# BBC pronunciation of "Barack Obama" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483 "2008-02-13T19:46:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/1 "2008-02-13T19:46:19Z")
I’m often amused by the occasional commonplace word that, when uttered by a BBC radio news announcer, jumps out at me because of its odd pronunciation. Well, odd to my US Inland Northern ears. Terrorist groups like El Kuyeeda, leftenants in the military, and presidential candidate Barrick Obamer. Okay, I can understand the terminal R in “Obama”, since many BBC announcers seem to add them to practically every word ending in a vowel. “Barrick”, though, with the emphasis on the first syllable? It’s not “Barack” spoken in a British accent; it seems like they’re giving his name a completely new pronunciation, which sounds exactly like the word “barrack” - a term for buildings that house soldiers. So, what’s the deal? Why not just say Barack Obama’s first name with an RP accent instead of coming up with a completely new pronunciation? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/2 "2008-02-13T19:52:43Z")
I would pronounce it the same as “barrack” (I have a close-to RP accent), with emphasis on the first syllable. How should it be pronounced? “b’RAUK” is the US pronunciation, as far as I can tell, but who’s to say that’s right either? How does he say it - or indeed, what’s the Kenyan pronunciation, if you deem this interpretation to be incorrect? BTW, the terminal R in his surname will only occur if the next syllable begins with a vowel. This is the “non-rhotic intrusive R” that British people do, that I’ve ranted about a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/3 "2008-02-13T20:16:50Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] I would pronounce it the same as “barrack” (I have a close-to RP accent), with emphasis on the first syllable. How should it be pronounced? “b’RAUK” is the US pronunciation, as far as I can tell, but who’s to say that’s right either? How does he say it - or indeed, what’s the Kenyan pronunciation, if you deem this interpretation to be incorrect? [/quote] I think this is another example of this phenomenon in which British English speakers are willing to push anglicization of a word much farther than American English speakers. The classic example is “Nicaragua.” Now, the American pronunciation [nIk@r’Agw@] isn’t the native Spanish pronunciation [nikaraxwa], but it’s much closer than the British [nIk@r’&gjuw@]. My WAG about the proper Kenyan pronunciation is that it’s something like [barak] with “pure” _ah_s for the vowels and more-or-less balanced accent on the two syllables. American pronuncation tries to approximate it with [b@'rAk] (not [b@'rA.k] or [b@'rOk] as suggested by “b’RAUK”). But the British push it all the way to a native English word, making it sound just like _barrack_ ['b&r@k]. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/4 "2008-02-13T20:22:04Z")
I was amused last night by the BBC’s oh-so-precise pronunciation of Poe-Toe-Mack. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/5 "2008-02-13T20:32:27Z")
Who’s to say that’s right? Uh, the guy whose name it is? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/6 "2008-02-13T20:39:28Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Who’s to say that’s right? Uh, the guy whose name it is? [/QUOTE] You mean where I said: “How does he say it”. **ascenray** , I agree that we do anglicise things an awful lot (see “New Orleans” for cringiness), but I also think you’re too close to the wood to see the trees: to our ears, American speakers Americanise vast numbers of names to a hilarious degree too\*. I don’t think one accent’s habit is worse than the other - just different. \*E.g. “Booooda” for Buddha. Sounds absurd to us - but then our pronunication of Buddha is probably fucked up too, compared to the Sanskrit. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/7 "2008-02-13T22:49:43Z")
Here’s how [he pronounces](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaU3fjVAFbE) his own name. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/8 "2008-02-13T22:55:04Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] It’s not “Barack” spoken in a British accent. [/QUOTE] Sure it is. That’s how I would expect a Brit to say “Barack.” I think I’m probably extrapolating from how I hear Brits says “garage” which is more like either GARR-aj or GARR-ij, depending on what part of the Isles you’re from, needless to say, shifting the stress to the first syllable. (Of course, there’s counter examples, like “shallot,” where we stress the first syllable, and they the last). ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/9 "2008-02-13T23:07:47Z")
I’ve heard [Peggy Noonan](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Noonan) pronounce the name “Barrack”. She was born in Brooklyn, and has apparently lived in the USA all her life. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/10 "2008-02-13T23:30:46Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] \*E.g. “Booooda” for Buddha. Sounds absurd to us - but then our pronunication of Buddha is probably fucked up too, compared to the Sanskrit. [/QUOTE] I know this is a hijack, but you’ve triggered my curiosity. I don’t recall the British pronunciation of _Buddha_’s being remarkably different from the American one. I’m thinking of the way I’ve heard Eddy on _Absolutely Fabulous_ say _Buddhist_. The only difference I can think of is that the American one uses the in \*boom \*and the British one uses the in _book_. But that doesn’t really bring it any closer to the Sanskrit pronunciation, which does use the . Both Americans and British speakers get four key things wrong about the word _Buddha_: The gemination, aspiration, and dentalization of the _ddh_ and the failure to fully articulate the final vowel, reducing it to a schwa [@]. How do you pronounce it? