Slow to Realize

I am listening to a fascinating book on CD.  The author is reading the story and she is American but she has somewhat of a Romanian accent in her voice.  Listening to her talk, something dawned on me slowly.  Since I was a kid my father would talk about people he knew named Tater.  He talked about Tater K. and Tater B.  I thought it odd that people were named after potatoes but I didn't question it because I've heard it all my life.  Listening to this woman talk, it began to dawn on me that when my father says Tater, he might actually be saying Theodore.  Theodore is a name I've only read about.  Never meeting anyone named Theodore, I thought it would be pronounced in three syllables, thee' - a - dore, with the accent on the thee.  Maybe I'm wrong.  Maybe Theodore sounds like Tater.  I'm pretty sure it does.  Duh!  Live and learn.