# How do you Brits get "rafe" from "Ralph" and **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 14, 2013, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-brits-get-rafe-from-ralph-and/650293 "2013-02-14T16:41:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-brits-get-rafe-from-ralph-and/650293/41 "2013-02-17T10:13:38Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Without looking it up and sussing it out only from Standard American Stupid, I think it would go. > > Scott > Scotty > Scottay! (as in something your stupid friends call you) > Tay! (shortened) > Taye (affected) Or a baby’s mispronunciation. I know quite a few people with unusual nicks which are how they or a younger sibling or cousin mispronounced it - since grownups found the mispronunciations (and, in some cases, the child’s anger upon being called by it) unbearably cute, they stuck. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-brits-get-rafe-from-ralph-and/650293/42 "2013-02-17T21:39:26Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > Thanks for the explanation. > > I personally pronounce it Let-tenant… I don’t exagerate the ‘left’ No cites, but I’ve read that this was the Royal Navy pronunciation (I think this was from an encyclopedia published in the 60s) ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-brits-get-rafe-from-ralph-and/650293/43 "2013-02-17T21:58:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Stop right there. > > I’ve heard the odd prononciatyions of “Ralph” and “lieytenant” and even Featherstonehaugh and Cholmondeley, but I’ve neve even heard a suggestion of anyone pronouncing “house” like “mice”. I have a hard time even imagining it. > It’s as if you said someone pronounced “automobile” so it rhymes with “hydrant”. From a book published soon after the Falklands War , \*Don’t Cry For Me Sergeant Major \*, there is a part where a young officer of the Blues and Royals, a posh cavalry regiment, is quoted as saying “sines abite right” for “sounds about right .” This was meant to be a transliteration of upper class speech, rather than northern Irish speech, as far as I can gather . ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2013, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-brits-get-rafe-from-ralph-and/650293/44 "2013-02-17T22:37:05Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > I always assumed that was actorly bullshit on his part, like “Topher” Grace’s bizarre shortening of Christopher. Fiennes’ brother’s name is _Joseph_ for Og’s sake! Topher isn’t a bizarre shortening of Christopher. I’ve a cousin by that name, a bit older than I assume Mr. Grace to be, and he’s been known as Topher to the family since about '85. No special reason: his sister started it, and there’s a surfeit of Christophers (as well as Samuels and Kyles) in our ranks. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-brits-get-rafe-from-ralph-and/650293/45 "2013-02-18T03:34:52Z")
The only Rafe I’ve heard of is Hollister, right there in Mayberry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-brits-get-rafe-from-ralph-and/650293.md?page=2)