# So how do YOU say "David Bowie"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 4, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539 "2010-07-04T18:18:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/21 "2010-07-05T08:37:48Z")
I say it Bow-eee, like snowy. > [@njtt](#): > > Amazingly enough, [Zowie Bowie appears to have turned out quite sane](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1254102/How-DID-Zowie-Bowie-turn-normal.html), but now prefers to be called Duncan. It’s funny, I’ve always liked Bowie’s music (whether by him or [covers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSCf15tBGqE)), but Duncan Jones’s film **Moon** was my favorite film from last year (it and Away We Go), and now when I think of Bowie I think of him as Duncan’s father. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/22 "2010-07-05T09:27:54Z")
There’s a good lengthy interview with Duncan on Robert Llewellyn’s [CarPool](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g46AOqHNqeU). ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/23 "2010-07-05T10:14:44Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > If Bowie himself pronounces it like “snowy,” that’s the way it’s pronounced. I agree with the general principle, but the link I gave in the OP does say that he makes a point of _never_ correcting anyone who says it ineither of the other two ways. And, apparently, Jim Bowie, who was actually born with the name, and from whom David merely borrowed it, pronounced it to rhyme with “gooey.” Anyway, I can assure people that in Britain I have frequently (I do not say universally, still less correctly) heard it pronounced like “Maui,” and the _Zowie_ issue still does not make sense to me. It is not as though they just made made up the word “zowie,” after all. It is a real word (attested as far back as 1913 according to the **OED** ) with an established pronunciation (rhyming with “Maui”) and a meaning that is (as much as anything could be) appropriate for the name of a rapidly rising glam-rock star’s new baby. ---
**Author:** ![kim\_jung\_il](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@kim\_jung\_il](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kim_jung_il)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/24 "2010-07-05T10:15:01Z")
People with the name in Scotland pronounce it “bow-wee” like Maui only with a stronger “w” sound. ---
**Author:** ![kim\_jung\_il](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/54ee81/32.png) [@kim\_jung\_il](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kim_jung_il)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/25 "2010-07-05T10:17:17Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > If Bowie himself pronounces it like “snowy,” that’s the way it’s pronounced. I agree to a certain extent. I also think people can be wrong about their own name. E.g. former chancellor of the exchequer in the UK was Norman Lamont (pronounced La-mone-t) Lamont is a Scottish name and is pronounced with a shorter “a” and an “o” rather than an “oe” sound. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/26 "2010-07-05T10:33:51Z")
You people had me convinced of the definitiveness _snowy_ version for a while there, but on second thoughts (for the reasons given in my previous post) I am not so sure. Maybe there is a real (even an intended) uncertainty to it. Perhaps it is the Schrödinger’s cat of rock star names, or David is playing some sort of postmodernist or Rashomon-like game of shifting realities or identities with us (as if sharing his “real” name with the least talented member of _The Monkees_ were not enough!). If any rock star were to do this, he would be the one. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/27 "2010-07-05T11:16:55Z")
Around DC, you may find those who pronounce it like Bowie, MD - sounds like “Boo-ey, MD”. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/28 "2010-07-05T11:43:08Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Amazingly enough, [Zowie Bowie appears to have turned out quite sane](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1254102/How-DID-Zowie-Bowie-turn-normal.html), but now prefers to be called Duncan. Good to know he didn’t turn out to be a lad insane. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/29 "2010-07-05T11:54:29Z")
