r/mildyinteresting • u/waiha • May 01 '26

humankind hiccups 😅 Well this aged like milk.

Post image

Stumbled upon this while clearing out the attic.

She visited my primary school in Edinburgh shortly after releasing TPS. The girl in front of me (my friend and train-to-school comrade) was Southeast Asian and has an incredibly elaborate sounding name. When Joanne screwed up her face when my friend gave her her name for the signature, I laughed. This is how she decided to sign my copy.

I was laughing at you, JK.

EDIT: It’s on EBay.

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775

u/MPKH May 01 '26

It’s probably a reference to how her last name is pronounced. Rowling rhymes with bowling = bowling pin.

812

u/cadaever May 01 '26

i think she is actually referring to a rolling pin, like the one for baking (pictured)

103

u/ma1butters May 02 '26

It's definitely this.

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u/spaceisourplace222 May 02 '26

Well, today I learned I’ve been saying it wrong for 20 years. It’s what she deserves (and clearly cares about)

70

u/ILikeToDickDastardly May 02 '26

I take it you never heard this one:

"How did Harry Potter get down the hill?"

"walking... jk, rowling"

2

u/fofxequalsfofy May 02 '26

Haha let’s put a pin on this

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u/Call_like_it_is_ May 04 '26

🎶 They see me Rowling... they laughin' 🎶

1

u/dougiewuggie May 04 '26

I have never heard this. Thank you. (25 years after reading her book when I wassss pronouncing it wrong but quickly learned otherwise.)

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u/JacedFaced May 02 '26

Well lucky for us she has made it abundantly clear that she doesn't give a fuck about how using the wrong names makes other people feel, so Joanna Rawlings can just suck it up.

2

u/Feisty-Comfort-3967 May 02 '26

Who? Jemina Quay Rowkang?

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u/eamus_catuli_ May 02 '26

How have you been saying it?

64

u/spaceisourplace222 May 02 '26

The Rowl part has always rhymed with Owl, in my head.

6

u/feNdINecky May 02 '26

You're not alone

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u/RhetoricalOrator May 02 '26

I've always said it so that "Row-" rhymes with "wow."

42

u/Purple-Delivery2885 May 02 '26

Musta been your first rowdy-o

10

u/pussywitasideofranch May 02 '26

This is so funny to me 🤣

2

u/DrTeeeevil May 02 '26

Your username is funny to me

2

u/Appropriate-Race-763 May 02 '26

I always get in an argument when I use the oars in my boat. ;-)

6

u/HomieeJo May 02 '26

I will now pronounce her name like Owen Wilson pronounces his wow.

5

u/RdCrestdBreegull May 02 '26

yea it’s ‘Row-‘ like ‘crow’

5

u/[deleted] May 02 '26

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u/John_cCmndhd May 02 '26

Theme from the TV show Rawhide! Thank you!

2

u/sabretoothian May 04 '26

I pronounce it as row, but never row. If that's unclear, the way I say it rhymes with bow, but not bow.

Glad that's cleared up.

4

u/angelofmusic997 May 02 '26

I think a lot of folks have. Strangely, I have memories of people around me being rather inconsistent with how her name was pronounced. Sometimes it would be Rowling-rhymes-with-bowling, other times it would be Rowling-rhymes-with-howling. (I seem to recall even the media not having a settled pronuncation, but I could be misremembering. I don't remember particular show segments, so I'm not exactly able to fact-check, especially given how popular JK is, and has been over the years.)

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u/clawdaughter May 02 '26

Like howling, but with an r.

3

u/AgentCirceLuna May 02 '26

Uh oh… looks like we’ve got JK Howling on Twitter again.

Also, sometimes I believe her whole schtick was a psy-op because her books definitely used to be associated with ‘liberal’ types who loved art or writing (how dare they!) and were always told to ‘read another book’. Her new discrimination meant she captured a new audience of ignorant pin heads so I don’t see that take as often.

9

u/hail_to_the_beef May 02 '26

I’ve been saying it to rhyme with ‘howling’ so this is new to me too

5

u/throwaway-girls May 02 '26

How though, this cretin's name has been in the media in some form or another for nearly 30 years and you never heard her name spoken out loud?

Wish I could be that lucky.

