Pronouncing the unpronounceable

[Christopher]

Last month or so there has been great enjoyment in Ireland with people trying to pronounce Domhnall Gleeson's name, he of Star Wars and The Revenant fame. Poor Leonardo diCaprio struggled with it, as did others.

I've heard it pronounced as "Donnell," basically. I probably got that from the bonus features for Ex Machina. It was weird to see Gleeson play the nice guy and Oscar Isaac the villain in that one and then see them play the opposite roles so well in The Force Awakens. It's hard to believe they're the same people.

 

[Csalem]

It is bit difficult for me to spell it phonetically but it is again halfway between Doh-nal and Doh-nel.

 

[Kilana2]

I'm currently reading `Sloth´. Luckily I don't have to read out the Pakled names aloud.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

By a great coincidence, this popped up on my FB feed today:
Americans try to pronounce Pennsylvania city names:
http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/pennsylvania/pa-pronounce-pa-cities/

 

[CaptainDonovin]

Not a student of Greek, I take it.

Although sometimes it goes beyond pronunciation to misinterpreting the whole word. At Cleveland ConCoction recently, I was puzzled when someone asked me what I thought about the Star Trek: Abraxas films, until I realized he meant Axanar.

I can see that happen if the person had just listened to the Genesis album of the same name.

 

[Greg Cox]

By a great coincidence, this popped up on my FB feed today:
Americans try to pronounce Pennsylvania city names:
http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/pennsylvania/pa-pronounce-pa-cities/

Not PA, but just across the border: I admit I still struggle with "Hockessin."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockessin,_Delaware

 

[Christopher]

^Rhymes with "moccasin?" That's my guess, and the Wikipedia article seems to support it.

 

[Doom Shepherd]

Trying to figure out the phonetic pronunciation of "Worcester" game me a headache. It's not quite "Wooster" and not quite "wuster."

 

[Greg Cox]

^Rhymes with "moccasin?" That's my guess, and the Wikipedia article seems to support it.

That's probably a good mnemonic to remember. I always try to pronounce it HO-kass-in, which I gather is wrong. Maybe.

 

[Csalem]

Trying to figure out the phonetic pronunciation of "Worcester" game me a headache. It's not quite "Wooster" and not quite "wuster."

wUS-ter? Sort of climb up to the S and then a quick ter.

 

[DimesDan]

Last month or so there has been great enjoyment in Ireland with people trying to pronounce Domhnall Gleeson's name, he of Star Wars and The Revenant fame. Poor Leonardo diCaprio struggled with it, as did others.

The wife was the same last year when the fracas occurred on Top Gear between Clarkson and Oisin Tymon.

 

[Greg Cox]

And let's not forget Saoirse Rohan, whose name I still hesitate at, even though I novelized one of her movies!

 

[Csalem]

And let's not forget Saoirse Rohan, whose name I still hesitate at, even though I novelized one of her movies!

It is sort of Sear-sha. And I assume you mean Ronan and not Rohan.

One thing this thread has made me realise is how difficult it is for me to phonetically spell Irish names I can pronounce with ease!

 

[Kilana2]

And let's not forget Saoirse Rohan, whose name I still hesitate at, even though I novelized one of her movies!

YouTube told me that it is pronounced "Siour-sha" or so. I'm very unsure about irish names, though.

 

[DimesDan]

It is sort of Sear-sha. And I assume you mean Ronan and not Rohan.

One thing this thread has made me realise is how difficult it is for me to phonetically spell Irish names I can pronounce with ease!

The wife's maiden name is Cuddihy and phonetically it would be something like CUD-eh-HEE which we just spent a good five minutes trying to work out.

 

[Kilana2]

I was surprised to learn that Alice Krige's name is pronounced like the German word "Krieg" (which means war, only befitting for a Borg Queen).

 

[Greg Cox]

It is sort of Sear-sha. And I assume you mean Ronan and not Rohan. !

Figures. I double-checked the spelling of "Saoirse" and got the easy part wrong!

 

[Christopher]

By the way, Greg, I just rewatched a season 1 episode of Person of Interest where the hero claims to be from Puyallup to get friendly with a person who's actually from Puyallup, and they both pronounce it "Pee-al-up."

 

[Greg Cox]

By the way, Greg, I just rewatched a season 1 episode of Person of Interest where the hero claims to be from Puyallup to get friendly with a person who's actually from Puyallup, and they both pronounce it "Pee-al-up."

No, no, it's Pew-all-up.

 

[Christopher]

^Yeah, they pewed it all up, didn't they?