Ironically the British seem to all go with the “Maui” pronunciation, but then the British mutilate a lot of names. ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/30 "2010-07-05T13:44:49Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Ironically the British seem to all go with the “Maui” pronunciation, but then the British mutilate a lot of names. Nah, we use both just like everybody else does. I hear both version all the time. Well, not all the time because Bowie isn’t exactly topical breaking news, but when I hear his name mentioned it seems about evenly split. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/31 "2010-07-05T15:49:00Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Ironically the British seem to all go with the “Maui” pronunciation, but then the British mutilate a lot of names. He is actually British himself, you know. I mean, if you Americans want to mangle the French name of the largest city in Missouri into “Saint Lewis,” and pretend that the final "s’ of “Arkansas” is a “w,” then that is your business, but by the same token, British people get to decide how to say Gloucester, and Mainwaring, and Cholmondeley - and Bowie too when it is an English guy’s (fake) name. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/32 "2010-07-05T17:45:42Z")
I say “thin white duke.” I pronounce “Bowie” with a long _o_, and so does Bowie. But our long _o_s are not exactly the same. To my ear, the British _o_ is, well, longer, and actually has more than one vowel sound in it. At times it sounds a bit like Buh-ah-oo-ee, but with the _oo_ from “book,” not “boo,” and with the first three vowels squished together into one syllable. (I am not a linguist, in case that wasn’t obvious.) So some Americans who think it’s pronounced “Boowie” or Baughie" may just be picking up on and exaggerating the difference between American and British accents (ignoring for now the obvious point that there are many different American and British accents). Kind of like how many of us hear Canadians say “oot and aboot” and they all think we’re making it up. But really, if Bowie ain’t bovvered, why should we be? > [@njtt](#): > > Zowie Bowie appears to have turned out quite sane, but now prefers to be called Duncan. Duncan Jones is actually his legal name and always has been. ---
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/33 "2010-07-05T19:48:31Z")
Bowie himself said in an interview a few years back he still has Jones on cheque books - that sort of thing. - ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/34 "2010-07-06T21:01:27Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Surely the point of “Zowie Bowie” is to rhyme with itself, Man, do not even get me started with Sean Bean.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/35 "2010-07-06T22:20:34Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I have NEVER heard it to rhyme with Maui. > > Or ‘boo-ey’ for him, actually…heard that for James Bowie, but never David Bowie. This. > [@TBG](#): > > Man, do not even get me started with Sean Bean.:smack: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/36 "2010-07-06T22:52:13Z")
I say David Boh-ee, but Boo-ee knife. I’ve only heard the Maui Bowie pronunciation from Hugh Laurie on “Bits of Fry and Laurie”. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/37 "2010-07-07T01:45:08Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Good to know he didn’t turn out to be a lad insane. I saw what you did there. 😃 Snowy - ever since my much cooler friend corrected me back in the late 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/38 "2010-07-07T01:49:10Z")
I’ve only ever heard it pronounced as “snowy”. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/39 "2010-07-08T20:10:18Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Surely the point of “Zowie Bowie” is to rhyme with itself, and if “Bowie” rhymed with _snowy_ the first name would have to be pronounced as Zoë, which is a girls name. I’ve always pronounced Bowie like snowy, and have never heard it any other way, but I’m not a major fan of the singer so I wouldn’t consider myself the person to ask for an official answer. The gender thing doesn’t strike me as important though since 1. Kids of rockstars are exempt generally from any and all naming conventions 2. The modified spelling of the name could very easily be a signifier of changed gender This reminds me of the recent episode of Dr Who where they meet Vincent van Gogh, which I have only ever heard pronounced “Goh” but who was called “Gof” by the Dr and “Gaghk” (like the Klingon dish) by the museum guy. ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539/40 "2010-07-08T20:20:14Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > This reminds me of the recent episode of Dr Who where they meet Vincent van Gogh, which I have only ever heard pronounced “Goh” but who was called “Gof” by the Dr and “Gaghk” (like the Klingon dish) by the museum guy. “Go” is standard American and “Goff” is standard British. The Klingon pronunciation is closest to how Van Gogh himself probably pronounced it, so it makes sense that a museum curator who was somewhat of a Van Gogh fanatic would pronounce it that way. (Then again, wouldn’t he “actually” have been speaking French, so the Tardis had to translate it and give him an English accent anyway… but this is the same Tardis that decided Van Gogh should have a Scottish accent, so who knows what it was thinking.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-do-you-say-david-bowie/545539.md?page=3)