2

u/gcalig May 02 '26

The way I say it, it rhymes with "bunt"

25

u/TerrifyingPug May 02 '26

I personally always pronounced it like r-ow-ling

19

u/Datalyzer420 May 02 '26

That clears it up

2

u/Benkyougin May 02 '26

I always pronounce it as rowling, as is the rowling in jk rowling.

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u/meloedee May 02 '26

wow-ling but replace the first W with an R

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u/jordansinn May 02 '26

Unless you're Johnathan Ross

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u/CommonGrounders May 02 '26

I've been calling her Crandall!

1

u/Iohet May 02 '26

Like it's spelled.

2

u/Ready-Vermicelli-300 May 02 '26

Same.... I'mma keep doing it 🤣 cuzfkher

1

u/the-furiosa-mystique May 02 '26

lol same! I now get why she added the (pin)

1

u/Wonderful_West3188 May 02 '26

J. K. Rowling: "Why is everyone saying my name wrong?!?" sobs uncontrollably

Aleister Crowley: "...First time?"

1

u/b__lumenkraft May 02 '26

Funny.

I literally laughed at her name.

1

u/lilsnatchsniffz May 02 '26

You've been saying bow-ling?!

1

u/Zeqhanis May 05 '26

Wait 'till you learn that the play Seussical makes no sense, name-wise, because Seuss actually rhymes with voice.

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u/RecordAbject273 May 02 '26

The fact that she wrote out how to pronounce her name is so fucking cringe I can’t even.

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u/20dogs May 02 '26

That seems fine to me? Especially if she was less well known.

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u/Defiant-Eagle-3288 May 02 '26

Given the context, she's probably suggesting people laughed at her name, calling her "Joanne Rolling Pin" in the past.

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u/mickelboy182 May 02 '26

Brother how has that other comment got over 500 upvotes 😭

37

u/ffaancy May 02 '26

I’m honestly impressed that you clocked this as a pronunciation key, but missed the rolling pin part. 🎳

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u/whowouldsaythis May 01 '26

Bowling pins are called skittles in the UK so I don’t think so

126

u/BargerianJade May 02 '26

Every time I learn what something is called in the UK I believe less that it's a real place

51

u/HeftyVermicelli7823 May 02 '26

As an actual Brit we are indeed real, I like to think that America is not real though and just a disturbed dream.

51

u/PsychologicalSir3326 May 02 '26

America is your repressed creation.

37

u/surprisesnek May 02 '26

Do you think God Brits stay in Heaven Britain because they too live in fear of what they have created?

36

u/4n0m4nd May 02 '26

I mean they just go other places and call them Britain too

21

u/captainn_chunk May 02 '26

And call it “holiday”

19

u/4n0m4nd May 02 '26

They're not immigrants, they're ex-pats.

8

u/captainn_chunk May 02 '26

Everyone’s always talking about immigration but nobody talks about emigration. 🙈

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u/HeftyVermicelli7823 May 02 '26

We do indeed. Occasionally we also venture out on our holidays to other places, though we are sadly told to be aware of going to America at the moment due to some of us being held in detention for having "opinions" about your Orange Overlord.... (I wish I wasn't joking)

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u/4n0m4nd May 02 '26

You're too self aware to be included in my slagging mate.

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u/Fenris_Icefang May 02 '26

Brits staying in Britain? I have news for you. It’s called your colonial era.

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u/HazelEBaumgartner May 02 '26

LOOK AT US, FATHER. LOOK AT WHAT YOU HAVE CREATED AND WEEP.

2

u/candidlyfrasersridge May 02 '26

Omg. This is freaking amazing! Giggling sooo hard

11

u/SowwieWhopper May 02 '26

The whole country is one big Silent Hill

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u/Dependent_One6034 May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

The people on the Mayflower were on there because they were either religious nut jobs that were getting exiled, others who were being Sentenced to death, or some who simply decided they wanted to go to the new world for a new life. I believe those who decided to go were paid for it, as they also manned the ship. (That payment, would have had to been upfront, Likely in rations and gold as once they left, that was it)

They didn't really have a choice but to go, if they didn't go they would have likely been hanged. (apart from those who chose to go ofcourse.).

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u/throwaway098764567 May 02 '26

sure feels like a disturbed dream these days, wish i could wake up

19

u/Visible_Ad_309 May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

As an American in America, I often look around and ask, "Are Americans really this stupid?"

