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India has a zombie party. Apparently corruption is so bad you bribe a government official get someone declared dead. There is no recourse for coming back to l

India has a zombie party. Apparently corruption is so bad you bribe a government official get someone declared dead. There is no recourse for coming back to life. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh_Association_of_Dead_People https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh_Association_of... On a more local front, a friends social security card lists him as female. After a months effort he finally gave up on correcting it. Heck my owns wife’s birthday is wrong. By a few days. We inquired about it and were told to just go with it. Multiple years of effort would be required to fix it.

maccard 6y ago
My surname has two common spellings, and I've learned that it's easier to just accept the misspellings, as I have valid govt id with both spellings on it (my drivers license says one, my passport says the other). I've tried to fix it repeatedly but never managed to...
- pc86 6y ago
  How do you decide which one to use when? I mean for all intents and purposes you basically have two legal names, right?
  - rzzzt 6y ago
    A strange superpower!
  - hobs 6y ago
    Whatever I want - because I have multiple documented uses pretty much just everyone is ok with it - its also clear that the multiple spellings (in my case) are from an Ellis Island-esque change to the name.
    - baxtr 6y ago
      Do you also happen to have two HN usernames?!
      - hobs 6y ago
        Not... on purpose.
  - User23 6y ago
    The incorrect one becomes a legal alias. My given name is commonly misspelled and the misspelling is an AKA on my credit report.
- soneil 6y ago
  hah, I'm with you there. My surname's probably evident from my username. The more common variation has two L's. All was well until I moved to Ireland, where no matter how many times I tell them, they spell it with two L's. I even got in an argument getting my public service card issued, where she told me quite sternly "It has to match your birth certificate". Except I've seen my birth certificate and she hasn't. So the taxman, drivers licence, public service cards all have one spelling. And my passport has the correct one. I'm not entirely sure if I'm two people or not.
  - maccard 6y ago
    My birth cert has the "wrong" one, my passport has the correct one, and my drivers license was based on my birth cert, so it has the "wrong one". I've got an mac/mc in my name, _and_ a space. The frustrating one is when opening bank accounts and they want 2 forms of ID (passport/drivers license) for ID/address verification, and the names don't match...
- brewdad 6y ago
  My wife took her maiden name as her new middle name and my last name after we married. Different databases and documents have her with her old middle name, new middle name, or her middle initial (unchanged). I always have to verify which document she'll be showing at the airport when buying airline tickets (in the before times, anyway).
  - stordoff 6y ago
    My grandmother has a double-barrelled surname (Forename name1-name2), and it seems to be entirely random whether she gets name1-name2, name1name2, name1 name2, just name2, or on a few occasions name1/name2 from various companies.
OldHand2018 6y ago
> Heck my owns wife’s birthday is wrong. By a few days. We inquired about it and were told to just go with it. Multiple years of effort would be required to fix it. The US Social Security Administration? It took me years to get the IRS to tell me why they were rejecting my electronic tax return filings. Once I found out it was the birthdate on file with the SSA, it took less than 5 minutes to fix at the SSA office in the nearest federal building (which was conveniently across the street from my work office at the time). Perhaps it is very challenging or impossible at the benefits offices that are in just about every city and town across the US. If you don't live in a big city with a complex of federal offices, maybe next time you go to one bring along a bunch of documents and get it done.
- protomyth 6y ago
  Its interesting, because I got the impression that unlike a lot of Federal offices, the Social Security Administration doesn't automatically thing they're right. They are touchy if money is involved, but basic fact correction seems to work fine in person if you bring the basic documents with you.
  - OldHand2018 6y ago
    There are hundreds of thousands of living Americans older than the SSA! Think about all the people that never had birth certificates because they were born at home or in a poor rural hospital, or the side of a road, etc. My sister's "official" birth certificate is a letter from the US embassy (in a country that no longer exists), telling the state department of the birth of a US citizen abroad, to an active duty serviceman. Real data is messy, and theirs is especially so.
    - anitil 6y ago
      There were also some exemptions for the need for social security numbers so it's possible they could need one at some point. (from memory this only applies to grandfather in groups like the Amish who are also required to provide their own form of 'definitely-not-social-security')

maccard 6y ago

My surname has two common spellings, and I've learned that it's easier to just accept the misspellings, as I have valid govt id with both spellings on it (my drivers license says one, my passport says the other). I've tried to fix it repeatedly but never managed to...

