Help! I need to make a business call to someone with the last name of Daboub. I’d rather not come off as an idiot. How does one pronnounce this?
Just FYI, in the Arab world, someone with the name Abdul Al Salam would be called Mr. Abdul. And if you are John Smith, they will very often call you Mr. John.
Thanks, but it’s an Americanized name, something like Pat G Daboub.
You’re doing it over the phone, so it sounds like apologetically asking for the pronunciation is out of the question. Is there a receptionist or someone at his company that you could perhaps call and ask before you call Mr. Daboub?
If you’re stuck, and have to go with something, my suggestion is to go with “DAH-BOOB”. The idea is to stress the second syllable, but to pronounce that first syllable with a “fuller” vowel than lax American English usage would ordinarily suggest. Pronounce that “Da-” as “Dah” rhyming with “bra” … not as “duh” (the vowel being a schwa).
I hope that helps … it’s not easy to convey pronunciation in print.
Thanks. I just hope that it doesn’t wind up like this. I knew someone named Dadoush back in grade school; I assume that the pronounciation is similar.
I called the HR department, and they said that they just called him by his first name.