Saturday, May 20, 2017

Pronunciation of names

Last Friday evening in southern Florida, there was some weather turbulence.  The weather computers interrupt programming to tell you that there a tornado alert or watch in Pom-pain-o Beach.  In human speak that is Pomp-a-no Beach.  The weather name for Oka-cho-bee is O-kee-cho-bee.  It reminds me of a friend who was driving from a dog show in Baltimore, MD, to Blowing Rock, NC.  When she arrived, she informed me she had seen a new river--the Pot-o-mac, which to everyone else is Po-tome-ac.

I must admit that I love to repeat O-kee-cho-bee.  It has such a nice cadence!

I have two degrees from App-a-lach-ian State University.  Even when Appalachian beat Michigan, the sportscasters mispronounced it App-a-lay-chin.  Irritating.

And, while I'm on the topic of pronunciation, my name is Mare-y, not Murr-ay!




3 comments:

  1. I feel your pain. Our last name is pronounced with a short "a" --think short stra and then "dell" like the computer. I never had a problem with Burns, but have fought the good fight for tons of years now.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I live in Balmer, Murlin, hon, not too far from the Pot-o-mac River. (otherwise known as Baltimore Maryland!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've chuckled about your comment many times, because I an from Cecil County, Md Small world!!

      Delete