There was an awful movie on TNT the other day (“The Winning Season”) in which a main character was Honus Wagner.
Half the time his name was pronounced in a way that rhymed with “bonus”; the other half of the time the “Ho” sound was similar to the “Ho” sound in “hospital.” And then a couple of times the actor couldn’t decide which pronunciation to use and wound up calling him a weird mix of the two, sort-of like “Hoonus.”
So, uh, how should I pronounce his name, in case I meet him or something (yes, I know he’s dead; work with me here)?
Not a big fan of Bob Costas, but he pronounces it as in ‘bonus’. As does George Will. These guys have forgotten more about baseball than any of us will ever know. Gotta go with that.
Found a cite. William Hageman’s “Honus: The Life and Times of a Baseball Hero”. Bud Selig pronounced it “Hannis”, FWIW, though generally I want to do the opposite of what Bud Selig does.
I’ve seen copies of newspaper stories from the era spelling it “Hans”, as if that were interchangeable. I’d stick with the pronunciation closest to that, using the short o.
Since it’s now April and his name might come up in pub confabs I want to be steered right and not embarass myself. I’ve always said, “Nap LA-zhwa-ay,” but tell me if I’m even close.
I saw (part of) that movie too. It was pretty bad. I saw Kristin Davis on Kilborn (I think) and she said Hannis. Speaking of Davis, she needs to be in more movies. Movies that have better writing.
It isn’t that obvious down here in our single-language land, **Rick ** - non-English names routinely have gotten their pronunciations mangled. Baseball Digest sez Napoleon Lajoie pronounced it “LA-JO-EY”.