that’s easy, it’s wooster-shire
and btw, my handle is pronounced gashlycrumb du maurier-weyerhaeuser
I don’t think there’s any laws against being named Throatwobbler-Mangrove but pronouncing it Luxury Yacht.
But if you pronounce your name in a manner that runs contrary to the usual rules of pronunciation in the language of that name, you should accept that many people are going to get it wrong, at least at first. Our own pkbites ranted long ago about all the people who tell him that his name, which I assume is Bietz should be pronounced “beets” not “bites”. Yes, he has the right to do whatever he wants with his name, but 80 million native German speakers, plus everyone else who has attained any fluency in German, are going to tend toward saying “beets”, like it or not.
BZZZZZZZ Wrong!!!
Wooster-shuh. The last syllable almost vanishes. And in the case of the condiment, it’s silent.
My sister has fully embraced this attitude, and absolutley nobody who knows her professionally calls her by her real name. Which is very sad. But you should see her salary :eek: …
As long as we’re bitching about misinterpreting handles, why is is nobody seems to see the ‘h’ in mine? I’ve seen countless references to previous posts by “Mathocist”.
I have the opposite problem. My surname is Norwegian but has resided in New Zealand for the last three generations. We pronounce it exactly as written (I’m not sure of the Norwegian pronunciation) and it is made up of two very simple syllables. Yet people insist on making it very hard for themselves to say, and once they have assured themselves that it is a very difficult foreign name, they then set about mangling the spelling.
So, you know “Wooster” and “Fanshaw”
But dio you know how to pronounce Ghoti?
A young man called Cholmondeley Colquhoun
Once kept as a pet a baboquhoun.
Said his mother, “Dear Cholmondeley,
Do you think it quite colmondeley
To feed your baboquhoun with a spoquhoun?”
uh, fish.
but i’ve no idea how they pronounce “death ray” in norwegia.
and
it’s how we pronounce it 'round these parts (swo,) though sometimes you might hear -sher instead of -shire
It’s pronounced,
FFRRRRRZZZZZZZZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP! … zzz bzz… zz … zzzzzzzz
OK, fair enough, although around here ‘-sher’’ would separately suggest an incipient Essex influence, which we can all surely agree is to be avoided at all costs…D&R…
One of my best buds when I was a kid had the last name Rheault. It was pronounced roe.
I’ve owned two Renault Fuegos.
Does that mean this thread is done?
Ok…someone explain the pronunciation of wed-nes-day to me.
Anyone like a go at **Featherstonehaugh **?
You’re late. Stand in the corner.
We had a Bishop once whose last name was Van der Horst. It was pronounced “Van Drawz.”
My husband used to be in radio. He found out the hard way that Taliaferro is pronounced “Tolliver.”
My linguistics professor said that proper names are up for grabs. I assume that gives the rights to the bearer of the name or the citizens of the town.
I grew up in Gibson County, Tennessee. They have a Milan – pronounced with the accent on the first syllable and a long i and a Medina – pronounced with the accent on the second syllable and with a long i.
I hear you, Zoe. My favorite is Gray-shee-OT, Ohio. (Gratiot)
Fehn-shaw.
How 'bout Collbran? Huh? Huh? 
Hmmm…
I’ve always pronounced it, and heard it pronounced, Gray-shot.
Yep, it is all a matter of the slash. Basically everyone who knew Polish just assumed the slash was lost in translieration. Thus I am a likely a
“Go-wah-shev-ski”.