Famous people whose names are commonly mispronounced badly...... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 01:45:19 am
content: There are plenty to list just sticking with science and engineering...."Foo-cult"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A9on_Foucault"You-ler"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler::Cough::https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Wade_BodeKeep it going....

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 02:12:50 am
content: Am I famous? I don't know, but many people can't pronounce my last name!

author: MarkS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 02:26:20 am
content: I can't think of any scientists. All that comes to mind is the actor, Bumblefoot Crimpysnitch.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 02:44:19 am
content: Quote from: MarkS on February 21, 2017, 02:26:20 amWhy is it always the Australians??http://imgur.com/gallery/Zs23wTJ

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 02:48:24 am
content: Watch the 10,000 reviews of the new pathetic Ghostbusters movie and watch everyone try and pronounce Paul Feig's last name.His now has now officially evolved to Paul "However the F you pronounce it"

author: WZOLL
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 03:04:02 am
content: Robert Moog the famous synth designer and builder. Moog rhymes with vogue not Moooog like a cow.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 03:21:20 am
content: Frezznullhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin-Jean_Fresnel

author: MrBungle
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 05:45:03 am
content: Halley's Comet / Edmond Halleyhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmond_HalleyShort 'a' like Apple, not like 'hay' (eg, Bill Haley and the Comets)

author: HP-ILnerd
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 08:08:59 am
content: Eugene WignerAntonin DvorakA lot of these are pretty understandable since pronunciation rules vary from language to language.I recall an ep of The Amp Hour where the pronunciation of "Nissan" came into question, and Chris declared something to the effect, that he and Dave were probably both wrong, but he (Chris) was closer. Correct on both accounts.How to pronounce "Nissan" like the Japanese:Not sure if you're required to say it with a tone of defeat like that...NB: Nissan commercial in the US pronounce the final "n".

author: chickenHeadKnob
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 11:02:46 am
content: keeping in the electrical engineering genre, I have always been stymied by OliverHeaviside. What sayest thou oh forum members?

author: Codebird
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 11:06:05 am
content: Anyone French.Laplace, Fermat, Descartes, the composer Saint-saens. French names usually look like they should be pronouncable to an English-speaker, as they lack any weird characters or pairings and are not laden with Zs everywhere. But they are not pronounced at all like an English-speaker would.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 11:08:32 am
content: I got another one..."Scot-Key" ... "Shot-key" ... "Sk-hot-key" ...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_H._Schottky

author: hayatepilot
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 11:54:25 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on February 21, 2017, 11:08:32 amSince he was German I would say it is "Shot-key"

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:00:58 pm
content: Quote from: Smokey on February 21, 2017, 11:08:32 amI'm Shot-key man.

author: samgab
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:02:25 pm
content: William

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:03:59 pm
content: Quote from: samgab on February 21, 2017, 12:02:25 pmWill-yam (but you have to say it fast)

author: JPortici
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:05:14 pm
content: Quote from: HP-ILnerd on February 21, 2017, 08:08:59 amjust like in italianyes the tone of defeat is required for their (modern) crappy cars.I always pronounced it David Bawi

author: Delta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:06:50 pm
content: Seen Canary - a shite for shore eyesh...

author: samgab
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:07:10 pm
content: lol, I was thinking "will.i.am"... Come on dude. Just accept that your name is William

author: samgab
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:09:19 pm
content: Quote from: JPortici on February 21, 2017, 12:05:14 pmI always pronounce it like "Dat.sun"...

author: Delta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:09:50 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on February 21, 2017, 12:03:59 pmThat sounds like how they speak in the Black Country (Wolverhampton). "Will yam gaw tu the keetchin and get moy a cuppa tie?"

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:17:25 pm
content: "Don Coyote"Don Quixote

author: Wytnucls
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:27:53 pm
content: Physicist Louis de BroglieInventor Ernst SiemensPhysicist Heinrich Hertz

author: iainwhite
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 12:55:05 pm
content: Socrates(a lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed)

author: Vtile
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 01:15:55 pm
content: I did read as "Forum people whose.."

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 02:28:55 pm
content: and a few more names.....

