An 'ee' for an 'eye'

Pulaski County, Indiana, is named for Revolutionary War General Kazimierz Pułaski, but its name is pronounced differently: with an "eye" at the end instead of an "ee."

But La Porte's Casmir Pulaski, a descendant of General Pulaski, wants things to change. He says it all starts with the parents.

"It has to start with them teaching their children how to say it," said Pulaski. "And they will grow up saying Pulaski. It's going to take about a generation, maybe two, but eventually it will be pronounced correctly." [Link]

It's Written on His Shirt, For Crying Out Loud!

When Gregory E. Favre's cousin Brett was drafted into the NFL, he hoped that, finally, people would learn to pronounce their last name correctly. It didn't work out as he had hoped: the name is almost invariably pronounced "Farve" on television.

I knew Brett's grandfather, and his mom attended high school with my younger sister. But I left home long before he was born, and I've never met him. Nevertheless, I have been a great admirer of his talent and the fact that he always answers the opening whistle. He inspires others, as a great leader should. And he has never forgotten where he came from or the friends he grew up with.

I just wish he would tell everyone it's the "v" before the "r." [Link]

Gerry Did More Than Mander

Elbridge Gerry is remembered most for inspiring the invention of the word "gerrymandering" by creatively redrawing the electoral map of Massachusetts to his party's advantage. One of his descendants wishes his other accomplishments were as well remembered.

Elbridge T. "Elbert" Gerry Jr., the great-great-great grandson of the former governor, took exception to the historical pigeonholing of his ancestor as an electoral usurper, pointing out that the late Gerry had signed the Declaration of Independence, was a Bay State delegate to the original Constitutional Convention, and represented the new nation in the XYZ Affair, a diplomatic spat with France that led to the two-year "Quasi-War."

Asked if he has been troubled by the mispronunciation of the family name - pronounced with the hard "g" sound, while "gerrymander" is typically pronounced with a soft "g" - Gerry replied, "Been trying to correct it for years." [Link]

Degrees of Difficulty

At most college commencement ceremonies, someone is given the task of reading the name of each graduating senior. With all the unfamiliar foreign names and unique domestic pronunciations, it's not a job for the faint of heart.

Edgar Rasch announced the names of graduates at Maryville University for 22 years until he retired last year. About 10 years ago, he set up a voice mail system for all graduating seniors to call and pronounce their name.

Among 650 graduates, about 450 or 500 would do it, he recalled, including the John Smiths of the class.

"But invariably, the person I needed the most help with didn't call me," he said. [Link]

A Lesson in Phonetic Etiquette

Representatives Nicole LeFavour, James Ruchti, and John Vander Woude sit side-by-side-by-side in the Idaho Legislature, and all have had their surnames repeatedly mispronounced. But it was House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet who finally took a stand.

Tired of having her name butchered by colleagues, she interrupted a House Revenue and Taxation Committee meeting Monday to offer a little phonetic direction on the northern Swiss surname she took when she married her husband, Jim.

It's not jacket, juh-quet, jay-quet or jack-kay — though lawmakers have used all of those during her seven terms.

"A person came up to me and said, 'You've got to fix this.' He thought it was a distraction that didn't reflect well on the entire body," Jaquet said. "Think of it like this: There was a guy named 'Jay,' and he 'quit' his job." [Link]

"Rep. Jaquet, I'll try to remember that," Rep. Dennis Lake said, pronouncing it "jay-quet."

He's Not a Cliché

Marc-André Cliche (pronounced "Cleesh") plays for a hockey team here in Maine, and must constantly battle to keep the accent off his final E.

Every year, when the 19-year-old from Rouyn-Noranda, Que., arrives in Lewiston, Me., where he toils for the Maineiacs of the Quebec major junior league, it's the same routine.

"I get my new jersey and I have to take off the accent because it's already on there," he says, laughing. "It's weird."

"In Moncton, for four years they've been calling me Cliché when I score a goal or whatever," he says, shaking his head. "It gets me so mad. But whatever, you can't do anything about it." [Link]

Don't Argue With the Beeb

Guardian columnist Marcel Berlins is skeptical that the Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation I mentioned last week is 100% accurate.

