This story about meteors that are remnants of Comet Halley has a video that includes the annoying pronunciation of the great astronomer’s name as “Hailey”.
My understanding has always been that the correct pronunciation has the name rhyming with “valley” - though there is apparently some support for the notion that he would have said it as “Hawley”.
I wonder why this clearly bogus pronunciation has become so common.
Because of Bill Haley and the Comets.
Joe
:smack:
Oh my freaking God…41 years old and this is the first time I’ve actually twigged to that!
Smack my head too.
I’ve always pronounced it as Hailey. Sorry if this offends you…
The man himself pronounced it in the way that rhymed with “valley” so I’m going to stick with that.
You heard him say it, did you? :dubious:
Presumably, though, Bill Haley named his band “The Comets” because he thought the heavenly body’s name was pronounced like his own. The band may have helped to popularize the “Hailey” pronunciation (as applied to the actual comet), but it can’t have been its origin.
Everybody pronounces it the wrong way.
The right way just makes me think: “Halley, Halley, Halley, get your adverbs here!”
I can’t remember where I read it, but I read somewhere that he pronounced it as Hale-y.
Wikipedia says nobody knows the proper way to either pronounce it or spell it.
hh
Yeah: Edmond Halley - Wikipedia
It’s always surprising to me just how free and easy people were with the spellings of their own names in the past.
My father was born in 1921 and assured me that people were pronouncing it “Haley” long before the dawn of rock and roll.
I learned like “Haily” and everyone I knew pronouced like that when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s. Didn’t learn it should rhyme with ‘valley’ until I was an adult.
Obligatory Monty Python reference.
William [del]Shakespeare[/del] Shakspere demands you rescind that insult (if that is his real name)
Which ties in with the Wiki link I quoted, saying that Bill Haley used the name because that’s how people commonly pronounced the comet guy in those days.
If they’d only rename it “Eddie’s comet” things would be a lot easier.
Supposedly, there are three different spellings of his name by the man himself on record, one of which is “Hawley”. It’s hard to interpret that as rhyming with “daily” or “valley”, which leads me to believe that however his name was spelled, it was pronounced “Holly”.
To confound matters even more, a photograph of his signature in the Royal Charter Society book appears on this page. It looks more like Halloy.
Could easily be “Halley” with the “e” formed less than carefully.
Yeah, I should have included a winking smiley. I just thought it was funny after the debate about the first part of his name.
I too have often wondered where the “Hailey” pronunciation came from.
FWIW, “Halley’s Waitress” in the Fountains of Wayne song is also pronounced with the long A.