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 03:02:39 pm
content: Quote from: samgab on February 21, 2017, 12:07:10 pmExcept in Francehttp://9gag.com/gag/awrD4EW/on-french-tv-they-translate-will-i-am-s-name

author: george.b
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 03:38:58 pm
content: Nyquist.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 05:36:02 pm
content: Quote from: Wytnucls on February 21, 2017, 12:27:53 pmYes, this one is a mouthful... It's been my experience most people dislike ending up with a mouthful of Siemens! *Rimshot*

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 06:06:50 pm
content: German names are difficult for americans? There was this (famous) singer that sings "Danke Schön" and he prenounces it as sheeen instead of sheun it sounds so wrong as if someone calls Trump, Tramp.

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 06:37:24 pm
content: English speaking people seem to have problem with German names - can't understand that.It depends on were you come from - except you come from somewhere near the Eyjafjallajökull

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 07:15:32 pm
content: Quote from: iainwhite on February 21, 2017, 12:55:05 pm"So-Krates"dust..... wind... DUDE!!

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 07:17:46 pm
content: Not all of us do, but then I come from a German background. I know exactly what song you are referring to - Wayne Newton. And it sound wrong to me, too. I think what throws native English speakers is the IE and EI letter combinations. In English how you pronounce works with those letter combinations is an "it depends". Auf Deutsch, alles ordnung and it's always spelled whichever way it is said. None of that "I before E except after C or when sounded like a as in neighbor and weigh" which is not 100% accurate itself, but it's what we teach all the kids, or used to anyway. Now I think they don't care how kids spell words if it's close. It's the result of so many different languages going into the makeup of what we call "English". Want a real challenge, look at Old English and Middle English.Note my analysis is based on what I learned in 5 years of studying German in school. Can hardly relate my family background as we a PA Dutch and compared to proper German grammar the way my family spoke (and everyone else I knew that spoke PA Dutch) was akin to the ebonics version of English. I learned to understand purely for the ability to snoop - my grandparents would speak dutch (German - silly English heard 'Deutsch" and said, oh, yes, Dutch, got it) with relatives when they wanted to have a conversation without little ears hearing anything. They did like to complain about my uncle and his family a lot.In my immediate family it ended with my Grandparents my Mom and Uncle both could understand but not speak it. There is a local college that offers a course in speaking PA Dutch, which I keep meaning to do but never seem to have the time. It's truly dying out as the older generations are no more.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 07:20:58 pm
content: Speaking of Greek names - my exe, who is a teacher, when she first read the Harry Potter books, asked me how you pronounce Hermione's name. Which sort of blew my mind because her mother's name is Penelope - pronounced the proper way, not "Pene-lope"

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 09:12:07 pm
content: Quote from: rrinker on February 21, 2017, 07:17:46 pmActually this was explained around Christmass on one of our radio channels. The cause of the question was that in our national antem there is a sentence that states that our kings great great great .....great father the Prince of Orange was from german blood (duitschen bloed). But this was also wrongly translated, it should have said from Dietsen bloed.Now Diets was the general language in Holland and Belgium from 1200 to around 1550. It had nothing to do with German besides it came from the German language even much longer before that.In the 17th century it was all mixed up and so the English weren't that bad, they just could not pronounce Diets, so they made it Dutch and unfortunately even our own people made it Duits which is German so it is in our national antem.Oh well in the mean time our passed Queen mother and former Queen both married a German so who cares.no english wiki for this page unfortunately:https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diets

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 09:24:18 pm
content: The PA Dutch though are mostly Germans. Many from southwestern Germany, but plenty from other areas. In my particular home town, mostly from Moravia.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_DutchThe Old Order Amish and Mennonite communities may be the only ones left where kids are taught German dialect. I don't know anyone of my generation who is a fluent speaker and my understanding is only limited, and I'm not sure my boys actually know the silly jokes my grandfather taught me. My Uncle had a project going where he was going around to his aunts and uncles while they were still alive having them speak dutch and recording it along with repeating what they said in English. Since he passed I don't know what became of the tapes.

