# Why do Americans spell "Ghandi" ?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [January 31, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931 "2003-01-31T19:28:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/1 "2003-01-31T19:28:01Z")
It’s [Gandhi](http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/History/By_Region/Asia/South_Asia/Personalities/Mahatma_Gandhi/?tc=1).
So, how ?
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/2 "2003-01-31T19:33:41Z")
Has nothing to do with being American – people who spell it that way just don’t know how it’s spelled.
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### Author:  [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/3 "2003-01-31T19:36:32Z")
“Americans” don’t spell his name that way, unless they don’t know the correct spelling.
For the record, yes, I have seen Gandhi’s name spelled incorrectly on these boards. Just look on this as an opportunity to dispel a little ignorance.
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/4 "2003-01-31T19:37:57Z")
Just don’t ask any of us to spell “Nietzsche.”
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### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/5 "2003-01-31T19:55:27Z")
[Austin Millbarge]
_We_ know how to say “Sartre”.
[/A.M.]
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### Author:  [@blowero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blowero)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/6 "2003-01-31T19:57:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Gyan9 \*
> \*\*It’s [Gandhi](http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/History/By_Region/Asia/South_Asia/Personalities/Mahatma_Gandhi/?tc=1).
>
> So, how ? \*\*
I think it’s just an easy mistake to make because, the way we pronounce it, the “h” is superfluous. We say GON-DEE, not GOND-HEE. Whether right or wrong, we don’t hear any “h” sound when we hear the name, so it’s hard to remember where the “h” goes when we spell it. And unfortunately, the mistake feeds on itself, because the more you see it spelled incorrectly, the more you tend to believe it’s correct that way. Proper names are the hardest to get right, because neither spell-checkers nor dictionaries tend to have surnames in them.
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/7 "2003-01-31T19:57:50Z")
Didn’t Ghandi have something to do with Bhudda?
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### Author:  [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/8 "2003-01-31T20:00:26Z")
Nietzsche was pietzsche
But Sartre was smartre.
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### Author:  [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/9 "2003-01-31T20:07:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by blowero \*
> **We say GON-DEE, not GOND-HEE. Whether right or wrong, we don’t hear any “h” sound when we hear the name, so it’s hard to remember where the “h” goes when we spell it.**
Makes sense. And for the record, it’s pronounced Gaan dhee.
> [@](#):
>
> _Didn’t Ghandi have something to do with Bhudda?_
Yeah, they both have their names mispronounced and misspelled.
It’s _Boo(d) dh-aa_. It’s hard to explain how the first two syllables are pronounced. I can’t find an equivalent sound in an indigenous English word.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/10 "2003-01-31T20:10:03Z")
If you were looking for a factual answer (which I’m sure you were not), consider that gh is a common digraph in English while dh is not.
Not only do we have enough tough words through our language that contain the gh combination, including several ghastly words (think ghee) found near the ghetto of the dictionary, we even have several words, (most, like Gandhi, proper names borrowed or transcripted from other languanges), that _begin_ with Gh: Ghana, Ghent, Ghibelline.
In contrast, the few words we have with a dh combination are borrowings from SURPRISE! India and are not very common: dole, dhoti, (and how many English speakers knew dharma before _Dharma and Greg_?). (Dhow would be the non-Indian exception–and it is hardly a common word and may have gotten its spelling via India.)
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### Author:  [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/11 "2003-01-31T20:25:11Z")
Because we sure as hell can’t whistle it.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/12 "2003-01-31T22:17:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by tomndebb \*
> \*\*If you were looking for a factual answer (which I’m sure you were not), consider that gh is a common digraph in English while dh is not. \*\*
Exactly. The last syllable of my (Swiss) surname is “gehr.” People invariably want to spell it “gher.”
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### Author:  [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/13 "2003-01-31T22:48:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by tomndebb \*
> **consider that gh is a common digraph in English while dh is not.**
Well…then there’s Genghis Khan, which is often misspelled Ghengis. And then throw in the Western surname of Kahn into the mix…
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### Author:  [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/14 "2003-01-31T23:31:26Z")
Hell, I always thought that was Genghis _Cohen!_
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### Author:  [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)
#### Post date: [January 31, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/15 "2003-01-31T23:41:12Z")
Genghis Cohen, Court Appointed Lawyer.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/16 "2003-02-01T00:04:35Z")
**tomndeb** you forgot ‘D’oh’
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/17 "2003-02-01T00:05:23Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Ukulele Ike \*
> \*\*Hell, I always thought that was Genghis _Cohen!_ \*\*
Aka Cohen the Barbarian.
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/18 "2003-02-01T04:40:42Z")
Well, you have to forgive us English-speakers, seeing as how we’ve only just recently figured out how to spell “Mumbai” and “Kolkata.”
Pardon me for asking such a factual question in the Pit, but is there an accepted way to transliterate Hindi into Roman characters?
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### Author:  [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/19 "2003-02-01T06:26:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duke \*
> **Pardon me for asking such a factual question in the Pit, but is there an accepted way to transliterate Hindi into Roman characters?**
Given the nature of Dopers, it’s not unprecedented to have a Pit thread turn into a bunch of GQ-ish posts. Anyway, while we’re waiting for a linguistics expert to chime in, I’ll just note that Cecil himself has considered the issue of Romanizing Arabic names, specifically in the case [Muammar Qaddafi](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_264b.html). And for what it’s worth, the [Library of Congress](http://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/roman.html) has listed its scheme (or the American Library Association’s scheme, rather) for transliterating non-Roman scripts. I don’t know if these are _the_ accepted standards, but I’d guess they are amongst the most widely adopted.
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### Author:  [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)
#### Post date: [February 1, 2003, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-spell-ghandi/151931/20 "2003-02-01T06:26:50Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Duke \*
> Well, you have to forgive us English-speakers, seeing as how we’ve only just recently figured out how to spell “Mumbai” and “Kolkata.”
Huh ? The official names of those cities in English were Bombay and Calcutta. Then, the BJP and allies came to power at the centre and in various states. The ally in Bombay (Shiv Sena) officially changed the name of the city in 1997 to Mumbai for which I’ll never forgive them. The same thing happened to Calcutta.
> [@](#):
>
> Pardon me for asking such a factual question in the Pit, but is there an accepted way to transliterate Hindi into Roman characters?
No. A certain English spelling can often be validly pronounced in multiple ways. Also, some sounds and nuances just don’t occur in English, so I don’t think you’ll ever have a perfect transliteration mapping. Of course, there are preferred mappings. But with regards to accurate transliteration, I don’t think there’s any acceptable mapping.
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