As an American in London, I noticed painting on the roadways "Look This Way→" and learned that we are in fact that stupid.

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u/HeftyVermicelli7823 May 02 '26

Not all of you are though (we also have some stupid people here as well as you know), I have some very nice smart America friends, one who was sane enough to start their emigration to New Zealand and has been accepted thankfully.

3

u/XC5TNC May 02 '26

Wouldn't really call that smart, our economy is kind of going to shit and so many kiwis are leaving each day mostly to Australia, its extremely expensive to live here and we dont get paid very well either. Honestly id say it would be nice to visit here but living here isnt so great these days

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u/MothmanAcolyte May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

It's not just America that the Look This Way notice is for though. It's for most of the rest of the world besides most former British colonies (and Japan, Thailand, and Indonesia)

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u/Frosty-Scallion5849 May 02 '26

I live here and I agree. It’s like it’s been the worst fever dream that’s lasted a year and a half.

5

u/Internet-Dweller2 May 02 '26

It's real, but also disturbed

6

u/RiceCaspar May 02 '26

As an American, I've felt like this for the last decade....oh God, it's been 10 years.

1

u/pchlster May 02 '26

Remember the good old days when Palin was the most outrageous person in American politics?

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u/North1884 May 02 '26

I live in America & I wish that were the case

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u/spacenymph5376 May 02 '26

Wait until you hear about Australia!

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u/Cultural-Pen-4-Men May 02 '26

laughing in South Park Canadian

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u/Brilliant_Award2877 May 02 '26

And we cant wake up

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u/[deleted] May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

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u/HeftyVermicelli7823 May 02 '26

We do live on sarcasm a lot, helps to pass the time.

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u/JayTheJaunty May 02 '26

As a Canadian, y'all are both different flavours of fever dream.

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u/Enoch8910 May 03 '26

Aww … but we so desperately want your approval.

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u/Sandi_Griffin May 02 '26

I live in the UK and have never in my life heard them be called skittles lol

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u/licoricenipple May 02 '26

Skittles is also the game itself, it's very old and the precursor to bowling. If you haven't heard the term it's probably because you're under 60, ask your grandparents. Goes back to the 1400s and it was the major pub game before snooker/billiards/pool and darts replaced it. Before that it was played outdoors and like lawn bowls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skittles_(sport)

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u/StandFew6499 May 02 '26

I’m under 60 and gave heard of skittles - have played them in a pub but that was about 30 yrs ago.

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u/No_Investigator9059 May 02 '26

I have for the little kids toys version I think, maybe my nan used it but at a bowling alley they'd be bowling pins

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u/Sandi_Griffin May 02 '26

Oooh I remember it on the kids toys actually but yeah not at a bowling alley 

3

u/XC5TNC May 02 '26

Im from NZ and even iknew about skittles, they come in many different flavours jk

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u/[deleted] May 02 '26

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u/PictureVegetable9522 May 02 '26

Smarties in the US (the chalky discs) are called Rockets in Canada

smarties are more sugar discs than chalky

the only chalky disc candy i can think of are neccos

2

u/pancakemania May 02 '26

Before I got first communion, I thought the wafers they handed out were neccos.

1

u/enrycochet May 02 '26

same in Europe. smarties are chocolate buttons covered with a color

1

u/ItStartedWithAQueef May 02 '26

Put Smarties tubes on cats' legs make them walk like a robot.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '26

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2

u/skoormit May 02 '26

Is that like a bustle in your hedgerow?

1

u/sharklaserguru May 02 '26

They probably feel similar when they hear we love to eat cookies smothered in a thin, brothy sauce for breakfast (biscuits and gravy). Though that's more than terminology as they don't have our biscuits (closest being a savory scone) or meat-filled, milky gravy in their cuisine at all.

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u/[deleted] May 02 '26

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u/Kiwi_bananas May 02 '26

I had always pictured it as a dark gravy. Mind blown. 

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u/WASDMagician May 02 '26

We don't tend to put milk in it but we have many forms of gravy.

Got one from a chippy once that had to be cut with a knife.

