Warren Buffett Pronunciation

Factual Questions
1

I don’t understand phonetic notation so please no Greek characters with mysterious accents and umlauts. Also I’m from the UK so no references to ‘a typical South Dakota pronunciation’ or whatever.

I’ve been curious for a while about this but couldn’t find a definitive answer after spending many seconds on the internet.

Does financier Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway pronounce his name:

BUFF (as in to buff or polish) FAY (as in actress FAY Wray)

BUFF FET (as it keeping healthy, keep FIT if FIT was spelt with an E)

Or is it something really odd like BOOF (as in booth) FEET (as in twelve inches)?

TCMF-2L

2

Pretty sure it’s BUFF-fet, like Jimmy Buffett, to whom Warren is related (cousins, I think?)

ETA: oops, I guess there’s no relation after all:

3

This.

Actually met him once. He’s very personable.

4

Pretentiousness git that he is I’m sure it’s Boo-fay.

I’m kidding of course.

Pretty sure it’s buff-it. At least I’ve heard him introduced as such. But he’s so unassuming if someone mispronounced his name he’d probably not make a fuss about it.

5

His name rhymes with ‘buffet’.

Play the audio on Entry 1 of 4 or Entry 2 of 4.

6

Ah. As in ‘buffeted by the wind’ (without the ed at the end.

Asked and answered. Thank you for clearing that up.

I am sometimes tempted to use a Buffett quote that (to paraphrase) putting your money in a simple tracker fund will out perform the experts but potential humiliation at mispronouncing his name left me holding back.

TCMF-2L

7

Now that has been sorted, I think I’ve only ever heard Berkshire Hathaway pronounced as Berk-Shear or Shyer, rather than Bark-Shear, as in the English county.

[I have heard an American refer to Glue-kester-Shyer for Gloucestershire, which I found rather joyous for some reason]

8

I’ve always heard it ‘Berk-shr’. Like in ‘Worcestershire’ or ‘Derbyshire’.

9

I was born in Berkshire in the UK so will pronounce it BARK SHYER regardless. Don’t know about in the US but in the UK a BERK is a (very mild) insult so… Got to be BARK.

TCMF-2L

10

Yeah. BERK-sure for me.

11

The city of Reading in the UK is in the county of Berkshire (BARK-sher).

The city of Reading in Pennsylvania is in Berks (BURKS) County.

And “Berkshire Hathaway” is (BURK-sher).

12

How is Reading ( PA ) pronounced (‘reding’, or ‘reeding’?)

13

Like Otis.

14

It is “Buff Fet.” I believe Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory once pronounced it “Buff Fay,” but that was just a joke to show how clueless he was.

15

The double-tt at the end of Buffett would preclude it being pronounced Buf-FAY.

The spelling “Berkshire” of course is just an Americanized reduction of the original British “Berkcestershire”. (ETA: Pronounced like “Buster”.)

16

Are there any names or words where a double t is not pronounced?

17

It is pronounced “REDing”. (My father grew up there)

18

Ironically, Reading is the home of the British Dyslexia Association.

Okay, technically it’s Bracknell but that’s close enough for the joke.

19

As is Reading, MA. (Not to be confused with Otis, MA, which is in Berkshire County.)

20

If you will allow any dialect, and the double t may be placed anywhere within the word, then sure - quite a few English dialects (notably, Cockney) replace t or double t with a glottal stop - ‘bottle’ becomes bɒ.ʔəw - there’s an audio example on this page: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bottle#Pronunciation