d be reclaiming Wisoff as my pen name? Glad I did.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Rochelle, I don’t think many people realize what they’re letting go when they change their name. Yet, there’s still such a social expectation and from my observations most young women automatically do it these days, where there were some who bucked tradition. I feel like they’ve sold out without knowing they’re selling out.
Best wishes,
Rowena
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What a great story! Love the idea your ancestors just made up a new name to make it easier to pronounce. And as we all seem to have a story to share … My Nan’s family were French immigrants called Croix, supposedly diamond dealers. Of course, the moment they reached the UK they Anglicised the name to Cross. Sadly, they seem to have mislaid the diamonds along with the Frenchness 🙂 Lovely story and a lovely performance too, Rochelle.
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Dear Lynn,
The way I heard it was that it was too much of a legal hassle to get the original name of Bader on their papers. So it was easier to just shorten the name to Wisoff. Whether or not that’s easier to pronounce is up for debate. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Interesting how these things change. Must make a genealogist’s job so much harder. My pleasure 🙂
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Thank you for telling us more about your name and its origins; genealogy is endlessly fascinating, isn’t it? You wrap these little nuggets of history into story so expertly, too!
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Dear Penny,
My pleasure. It really has amazed me how many Wisoffs there really are on the East Coast. 😀 Thank you for a lovely comment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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There are very few Delaplain’s in the world. I should investigate that further. Hmmm
Social media has its advantages, connecting the world. Just think, the Fictioneers would have never found each other without it.
Have a great week and enjoy the media ride,
Tracey
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Dear Tracey,
And it was Facebook where I found Friday Fictioneers. 😉 Glad I asked Madison how I could join. I really wasn’t asking to take it over. LOL. Google is my friend. You never know what or who you might find just by typing in a name. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Gosh, I’ve been mispronouncing your name all this time? Oops. Sorry about that, but not about trying to make you spew your coffee. 😉 I also have an unsusual surname, Wicklund. There’s not many of us. I’ve found others but they weren’t relatives, as far as I know. Go back far enough and I’m related to you. My name gets mispronounced and mispelled all the time. We’re definitely related in that regard. Fun story, Rochelle!
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Dear Eric,
Wouldn’t your name be pronounced like it’s spelled. WICK (as in candle wick) and Lund? But then people can pretty much mispronounce anything…even Jones. Right? Ha…no coffee to spew. Nyah nyah nyah. 😀 Thank you. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Curses! I’ll get you yet Purple Prestidigitator!
And yeah, it’s as easy as pronouncing it like it looks. So how do people look at it and get, “Whichland?” Oh, well.
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Dear Shelley Kohlen W(T)F,
I’m glad you found someone who would claim you as kin. My family was surname was orginally Johnson-Smith-Jones, but too many of us were getting in trouble with the law or IRS (not to mention revenuers), so we shortened it to Gayer. For a few generations, people just thought we were happy. Now all we hear is homosexual jokes.
Grumpy old curmudgeon
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Dear Grumpy Old Curmudgeon,
Well that lets out GAYer meaning happy. Perhaps you could legally change it to Groaner. Seems to suit you. Ah well, what’s in a name. Would not purple by any other name be as sweet? Have a quality day.
Shalom,
Shelley Kohlen W(T)F
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Another piece of history, but this time it’s family history and not fiction. What a great discovery, Rochelle. I first pronounced your name the german way in my mind, which was right, but then thought I must think it in English, and thought-pronounced wrong. There you go. 😀
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Dear Gabi,
It’s nice to know you pronounced my name correctly. Many do and so many don’t. 😉 Thank you
Shalom,
Rochelle
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What a nice story! I have a pretty common last name. A lot of us are roaming around here in India😅. But guess what, from the first moment I saw your blog, I pronounced Wiseoff correctly! 😊
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Dear Shivam,
Um…there’s no ‘e’ in Wisoff. But if you pronounce it correctly, that’s half the battle. 😀 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Oh Sorry! I remember writing Wisoff! I blame it on my phone’s autocorrect 😅
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Awwe, that is so sweet.
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Thank you, Anurag. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle, I loved the audio! And the personal/family details. So glad you were able to connect with your distant relatives. How enriching that must be. Thanks for sharing. Lucy.
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Dear Lucy,
There was also a Lucy Wisoff. She married my Uncle Harold (Streifer). Just thought you’d want to know. 😉 Thank you. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I was never quite sure how you pronounced it! Enjoyed the clip Rochelle
Welcome to Keith’s Ramblings!
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Dear Keith,
Now you know. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Lovely story! Imagine trying to find relatives with a surname like “Phillips” 🙂
I was pronouncing it correctly but always get confused over the number of s’s and f’s when typing it.
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Would you happen to know my Smith relatives? I think they’re from London. 😉
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Dear Ali
There are certain advantages, I’ve finally realized, to being the odd one out. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thankful to know I’ve always got the pronunciation of your surname right. 🙂
I sometimes feel I have too many relatives, but don’t share a surname with them thankfully.
