A major political party in Israel just chose a new leader–Mr. Ophir Pines cite
So how will English speaking reporters pronounce his name?
And what a name!
His first name -Ophir- is pronounced to rhyme with “oh fear”
But his last name-PINES- is not pronounced like the evergreen tree. It is pronounced in the Hebrew language as “penis”. It may not mean anything in Hebrew, but in English…
How can you say that with a straight face?
This guy may soon to be a major figure in international news: The leader of the 2nd largest political party in Israel, a serious candidate for the next prime minister. Expect to see him at the White House soon…
They’ll pronounce it correctly and hopefully straightfacedly. Though I suspect he’ll be introduced once with his full name and then they will use his title an awful lot to refer to him.
I would suspect that, to avoid the inevitable snickers and smirks, the broadcast news organizations will tell their readers to report the name as something like PYE-ness or Peens. Pronunciation guides are common to avoid things like the REE-gun versus RAY-gun question for the late President’s name.
But seriously, the press corps should not flinch about pronouncing someone’s actual name. Filth is in the eye (or ear) of the beholder. They seemed to have no problem during the Gulf War when the press conferences were given by military public information officer Col(?) Jerkowsky.
Since the Bobbitt tale, the word “penis” has been used on the news when appropriate.
I remember when a guy whose last name was “Gay” shot up a gay bar. A horrible story, and it was worse watching the newscasters try to read the story keeping the two “gay” aspects straight (so to speak) and not crack up.
I always supress a smirk when this chap appears on the news. If you look at his e-mail address you’ll see he spells his surname the phonetic way, something the English language media (and his official entry in the Knesset website) have chosen to adapt. For some reason.
It should not be that difficult for the newsreaders to say pih NES or PIH nes rather than PEE nis. (And how often does the typical Knesset member show up in Brit or Yank news articles, anyway? Now, if he switched to the Likud and was picked as leader. . .)
To correct the OP, Ophir Pines was not elected as the Labor leader, he’s just the first in their ministers list. The Labor primaries in which the leader will be elected are still about half a year away.
Oh, those wacky Israelis! In a recent election, there was discussion of which guy was “a man of peace.” In the Israeli accent, that’s “a man of piss.” It may have obscured the issues.