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/11 "2008-02-13T23:32:47Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Who’s to say that’s right? Uh, the guy whose name it is? [/QUOTE] I disagree with the notion that people are required to change their accents when they speak someone else’s name. If ['b&r@k] is the natural pronunciation in British English, they don’t have to switch to an American accent just because Barack Obama himself speaks with an American accent. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/12 "2008-02-13T23:34:24Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] The classic example is “Nicaragua.” Now, the American pronunciation [nIk@r’Agw@] isn’t the native Spanish pronunciation [nikaraxwa], but it’s much closer than the British [nIk@r’&gjuw@]. [/QUOTE] And yet Americans pronounce the British car company “Jaguar” as “Jag-war” or “Jag-wire”, not “Jag-you-uh”. (Yes, I’m aware of the irony that it was originally a South American word, but the car company is pronounced “Jag-you-uh”.) I should add that there was considerable comment a few years ago from certain right-wing US sources about BBC correspondents’ pronunciation of the name “Paul Wolfowitz” as “Vulfovitz”, when he first came on the scene. The implication was that the Beeb was trying to imply Wolfowitz’s Nazidom. Whereas the reason was actually that when we see a name like that, because we’re more familiar with Germany, we assume it has a Germanic pronunciation. One tries to get authentic with what one is familiar with. Back to my original point - you notice that which sounds weird _to you_. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/13 "2008-02-13T23:39:00Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Back to my original point - you notice that which sounds weird _to you_. [/QUOTE] That is so true. I opened the thread wondering what I was _supposed_ to say, given my magpie hopping between BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera. (Actually the link to the campaign video has told me I was correct on this one matter.) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/14 "2008-02-13T23:50:15Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] Both Americans and British speakers get four key things wrong about the word _Buddha_: The gemination, aspiration, and dentalization of the _ddh_ and the failure to fully articulate the final vowel, reducing it to a schwa [@]. How do you pronounce it? [/QUOTE] The “book” vowel sound, followed by a schwa. Which as we both acknowledge is wrong. However, to my ears, the US “Booda” and “Boodism” sounds absolutely ridiculous. I know qualitatively it’s not, but when I hear it, I can’t help it sounding to me like it’s (to paraphrase) “willingness to push Americanisation of a word much farther than British English speakers”. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/15 "2008-02-14T00:05:51Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray] My WAG about the proper Kenyan pronunciation is that it’s something like [barak] with “pure” _ah_s for the vowels and more-or-less balanced accent on the two syllables. American pronuncation tries to approximate it with [b@'rAk] (not [b@'rA.k] or [b@'rOk] as suggested by “b’RAUK”). But the British push it all the way to a native English word, making it sound just like _barrack_ ['b&r@k]. [/QUOTE] So you’re trying to approximate what you merely guess to be the correct pronunciation? Maybe the British version is closer, who knows? It seems to me that Brits will tend to see a foreign “a” and pronounce it like in “cat”, while Americans will tend to pronounce it “ah”. Sometimes one way is closer to being correct, sometimes the other. I’ve never heard an American pronounce “Cannes” correctly, for example. In general, we’re better at French words and you’re better at Spanish, which makes sense I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/16 "2008-02-14T00:20:07Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] The “book” vowel sound, followed by a schwa. Which as we both acknowledge is wrong. [/quote] This is pretty much the way I pronounce it. ‘buddah’, with the u the same as ‘oo’ in ‘book’. > [@jjimm](#): > > However, to my ears, the US “Booda” and “Boodism” sounds absolutely ridiculous. I can’t remember the last time I heard it pronouced that way. (But then I stick to the Left Coast, and my former roommate is a Buddhist.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/17 "2008-02-14T00:24:19Z")
I smile every time I hear a BBC newsreader pronounce Maryland as “Mary-land” instead of the American “Merrillind,” which may not be “correct” but is our way of saying it. It’s the BBC’s stubbornness that cracks me up, as if someone in management there insists on upholding a low-level linguistic pedagogical imperative to correct the wayward former colonies. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/18 "2008-02-14T00:29:21Z")
[QUOTE=The Scrivener] I smile every time I hear a BBC newsreader pronounce Maryland as “Mary-land” instead of the American “Merrillind,” which may not be “correct” but is our way of saying it. [/QUOTE] I think I read this somewhere: Someone was looking for a house near Washington, DC. People kept telling her to look in Merlin, but she couldn’t find it. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/19 "2008-02-14T00:30:33Z")
In fairness, Obama did go by “Barry” in his younger days. But not now. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483/20 "2008-02-14T00:33:59Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Here’s how [he pronounces](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaU3fjVAFbE) his own name. [/QUOTE] That settles it. And his pronunciation is the same as that used by all the TV news people I’ve heard. Thank you, **Liberal**. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bbc-pronunciation-of-barack-obama/437483.md?page=2)