# How would you pronounce this French (?) name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923 "2009-03-26T22:43:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/1 "2009-03-26T22:43:21Z")
**Duchossoir** A.R.Duchossoir, author of some well know guitar reference books. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/2 "2009-03-26T23:00:30Z")
_du_ rhymes with _tu_ [ty], a rounded English _too_ _choss_ is not far off German _Schloss_ minus the [l], or English _toss_ with an initial sh- instead of t-. _oir_ rhymes in _voir_, like English _war_ but with the [a] in _bar_, and a nice throaty French [r]. This is the stressed syllable. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/3 "2009-03-27T00:09:05Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > _du_ rhymes with _tu_ [ty], a rounded English _too_ > _choss_ is not far off German _Schloss_ minus the [l], or English _toss_ with an initial sh- instead of t-. > _oir_ rhymes in _voir_, like English _war_ but with the [a] in _bar_, and a nice throaty French [r]. This is the stressed syllable. doo shoss WAHRRR? Close enough? Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/4 "2009-03-27T01:30:25Z")
Yeah, but don’t forget that Brett Favre pronounces his name “FARV”. So only if this guy is actually French can you be assured of the pronunciation. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/5 "2009-03-27T13:07:50Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > doo shoss WAHRRR? Close enough? > > Thanks! If you want to actually sound French, swallow most of the R. Doo scho swahh(r) (The French actually ship most of their terminal Rs to Spain) ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/6 "2009-03-27T13:37:46Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > If you want to actually sound French, swallow most of the R. > Doo scho swahh(r) > > (The French actually ship most of their terminal Rs to Spain) I’ve had this guys books for many years, recommended them on the internet and never yet had an occasion to pronounce it. I just always wondered. In my head I was pronouncing it Doo Ko saur Thanks all. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/7 "2009-03-27T13:50:41Z")
I’m sure the guy would hate me for how I’d pronounce it. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/8 "2009-03-27T13:51:09Z")
No, no, a hundred times no ! “Du” is not pronounced doo. It doesn’t rhyme with doo. It doesn’t return doo’s calls. “doo” is a /u/, the French “du” is a /y/. There’s no /y/ in the whole of the English language. It’s our sound, and you can’t have any ! Mouahahah ! If you speak some German however, it’s the same sound as their “ü”. Wikipedia helpfully provides a [soundbyte](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Close_front_rounded_vowel.ogg). In practical terms, what you do is start with a /u/ sound (as in “you”), and push the sound further towards the front of the mouth, while pursing your lips. If you look like a chimpanzee giving a kiss, you’re doing it right. That said, if you don’t want to be arsed with the phonology (and who would ?), “doo shoss wah’” will do. It won’t be pretty, I’m not gonna lie to you. There’s going to be winces, possibly even rolled eyes. But that’s the price Mr. Duchossoir will have to pay for dealing with you filthy foreigners. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/9 "2009-03-27T15:07:05Z")
According to Dave Barry, it would be pronounced _jurrroooonggg_, along with every other French word or name. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/10 "2009-03-27T16:06:34Z")
Wouldn’t the “o” in the middle syllable be closer to the sound in “choke” rather than “toss”? ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/11 "2009-03-27T18:45:11Z")
Sound clips: [Du](http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/du#Prononciation) [chaud](http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/chaud#Prononciation) [(le) soir](http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/soir#Prononciation). (BTW, looking for sound clips, I found out that whoever did the recordings for [About.com](http://About.com)’s French Audio Dictionary has a noticeable English accent. As a matter of fact, she sounds like Jane Birkin. Be warned.) ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/12 "2009-03-28T02:59:38Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > (BTW, looking for sound clips, I found out that whoever did the recordings for [About.com](http://About.com)’s French Audio Dictionary has a noticeable English accent. As a matter of fact, she sounds like Jane Birkin. Be warned.) You warn people about someone who sounds like Jane Birkin? Who wouldn’t want to hear this all day long? ETA : I long suspected that Jane Birkin works hard to keep her accent, or just fake it. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/13 "2009-03-28T06:31:22Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > You warn people about someone who sounds like Jane Birkin? Who wouldn’t want to hear this all day long? Jane Birkin’s accent is too precious to let people make cheap imitations. ---
**Author:** ![Oukile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@Oukile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oukile)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2009, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-you-pronounce-this-french-name/490923/14 "2009-03-28T10:45:21Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > Sound clips: > > [Du](http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/du#Prononciation) [chaud](http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/chaud#Prononciation) [(le) soir](http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/soir#Prononciation). This is exactly it ! I was beginning to think that I would have to record it myself and upload it somewhere.