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 10:25:45 pm
content: Ah ok now I understand, that dutch was the interpretation of deutsch, thats an interesting part of history.I am not very familiar with that part of history, what I saw sometimes on documentaries that some groups there still live as in the 19th century, like no computers or cars etc.

author: timb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 10:42:38 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on February 21, 2017, 10:25:45 pmYes, that would be the Old Order Amish. There are also Old Order Mennonites, which hold similar beliefs.In fact, we have some Old Order Mennonites where I'm at here in Virginia and they seem like good people. My parents actually hired a group of them to build a barn on their property last year and man can those guys build! They got it finished in a weekend. By hand. (As in no power tools.)I've got to say, I admire being able to live that kind of lifestyle in the face of all our modern comforts.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 11:18:09 pm
content: Quote from: Kleinstein on February 21, 2017, 06:37:24 pmI've known quite a few German people with exactly the opposite problem. I used to have a colleague, Jan Czmok*, who would insist on pronouncing my name, Ian, as "Aye-An". The same man had no problem pronouncing "e-mail" in English but even when I suggested he called me "e-Jan" and sped it up a bit, he still couldn't get it right.If it gets too bad I just tell Germans to call me Jan; "Ian, wünschen sie noch ein bier?" and "Jan, wünschen sie noch ein bier?" both sound close enough that it'll usually get my attention.My surname seems to be problematic for many Germanic speakers too; "Mason" often comes out sounding like the German surname Meisen or Meissen. There are Germans out there who think that, despite being British, my name is Jan Maurer as I've sometimes just given up and adopted a German name.*Yan Schmock in English orthography.

author: CatalinaWOW
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 21, 2017, 11:36:23 pm
content: Quote from: rrinker on February 21, 2017, 09:24:18 pmMy ancestors come from that region. It is my understanding that speaking Pennsylvania Dutch died rather suddenly during the great unpleasantness of the late 1930s and early 1940s. No one wanted to do anything that would associate them with the little Austrian.

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 12:34:29 am
content: Quote from: Codebird on February 21, 2017, 11:06:05 amThey write words with similar spelling to Italian words,but unlike them,have half the word "silent".Another thing is,where people try too hard to pronounce names in a "French way".Moet,as in "Moet & Chandon" is often pronounced "Moh-Ay" by such folk,where in real life,he was a Flemish bloke & pronounced it as it was written.Where there are thousands of people with a given surname,they are unlikely to all pronounce their names in the same way."Captain Mainwaring" in "Dad's Army" wanted to be pronounced "Mannering",but the late AFL Football player Chris Mainwaring pronounced it as it was spelt.Some distant relatives of mine rejoice in the name "Death".The older generations pronounced like the end of life,but others opted for "D'Ath".Featherstone-Haugh doesn't look at all like "Fanshaw".There are a lot more plain old Fanshaws in the phone book.Our PM in the 1950s,Bob Menzies,made the comment that his last name really should be pronounced "Mingas".This was regarded as incredibly pretentious by the general public,who promptly nicknamed him "Ming The Merciless"!

author: Unknown
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 01:27:10 am
content: certainly, Bob Widlar comes to mind.

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 02:08:43 am
content: Jeeeez, so many.Mostly French and DutchTo give one; Christiaan Huygens

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 03:38:58 am
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on February 22, 2017, 12:34:29 amI once knew a man with a broad Yorkshire accent who rejoiced in the name Jack Death; there's something so prosaic about "Th' name's Death, Jack Death" delivered in that accent, that it completely takes the sting out of the name.I used to share a house with a Terry Featherstone who pronounced it as you would read it, bit of bird, bit of rock.Quote from: vk6zgo on February 22, 2017, 12:34:29 amIt's just the normal Scottish pronunciation (whence the name comes), sounds closer to "Mingis" to my ear. Mingin' Menzies is the obvious Scot's schoolboy nickname - Minging being Scot's for "Gosh, what an awful smell" as in "Youse futball kit, that's mingin' that is".There's something about the tendency of certain classes of the British to "posh up" names by using alternative pronunciations that really annoys me. Ralph Fiennes ("Raif Fines") is a case in point. Timothy Spall also named his son Raif, but had the good grace to spell it the way it was intended to be said. First case, terribly, terribly posh parents; second case, gor-blimey Londoner like m'self.

author: MarkS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 07:28:55 am
content: Just remembered: Pierre Bézier, "inventor" of the ubiquitous Bézier curve. I never knew whether it was "Bay-zeer" or "Buh-zeer" or "Bee-zeer", so I asked someone who speaks French (after mispronouncing it for two decades). It's "Bay-zee-A (long A)". Huh. Would never have guessed!

