The U.S. Secretary of State

Factual Questions
1

It’s been bugging me for a while now that everyone is pronouncing Colin Powell’s first name as though he were an intestinal tract. It gobsmacked me when I heard the announcer on BBC World do it. (I think she’s an American in disguise, though; about three minutes later, she pronounced ‘root’ as though it were ‘rout’, something no self-respecting Briton would do.)

So does Mr. Powell actually like being called Colon? If so or if not, how did it get started?

2

According to the story I heard: He used to pronounce it the normal way, “Caul-in”. Someone in college saw his name and didn’t know how to pronounce it and called him by its current pronounciation. Mr. Powell, as the story goes, preferred the new pronounciation and has kept it.

3

Not in college. It was when he first joined the army.