I was watching “Face the Nation” this morning as Bob Schieffer was interviewing
Dick Cheney. Cheney had occasion to say his own last name, twice. Both times he
pronounced it CHEE-knee. Has anybody else heard this pronunciation. Has
everyone been pronouncing it incorrectly?
If I ever meet him, I’ll be sure to pronounce it “she-NAY.”
Can you do that in a red state? (where I was born and grew up)
I remember some TV news person saying, I think as far back as the first campaign, that the name is actually pronounced Chee-nee, but since it’s an unusual pronunciation for the spelling nobody pays any attention to that. I think he’s doomed to have people mispronounce his name as long as he’s in the public office. I also think it’s a lapse on the part of professional spoken media people. Seems to me they should pay attention to details better than that.
Thanks, I hadn’t heard that. It does remind me of something I heard about Colin Powell. It’s said that a reporter asked his mother about the correct pronunciation of his first name, she supposedly replied, to the effect, that she would not give a child a name that was a body part, implying the his name is COAL-in, not CALL-in.
Thank goodness for that. ‘Colon’ is a terrible name. I assume it’s Coll-lin, then.
I also remember hearing this on the news in 2000. As I recall it, Cheney said he pronounced it “Cheeney,” but didn’t care much either way.
Did you mean to say this the other way 'round?
Sure did. So much for proofreading.