Names which you mispronounced for years, before eventually realising...

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... your now incredibly foolish mistake.

I'm almost afraid to admit this, but until last night, I always pronounced Goethe as 'go-uff', when it's actually 'gert-uh'.

I feel so ashamed. :emo:

Go.

EDIT: It was during All Quiet on The Western Front, where the tutor says to the class, 'he wants to be all like Goethe and Schiller'. Thank you, for pointing out my ignorance.

:smug:

You are being taught Goethe and Remarque?
I am intensely, intensely jealous.
Love them both.

oh and i pronounced bukowski with an 'o' sound

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 81

ChannieAlana

Original post by EmmaJane_

KESHA. I always said k-ee-sha, but apparently it's k-eh-sha.

Could've been worse :P

Reply 82

xlizx

Don't know if it counts but I called my friend Brendan for years and only recently have I realised he is actually called Brandan

Reply 83

philistine

Original post by forsaken_earth

You are being taught Goethe and Remarque?
I am intensely, intensely jealous.
Love them both.

oh and i pronounced bukowski with an 'o' sound

Oh no, just casual reading and watching. I wouldn't mind being taught them, though.

Hehe. :biggrin:

Reply 84

TheMeister

Original post by Renacata

Siobhan. It's not Sea-ob-an, it's She-vaun. :erm:

I really don't understand how people don't know how to pronounce Irish names like this - they're simple to understand, surely?

Reply 85

gethsemane342

Geoff. I always pronounced if Gee-off until I read it in school one day and everyone was smirking. After I finished, my friend quietly whispered "It's pronounced Jeff" :colondollar:

Reply 86

aeterno

Rodney. I've been pronouncing it as Dave for years. Who knew... :sigh:

Spoiler

Reply 87

rock.and.rose

I remember being bemused that anyone would name their child Eilidh (Scots Gaelic), because I thought it was pronounced a bit like 'eyelid'.

Then I found out it's 'ay-lee' (so like Hayley without the H).

Oh and Eilish is not 'eye-lish' but 'ay-leesh'.

Okay then.

Reply 88

the bear

i only recently realised that Clegg was pronounced
Turncoat

Reply 89

Renacata

Original post by TheMeister

I really don't understand how people don't know how to pronounce Irish names like this - they're simple to understand, surely?

To someone who's never really been told how to pronounce Irish, or met many Irish people, it's not obvious at all that 'bh' is pronounced like the English 'v', or that 'se' makes a 'sh' sound. It's so different to English pronunciation! Someone who grew up speaking Irish and has never heard English spoken would probably struggle with English names too...

(edited 12 years ago)

Sinead

There was this girl who's surname was 'Turner' and in year 4 I thought it was 'Turnip'. We had a supply teacher and she asked me what her name was and I said "_____ Turnip" and she started crying. The teacher shouted at me.. I thought it was Turnip :'(

Reply 92

Ebuwa

Dolce not dolche
Shloer not Shola
Abercombie and fitch not abercrombie and fitch

Reply 93

janet9

The surname, Ng. I always thought it was 'Nug' when it's actually 'ing'. Never had a problem with Nguyen.

Reply 94

bananarama2

Original post by medbh4805

My name is Gráinne - I've only once met an English person who pronounced it correctly the first go, and it was a philology tutor at Oxford. I was impressed. :colonhash:

How do you pronounce it?

Spoiler

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 95

dobbs

Original post by aeterno

Rodney. I've been pronouncing it as Dave for years. Who knew... :sigh:

Spoiler

Damn why did that not work? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FYUyz3F7rU

And as a teacher I come across difficult names all the time so have gotten used to just saying "How do you pronounce this name?" to people, with no embarrassment anymore. However it also means I learn a lot of these difficult names. Such as:

Yaiza = Jaifa
Aisling = Ashling

:smile:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 96

Annie72

Original post by aeterno

Rodney. I've been pronouncing it as Dave for years. Who knew... :sigh:

Spoiler

I must be a hero then........... :tongue:

EDIT: Too late :frown:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 97

Joan21

Original post by scriggy

And, Seen Bean? :ahee:

Seriously?

Reply 98

Lentils

Original post by I<3GraphicNovels

My name is always being mispronounced - both first name and surname. Henriette Barthelme. I think my parents hate me.

It's 'On-reet (with a bit of a French accent) Bartle-may'.