I used to present a weekly radio programme on BBC Radio 4, which meant that continuity announcers were frequently obliged to mention my name in trails. The trouble was, they were not pronouncing my surname the way that I did. Their emphasis was on the wrong syllable. I went up to the pronunciation unit and informed them of the correct version. This turned out to be unacceptable to the chief pronunciator, who told me politely but firmly that I had no idea how to pronounce my name. One of us had to give in. It was me. Since then, I have adopted the BBC diktat, except sometimes when I forget and go back to saying it the old way. So if you knew me 15 years ago, I'm still happy to be a first-syllable emphasisee; new friends hit hard on the "lins". [Link]

A Pronounced Difficulty

Christine Sangster is one of the editors of the new Oxford BBC Guide to Pronunciation, and undoubtedly hates listening to Americans speak.

She said one of the most commonly mispronounced words - and the one that provokes the most complaints to the BBC - is genealogy. It should be pronounced "jee-no-AL-uh-ji", although many persist in replacing the "AL" sound with "OL". [Link]

I'm no phoneticist, but wouldn't that be the pronunciation of "genoalogy"?

The Joy of X

There have been lots of Xaviers in the Nady family, but only one has ever hit a home run off a big-league pitcher. In fact, Xavier Nady of the Mets was the first person with the initial "X" to ever hit a homer in the majors—on April 2, 2003, off San Francisco's Damian Moss.

He's also the first of the Xaviers in his paternal line to change the pronunciation so he can have a cool nickname.

Xavier Clifford Nady, or Xavier VI, said he did not know much about his early ancestry, other than he pronounces his first name differently, putting a modern-day signature on a 16th-century name. Nady's father pronounces it ZAY-vee-yer — "That's the correct way," Nady said. But Nady, whose Mets teammates call him X or X-Man, prefers EX-ay-vee-yer to, ahem, exaggerate the X.

"Why not, right?" Nady said. "It's pretty cool." [Link]

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]

A Pronounced Difference

From The Buffalo (N.Y.) News:

Some names in the game are no longer the same

By TIM GRAHAM
News Sports Reporter
11/15/2005

The Buffalo Sabres haven't acquired any new players.

It only sounds that way.

After years of having their surnames mispronounced, a few players have diffidently revealed the way they ought to be said.

Toni Lydman's last name is pronounced "LEWD-man." Henrik Tallinder's is pronounced "tuh-LIN-der." And Derek Roy's surname is "roo-AH," just as legendary goalie Patrick Roy would say it.

"It's a little bit awkward because these guys have been around a while," said Sabres play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret. "Even a guy like Lydman, who was known in Calgary as "LID-man' for years."

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Dueling Runs in the Family

From The (Columbia, S.C.) State of Sept. 2, 2005:

Distant kin await close encounter

Opposing coordinators pronounce Koenning differently but share language of X’s and O’s

By JON SOLOMON

Staff Writer

[snip]

Vic Koenning’s debut as Clemson’s defensive coordinator matches him directly against kin, Texas A&M offensive coordinator Les Koenning Jr.

Saturday’s pairing intrigued Vic’s family, who conducted some research. Genealogy notes litter the home of Vic Koenning’s parents in Owasso, Okla., thanks to e-mails from Koennings around the country.

The best guess is Vic and Les are third cousins. The family believes two Koenning brothers came from Germany around 1858 and settled in Port Lavaca, Texas, located three hours southwest of Houston and three hours southeast of San Antonio.

[snip]

Vic’s last name is pronounced CONE-ing, while Les’ is pronounced “KEN-ing.” Les’ late grandfather explained to Vic why there was discrepancy in the pronunciations: Joe and Leslie Koenning got in a fight; one pulled a knife or gun, and they split up and started separate lives in Texas.

“Whether it’s entirely true or not, we don’t know,” Vic said. “It was probably my relative that got kicked. I know my dad’s side of the family is from San Antonio. Les’s stayed over in the Houston area.”

[snip]

[Read the whole story]

Could Snoop Dogg Be Next?

From The (London, U. K.) Times of Aug. 24, 2005:

Dog days over as villagers recover their lost respect

From Jane Macartney in Beijing

AFTER a thousand years, the ridicule and barking provoked by the mention of their surname finally proved too much for families from a village in central China. They won permission this month to change their name legally from Gou, a word that means "humble" but is pronounced the same as "dog".

[snip]

Police chief Guo [Junchao] defended his decision against scholars who disapproved of the name change — an unusual move in a society where tradition is to revere ancestors and to ensure the transmission of the family name. He said: "I think these people don't understand the feelings of the villagers. They would know better if their name was Gou."

[Read the whole story]