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Dear Vinay,
Happy to put your mind at ease. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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A beautiful story of family! =)
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Thank you, Brenda. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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That is awesome! I love tracing family lines 😊 great true story Rochelle
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Thank you, Laurie. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I really loved hearing you read, ‘Family Wis-off Ties’. … You will have noted I am poor at spelling. Even after 70 years I have a tendency to mix up the letters in my first name!
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Dear Mike,
Which FF Mike are you? I shan’t cast stones at spelling. I used to be much better before the days of spellcheck. Thank you. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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My maiden name is Marmion. I feel your pain.
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😀 How is that pronounced, Dawn?
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Mar-me-un
Unless you are a receptionist then it is anything from mermaid to Marmaduke
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Thanks for sharing your lovely flash memoir with us. 🙂
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My pleasure, Norma. Thank you for reading. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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How could anyone think it was a long ‘i’? It is great to have an unusual name, as long as it doesn’t attract too much teasing. How many other Wisoffs have you tracked down?
A lovely little snippet of your life.
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Dear Sarah Ann,
A child who’s singled out and teased, being called Whizzo (after a local clown) or Wise-Off doesn’t appreciate a unique name. 😉 That’s changed. Actually I haven’t done all the tracking. A few have found me. When Jill and I found each other in an AOL chat room all those years ago, we recounted the family history to each other. When in NYC in 1999, she spent the day with my son and me. We had lunch with her parents, George and Rebecca Wisoff.
One memorable cousin, Hank, in the Philippines contacted me and said, “I think we’re related.” Since someone constructed a family wheel (as opposed to a tree) years ago Hank and I were able to figure out how we were related. Tzriel and Louis Wisoff (great grands) had 8 kids…almost 2 separate generations. Anyway, when Hank questioned our relationship, I sent him an old picture of my grandfather. Hank looks just like him.
Another cousin sent me a picture of her brother Peter Wisoff who looks more like my dad than my brother.
In answer to your question, I haven’t kept a tally but I’d say upwards of 15 of us have found each other on Facebook.
Apologies for a reply that exceeds the story’s word count. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Okay, so you got me. Why are kids so horrible to each other? My nickname at school was Worm or Hormone based on my previous surname.
Thank you for the long reply and additional family information. I think it’s really interesting to see where the family resemblances show, especially when they are far apart. Family friends used to joke my brother and I were the postman’s rather than my dad’s, but the older we both get the more we look like him.
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Brilliant, Rochelle, and I too loved the recording. And the wry closing comment regarding DNA.
Best wishes,
Jilly
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Nice take on the prompt and great recording. Oh the stories we can say how our names are misspelled. Maybe we can have a prompt on that !:)
https://trailbrooklane.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-photograph_11.html
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Dear Jaya,
So true. No one’s name is safe, is it? 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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A flash of a memoir from the grand dame of flash fiction.
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Thank you for such a sweet compliment, Neel. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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So interesting to discover the origin and evolution of names. I’m not a fan of Facebook, but must admit that it has helped many people find long lost relatives.
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Dear Magarisa,
For me Facebook has been a place of great connections, re-connections and networking. I tend to ignore the rest. 😉 Without FB I’d never have found Friday Fictioneers. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I’m so glad Facebook has brought you new connections and re-connections, and helped you find Friday Fictioneers! 😊
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Very heartwarming.
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Thank you, Lisa. 😀
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Very true. I have a friend whose husband has a Von… last name. She said there were like six of them in the US. However, as a amateur genealogist, DNA can lead to some interesting connections beyond the surname.
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Dear Susan,
DNA is an amazing thing, isn’t it? I finally broke down, at my husband’s noodging and did the Ancestry.com DNA test. In my case, it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t know and confirmed something I suspected. 😉 On my mother’s side the surname is fairly common amongst Jews and Germans. Those relatives would be more difficult to find. 😉 Thank you for reading and commenting.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Social media has its evils but like all things, it is best taken in moderation. I love how it brought you to a long lost cousin. Must have been amazing to trace your family tree and see how you are related. 🙂
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Dear Fatima,
Thanks to Facebook, I’ve found more than one cousin. 😉 It’s pretty exciting. There’s been talk among us to update the family tree. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I always learn something form your posts Rochelle, this time I learned how to pronounce your name. Thanks Rochelle.
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Dear Michael,
It just seemed like the right time to bring this to light. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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But Rochelle , I need to know is it roch as in rock or roch as in rose? 🤔
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O as in rose. 😉 Thank you for asking. I get called Michelle a lot…even had a friend who insisted on pronouncing it “Raychelle” In high school I had the nickname Roach.
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Ha, I’ve been making a complete mess of pronouncing your whole name. I think you should perhaps be careful of who you tell about the nickname, does Russell know? 🙂
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Yeah…pretty sure Russell knows. I’m surprised he hasn’t used it…yet. 😉
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Late this week as I was off teaching. Great read, and I love hearing you read, too! 🙂 <3. Great to know I've been pronouncing your name correctly all along, too!
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Dear Jelli,
I really enjoy hearing some of the other FF’rs when they post a recording. It’s so easy, I might do more of it. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I’ve got to figure it out. Hard to speak understandably without front teeth, though.
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Just goes to prove that the internet is not all bad.
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Dear Sascha,
Like anything the internet can be used for good as well as evil. 😉 Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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