pc86 6y ago
How do you decide which one to use when? I mean for all intents and purposes you basically have two legal names, right?
- rzzzt 6y ago
  A strange superpower!
- hobs 6y ago
  Whatever I want - because I have multiple documented uses pretty much just everyone is ok with it - its also clear that the multiple spellings (in my case) are from an Ellis Island-esque change to the name.
  - baxtr 6y ago
    Do you also happen to have two HN usernames?!
    - hobs 6y ago
      Not... on purpose.
- User23 6y ago
  The incorrect one becomes a legal alias. My given name is commonly misspelled and the misspelling is an AKA on my credit report.
soneil 6y ago
hah, I'm with you there. My surname's probably evident from my username. The more common variation has two L's. All was well until I moved to Ireland, where no matter how many times I tell them, they spell it with two L's. I even got in an argument getting my public service card issued, where she told me quite sternly "It has to match your birth certificate". Except I've seen my birth certificate and she hasn't. So the taxman, drivers licence, public service cards all have one spelling. And my passport has the correct one. I'm not entirely sure if I'm two people or not.
- maccard 6y ago
  My birth cert has the "wrong" one, my passport has the correct one, and my drivers license was based on my birth cert, so it has the "wrong one". I've got an mac/mc in my name, _and_ a space. The frustrating one is when opening bank accounts and they want 2 forms of ID (passport/drivers license) for ID/address verification, and the names don't match...
brewdad 6y ago
My wife took her maiden name as her new middle name and my last name after we married. Different databases and documents have her with her old middle name, new middle name, or her middle initial (unchanged). I always have to verify which document she'll be showing at the airport when buying airline tickets (in the before times, anyway).
- stordoff 6y ago
  My grandmother has a double-barrelled surname (Forename name1-name2), and it seems to be entirely random whether she gets name1-name2, name1name2, name1 name2, just name2, or on a few occasions name1/name2 from various companies.

OldHand2018 6y ago

> Heck my owns wife’s birthday is wrong. By a few days. We inquired about it and were told to just go with it. Multiple years of effort would be required to fix it. The US Social Security Administration? It took me years to get the IRS to tell me why they were rejecting my electronic tax return filings. Once I found out it was the birthdate on file with the SSA, it took less than 5 minutes to fix at the SSA office in the nearest federal building (which was conveniently across the street from my work office at the time). Perhaps it is very challenging or impossible at the benefits offices that are in just about every city and town across the US. If you don't live in a big city with a complex of federal offices, maybe next time you go to one bring along a bunch of documents and get it done.

protomyth 6y ago
Its interesting, because I got the impression that unlike a lot of Federal offices, the Social Security Administration doesn't automatically thing they're right. They are touchy if money is involved, but basic fact correction seems to work fine in person if you bring the basic documents with you.
- OldHand2018 6y ago
  There are hundreds of thousands of living Americans older than the SSA! Think about all the people that never had birth certificates because they were born at home or in a poor rural hospital, or the side of a road, etc. My sister's "official" birth certificate is a letter from the US embassy (in a country that no longer exists), telling the state department of the birth of a US citizen abroad, to an active duty serviceman. Real data is messy, and theirs is especially so.
  - anitil 6y ago
    There were also some exemptions for the need for social security numbers so it's possible they could need one at some point. (from memory this only applies to grandfather in groups like the Amish who are also required to provide their own form of 'definitely-not-social-security')