I really don’t like to mispronounce things. It happens, though. We simply can’t all know that “chic” sounds like the sheek. And not a baby chicken.
And it isn’t a party if you say gal-uh. It should be GAY-la. Gala.
I could go on with this list. But the name game is the one I get wrong the most. And it is important to me. Because with a last name like Kronenberger, and a first name like Polly, I am at the butt end of mispronunciations often.
So here is a list of historical figures that people often get wrong. I’ve also included links with information about the person, as well as the proper pronunciations.
Edvard Munch
The Scream painter, Edvard Munch’s surname, doesn’t sound like munching on snacks. Instead, it is “MOONK.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSzPjfBoXNg
Andrew Carnegie
Many Americans pronounce Carnegie as “KAR-nuh-gee.” But the steel magnate and philanthropist was born in Scotland. It is better to say his name the way the Scots do: “kar-NAY-gee.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkWsv7ZLgn4
Shirley Chisholm
I’m guilty of this next one, as she used to be a “standard answer” back in my college Trivial Pursuit playing days.
Good old Shirley. Of course, she was the first Black woman in Congress and the first woman to run for president as a Democrat or Republican. Her last name is pronounced “CHIZ-m,” rhyming with prism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbJJRZkksKI
Héloïse
First of all, when I write Heloise, I do it without all the whip-digits. I had to copy and paste her name from other sources. Héloïse was a 12th-century French scholar and nun. She is best known for her tragic romance with fellow scholar Peter Abélard. In French, the “h” is silent, so her name is pronounced “ELL-oo-eez,” just like the English Eloise. I’ve been giving her “Hell” all these years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VuTefGYOqo
Julius Caesar
I’ve been screwing this one up in a big way. Based on what the experts say about Classical Latin pronunciation, the name of ancient Rome’s famous emperor should technically sound like this:
“YOO-lee-oos KYE-sahr”
where “KYE” rhymes with hi, “sar” rhymes with far, and “oos” rhymes with moose.
I say “Jewel-ee-us Sees-her” where Caesar sounds just like the salad, hold the anchovies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amAFuz5az70
Elie Wiesel
If you’ve survived the Holocaust, you deserve to have your name pronounced correctly. But this Nobel Peace Prize winner has been called a lot of things. Elie Wiesel’s name is pronounced, “ELL-ee vee-ZELL.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOu0X9MRcbY
Joseph Pulitzer
For some reason, this one is a pet peeve of mine. It scrunches me up when I hear people say:
“PYOO-lit-zer.”
But Pulitzer himself frequently told people how to say his name. With that, Joseph would tell them to say
“Pull it sir”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwwJ3IxQH5g
So there it is.
A few name pronunciations.
My is pronounced Polly Kronenberger. For the record.
That’s pah-lee CROW-nenn-brrr-grrr.
Not that I am cold or angry, as the end of that pronunciation suggests.
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Language is more fashion than science, and matters of usage, spelling and pronunciation tend to wander around like hemlines.
― Bill Bryson
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Pronunciation has made many an innocent word sound like a doctor’s orders for a stomach pump.
― Zelda Fitzgerald
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“Sometimes not speaking says more than all the words in the world.”
― Colleen Hoover, Ugly Love
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That name game. Get it right, will ya’?