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 01:28:04 pm
content: Quote from: MarkS on February 22, 2017, 07:28:55 amI, for one, aren't quite sure what your intent is there. By "long A" do you mean the letter "ay" or the phoneme "aah"?I'd render my pronunciation of Bézier as beh-zee-ay.An aside - For a while in England, the generation in school after mine were first taught to write in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and then transitioned to standard English spelling after they'd got the hang of things. On the surface this sounds like a stupid idea, even if you can grasp the underlying intent. However at times like this it would be really useful if there was wider understanding of IPA so that we could use it to describe pronunciations instead of using ad-hoc versions hacked largely out of English orthography.

author: MarkS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 06:24:56 pm
content: Quote from: Cerebus on February 22, 2017, 01:28:04 pmReally? Elementary school English. Long A - 'ay'. Short A - 'aah'. I wasn't sure how to "spell" the letter. "Aye" is pronounced "eye" and I couldn't think of anything else.

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 06:58:27 pm
content: Calling it "long A" will really get you into trouble when you get to Latin or Greek or study poetic meter. I suppose that explains why schools in England (still based around the Quadrivium to some extent?) would call it differently.

author: bitwelder
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 07:19:40 pm
content: Edsger W. Dijkstra

author: mrpackethead
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 07:24:18 pm
content: Sean Spincther

author: gnavigator1007
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 07:54:37 pm
content: Raymond Luxury Yacht

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 08:24:32 pm
content: Quote from: blueskull on February 22, 2017, 07:48:18 pmLet me guess, she was from New Zealand?Same for cleaning your deck (dick).Some Australian and South African accents also pronounce their vowels like that, but not as strong.

author: vodka
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 08:31:36 pm
content: I follow to think that the anglosaxons complicate themselves the life. That is more easy the spanish pronunciation,almost all the words always sounds as it writes.An example of the diference of the vowels between Spanish and English.Spanish EnglishA = a A=ei (with a consonant it can vary the sound randomly)E= e E=i ("")I = i I=ai (As somebody catches the sausage with the zipper )O=o O =ouU=u U =iu (For me sound as yu )Certainly , that is very hard understand to english when you change the sounds of the letters randomlyQuote from: blueskull on February 22, 2017, 07:48:18 pmCome on that there isn't diference sound between SE-MEN and SAL-MON.So when she eats salmon is not allowed the presence the kids under 18 years

author: MarkS
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 09:11:21 pm
content: Quote from: vodka on February 22, 2017, 08:31:36 pmIt's not random. There are rules that dictate how a vowel should sound, but there are many, many rules. Even native English speakers get it wrong many times.

author: rrinker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 09:48:50 pm
content: Sure there are rules - and every rule has another 5 exceptions. Might as well NOT have rules in the first place.

author: Alex Eisenhut
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 22, 2017, 11:50:13 pm
content: I didn't know how to pronounce Kwisatz Haderach until I saw the movie...

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2017, 01:13:46 am
content: I had to take an writing class in college that was taught by an older Chinese woman who was born and educated in China, and spoke British style English. Now that was one tough accent to follow.

author: Cerebus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2017, 02:38:43 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on February 23, 2017, 01:13:46 amNo, that's just English. You only need to qualify what kind of English if you're referring to one of the bastardised versions.

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2017, 05:05:05 am
content: Quote from: Cerebus on February 23, 2017, 02:38:43 amThat's like when you get "French Onion Soup" in France, its just called "Onion Soup"

author: basinstreetdesign
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2017, 05:17:19 am
content: At a company I worked at some years ago our illustrious GM hired a designer whose thick accent bespoke of somewhere in east Europe. One of the sales reps who called on us from time to time had the first name Ian. For several days this new guy would call up the supplier where the rep worked and repeatedly asked for "Mr. Yawn". You could tell the receptionist on the phone was getting short-tempered.

author: basinstreetdesign
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2017, 05:24:14 am
content: Bode as in Hendrik Wade Bode originator of the famous plot. I've heard it asBoadeh,Boddy,Boadbut never the correctBoady

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2017, 03:23:58 pm
content: Quote from: basinstreetdesign on February 23, 2017, 05:24:14 amI guess you missed another topic? Lol"The correct" is a very bald statement.Seen he was Dutch, technically speaking "Boady" isn't correct at all!

author: R_Gtx
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 23, 2017, 03:40:45 pm
content: Quote from: MrBungle on February 21, 2017, 05:45:03 amActually, both may be incorrect, in contemporary literature his surname was sometimes misspelled as Hawley, suggesting that this is how he pronounced his own name.

author: basinstreetdesign
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 26, 2017, 07:09:35 am
content: QuoteHe was actually american but of Dutch lineage. I take his pronunciation from Wikipedia ashttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Wade_Bodeand from the European profs I had in school.