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u/GoldBlooded10 May 02 '26

Wait until you learn what they call crossing guards

1

u/Ok-Chest-7932 May 02 '26

Oh yeah that's a good one

1

u/EduinBrutus May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

This is somewhat exagerrated.

10 pin bowling is a variant of skittles but in a US style 10 pin bowling alley, while it might be common to call them skittles, its still more likely that they would be called pins. But calling them pins is a British English term anyway. While the game would always be called skittles historically (or skittles plus something to describe the variant), the things you knock down could be called either even going back centuries.

Also the activity would generally be called "10 pin" cos bowling is a completely different sport to skittles. Bowling is one of several target games, whilst skittles is a "knock em down" game.

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u/sapgetshappy May 02 '26

British TV got me again tonight. Some moms mums were talking about their children running in “to grab torches” while playing outside at night. And even though I know 🇬🇧torches = 🇺🇸flashlights, I spent a few seconds feeling confused (and CONCERNED) while the context clues buffered.

Pictured a clumsy mob of fire-wielding toddlers lighting up the night sky. Are they screaming with rage or delight? Where did they get that fire? Where are they taking it, and where are their grownups??

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u/Ok-Chest-7932 May 02 '26

We do also call torches torches, so you never know. These days we don't commonly have pitchforks though.

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u/imissbrendanfraser May 02 '26

Skittles is different from bowling. It’s still called bowling pins in the uk - as in 10-pin bowling.

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u/Ok-Chest-7932 May 02 '26

There's a specific kind of bread used to make butties, and we have like 7 different local names for this bread. Which means whenever you go into a chippy, you have to first figure out what the local name is, and then whether you want to use that name to ease your order, or use your own local name for pride reasons. And if you want bits, too...

For the record, translations:

  • butty = sandwich, but specifically a sandwich that contains either bacon, sausage, fish, or chips, in which the heat of the filling causes the butter to melt. You can't have a tuna mayo butty.

  • chippy = a shop that sells fish.

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u/pchlster May 02 '26

Sometimes it sounds really cool, though. "The Shadow Minister of..." makes me think Palpatine.

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u/NastyMangos May 02 '26

Um no we don’t that’s a different game 

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u/Dependent_One6034 May 02 '26

This is like saying "Baseball" is called "rounders" in the UK.

It's not - they are different sports.

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u/AncientLynx May 02 '26 edited May 03 '26

Now 'Beer & Skittles' makes a whole lot more sense

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u/Tallman_james420 May 02 '26

Skittles are called skittles if you're playing skittles in the UK.

If you're 10 pin bowling, they are definitely called bowling pins.

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u/MaddingtonFair May 02 '26

No, skittles and bowling aren’t the same 

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u/expensive_habbit May 02 '26

Most bits actually interact with bowling through ten pin bowling, not skittles, and call it bowling (sounds like rolling)

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u/Historical-Edge-9332 May 02 '26

What do they call skittles

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u/Current_Helicopter32 May 02 '26

Skittles) are named after Skittles) which was named after skittles.

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u/strujill May 02 '26

Wha do ya’ll call actual Skittles? lol

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u/[deleted] May 02 '26

[deleted]

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u/craigt00 May 02 '26

We call bowling pins 'bowling pins' in the UK. Skittles is a similar, but different, game played in a few regions in the UK, usually in pubs. Physically, skittles are smaller than bowling pins, and skittle balls are smaller than bowling balls (skillle balls are held in your hand without using holes).

We also have bowling alleys, and people go bowling.

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u/Odd_Cress_2898 May 02 '26

We have bowling alleys and bowling pins for 7 year old birthday parties.

Our Skittles are normally in barns next to old pubs and it's less well known than bowling tbh. Mostly 50+ countryside men do it.

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u/leebejeebee May 02 '26

Let's go for a game of skittles.... no one in the uk says this you mong. Skittles are those sweets with shitty food colourings

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u/Middle--Earth May 02 '26

Skittles are the little ones on a board, the big ones are bowling pins, that you knock over when you go ten pin bowling.

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u/FunkySeeFunkyDo_ May 02 '26

Brits always pepper in a little whimsy when they name shit. We Americans definitely sacrificed a little razzle-dazzle when we dumped that tea into the harbor.

