I am willing to bet you have found saying ‘King’s Birthday’ hard; and I reckon it’s a good bet because I haven’t found anyone yet who hasn’t found it somehow sticks when they go to say it.  

This isn’t a republican rant, it’s just that after 70 years or all your life depending on how old you are of saying ‘Queen’s Birthday’, it is a bit hard to change sometimes, isn’t it? 

My legal profession friends tell me the same effect applies when they have to say ‘King’s Counsel’ instead of ‘Queen’s Counsel’. Having said that, I’d rather have ‘KC’ after my name than ‘QC’ any day of the week; anything referencing even remotely the great KC and the Sunshine Band just has a ring of uber coolness to it, doesn’t it? It is my fervent hope that somewhere in the Commonwealth there is a lawyer who has now become ‘S. Band K.C.’, because if there is and I find out about it, I’ll giggle like a silly boy for about a week.

But this mental judder bar in saying ‘King’s Birthday’ has got me thinking what it must be like for women, actually correct that, what it must be like for people who choose to change their name when they get married. 

I cannot imagine what that must be like, going from a Smith to a Brown, or anything to a Cadogan for that matter, especially if you have spent your life with a name you didn’t have to spell out for people all the time. It really must be a big sacrifice and one that those not making the sacrifice (me for instance) perhaps don’t give enough credit to.  

Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled and proud when Linda chose to take my name, but did I for a moment consider other options? To be honest, no, and being 20 years more evolved (or woke as some like to call it), I reflect now that this was pretty poor of me.

And there are other options. Hyphenations are one, the bloke changing their last name is another (I have a family member who has done that, and I couldn’t be prouder) and I have even heard of one couple who put a pin in a phone book and took an entirely new name for their new family unit.

I guess the challenge that comes with change is why quite a few people are getting a bit grumpy about te reo additions to road signs, because I can’t think of any other good reason.

Although having said that, I do remember being frustrated by bi-lingual road signs in Macau, but that was because they were in Portuguese and Mandarin. But given most people in Aotearoa New Zealand can read English, I really can’t understand the fuss.