# NPR correspondent? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 13, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413 "2009-11-13T04:53:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/21 "2009-11-13T22:44:56Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Different person. [Chana Joffe-Walt](http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2009/05/who_am_i_and_where_did_i_come.html) mostly works with the Planet Money podcast now (though she used to be on Marketplace, and may still be occasionally–I don’t listen to it that much). There are Joffes _and_ Jaffes? This madness must stop! (Thanks for the clarification! I couldn’t understand why Ina Jaffe-Walt wasn’t coming up in Google.) ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/22 "2009-11-13T23:01:29Z")
I have often wonder if it is mandatory when applying for a job at NPR for spell check to reject your name or you can’t get a job. No wonder that they let John Edwards go. He couldn’t pass the name test. Could Juan Williams be far behind? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/23 "2009-11-13T23:11:31Z")
I knew there was another one that always baffled me…Saraya Sigh Harry Nelson. Or as it’s actually spelled, [Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7407153). ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/24 "2009-11-13T23:19:21Z")
Scanning the list has taken all the mystery and romance out of listening to NPR…now I actually have spellings in my head. Who knew it was “John Ydstie?” ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/25 "2009-11-13T23:26:37Z")
I like [Daljit Dhaliwal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daljit_Dhaliwal), who started off with the BBC and Channel 4 in the UK and is now working in the US. I like saying her name, however inexpertly. It’s an unusual combination of \<_linguistic whatevers_\> for me. ---
**Author:** ![NGC2024](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f475e1/32.png) [@NGC2024](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NGC2024)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/26 "2009-11-14T14:56:43Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Scanning the list has taken all the mystery and romance out of listening to NPR…now I actually have spellings in my head. Who knew it was “John Ydstie?” I completely agree. I was not prepared to surrender my “Lacksh Mee Schwing” imaginings. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/27 "2009-11-14T15:30:50Z")
Actually, that’s one I knew how to spell! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/28 "2009-11-15T07:24:58Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Wow. No wonder I couldn’t find it! > > Now… Off to look up Cloudy O’Sanchez. 😉 Never had you pegged as a Coheed and Cambria fan. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2009, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/29 "2009-11-15T07:41:50Z")
Ar? 😕 I thought I made it up. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/30 "2009-11-15T07:54:32Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Ar? 😕 > > I thought I made it up. I forget how to parse [Claudio Sanchez - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Sanchez) ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/31 "2009-11-17T21:03:20Z")
> [@dnooman](#): > > I forget how to parse [Claudio Sanchez - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudio_Sanchez) Then there’s Mark O’Warman. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/32 "2009-11-18T18:18:55Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > That’s a cool name, but the name I love is [Ofeibea Quist-Arcton](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4513318) - it just sounds so exotic and cool, especially when she ends her piece with her name and “Dakar” - but she says it all dramatic “da-Kaaaahhhh” Coincidentally, yesterday’s letters segment from NPR’s Talk of the Nation mentioned how many listeners liked her reports and especially her signoff, and they played a clip of her doing just that. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/33 "2009-11-18T19:01:38Z")
> [@anu-la1979](#): > > I think I swerve every time I hear Lakshmi Singh mispronounce her name on-air. How should it be pronounced? She’s of Puerto Rican and Trinidadian ancestry, so I have no clue how it should be said… ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/34 "2009-11-18T19:06:27Z")
Yeah…I would say that, technically, it’s not possible to mis-pronounce one’s own name. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/35 "2009-11-18T19:28:18Z")
BTW, at least [some of the staff at NPR](http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/04/whats_your_npr_name.html) have noticed the existence of the [create your own NPR name](http://liana.tumblr.com/post/95793665/your-npr-name) game. ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/36 "2009-11-18T19:32:30Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Yep - based in Rome. She says “This is SYL-vyah POH-jolie” and I get a nice little shiver… “And even though Sylvia Poggioli exclaims ‘mama mia!’ whenever she hears us say it, this is NPR: National Public Radio.” ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/37 "2009-11-18T23:01:00Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > Hah! So that’s how she spells it! It’s shallow, I know, but I always listen to her reports hoping to get a feel for how she spells her name based on how she pronounces it. She says “Dwah-Lee”, and she aspirates the ‘h’, so I’m not clear how one gets Doualy from that. Oh well. Seems perfectly normal French-based orthography to me. The French spell “ou” the demivowel that sounds like “w” to us. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413/38 "2009-11-18T23:40:11Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > BTW, at least [some of the staff at NPR](http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2009/04/whats_your_npr_name.html) have noticed the existence of the [create your own NPR name](http://liana.tumblr.com/post/95793665/your-npr-name) game. Oh lord, I can’t! It would be worse than my porn name! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/npr-correspondent/517413.md?page=1)