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u/HospitalDue2983 May 02 '26

Skittles in the UK is a pub game using smaller pins set in a diamond pattern. At a bowling alley, they're called pins

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u/happyhippohats May 02 '26 edited May 02 '26

Skittles is the lawn version of bowling, nobody calls actual bowling pins skittles. It's literally called 10 pin bowling.

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u/Dkarasta May 02 '26

And M&M’s are called smarties

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u/Extension-Device-533 May 02 '26

What? No they’re not. Skittles is the traditional pub game that pre-dates American-style 10 pin bowling, but Skittles is really old fashioned and uncommon now.

American-style bowling alleys have been all over the UK for well over 50 years, my Dad played in a bowling league in the 70s. If you show a British person a picture of a bowling pin, we are way more likely to call it a bowling pin than a skittle. Unless you do happen to frequent an old traditional pub, or perhaps have a plastic children’s set for garden games, way more people go bowling than play skittles.

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u/CelesteJA May 02 '26

No they're not. Skittles is a different game.

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u/platypuss1871 May 03 '26

Different things.

We don't go 10 skittle bowling.

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u/sevenfiver May 02 '26

so like rolling pin.... ffs

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u/holderofthebees May 02 '26

……rolling…………. rolling.

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u/PhD_Pwnology May 02 '26

Rowling rhymes with Rolling, as in rolling pin. You use it to flatten dough.

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u/pineapplesaltwaffles May 02 '26

If I'm going to be pedantic nerd here... Technically they're not perfect rhymes, they're just homophones.

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u/Local_Idiot_123 May 02 '26

In America I’ve mostly heard it pronounced as “rolling”. A few times as Rowling but mostly from people who listened to the audiobooks.

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u/ffat2puff May 01 '26 edited May 01 '26

Thats some cockney ass logic right there and I think you're right. Nice This begs the question how English ppl pronounce 'bowling'

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u/HeftyVermicelli7823 May 02 '26

We pronounce it Bowling.

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u/nWhm99 May 02 '26

That's actually super cute to see a time when she needed to tell people how to say her name lol

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u/G37_is_numberletter May 02 '26

Joke’s on her, i pronounce it BAU-ling (pin)

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u/CaterpillarJungleGym May 02 '26

I think the British call it something different. Like skittle knocking

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u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist May 02 '26

Nah, she was trying to make a funny. Like “I have a strange name too, see Rowling, Rolling Pin, get it?”

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u/NightStalkerXIV May 02 '26

Ohh. I don't think I've heard it said that way before, woops.

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u/mickelboy182 May 02 '26

..or, ya know, a rolling pin

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u/DissolvedDreams May 02 '26

Well I’ll always be pronouncing it (g)rowling

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u/filthysoomka May 02 '26

No, that's actually my boweling appointment. Can't miss that one

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u/thriftstoremando May 02 '26

Skittles, Jason!

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u/listenhere111 May 02 '26

Is that was her angle, that's idiotic

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u/Foxy_Maitre_Renard May 02 '26

Ah yes, the ol' Cockney rhyming slang.

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u/Flat-Echidna191 May 02 '26

She's EXTREMELY anal about her last name rhyming with bowling instead of growling, so you're probably correct. It's hilarious how insecure this miserable woman is.

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u/Thelorddogalmighty May 02 '26

Im guessing people called her rowling pin at school. How funny.

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u/neityght May 02 '26

Lmfao so close sweetie 😄

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u/mtvq2007 May 02 '26

I believe in the UK the call them Skittles, not bowling pins.

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u/-KFBR392 May 02 '26

Heh, I’ve been mispronouncing it all this time

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u/Sloredama May 02 '26

They call those Skittles in the UK I believe not pins

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u/KermitTheMawg May 02 '26

What a stretch when it’s right there

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u/Fun_Brother_9333 May 02 '26

That is quite the stretch.

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u/UseComfortable1193 May 02 '26

Should i ever meet her i will adress her with
"j. k. bowling"

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u/daveoxford May 02 '26

Rolling pin. British people don't say "bowling pin".

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u/LotteTakesNoShit May 02 '26

Huh. I've always pronounced it wrong, then. Kudos me.

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u/Mudeford_minis May 03 '26

But she British and rolling pin is more likely to come to mind than bowling pin.

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u/DeanCutty May 03 '26

lol bowling pin when rolling pin is right there

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