Everyone can get a little mush-mouthed but you really hear some butchered runner names. Here are a few of my favorites that I have heard:
"Galla-breezy" - Geb
"Bike-hilly" - Bekele
"Pre-fountain" - Prefontaine
"Can-Ookie" - KK
"Ken-Ya" - Kenah
"Crow-Han" - Croghan
"Aw-Lind-Grin" - Olinger
"Mick-Dug-Ale" - McDougal
(Wow - It really does seem that I run with idiots. I guess it takes one to know one)
I hate it when people mispronounce my name.
Beauchamp is pronounced Beacham
Belvoir is pronounced Beaver
Bohun is pronounced Boon
Cholmondely is pronounced Chumley
Colquhoun is pronounced Cahoon
Featherstonehaugh is pronounced Fanshaw
Marjoribanks is pronounced Marchbanks
"They spell it Vinci and pronounce it Vinchy. Foreigners always spell better than they pronounce."
Mark Twain
whats funny are West Coast people going to Massachusetts for the first time and asking directions to Billerica and Worcester.
there is a street in our city called Lagmodier, and the amount of people (including radio hosts) which pronounce it Ladge - modee - er is ridiculous
What's also funny is people in Maine pretending a lot of their place names are not French. To them, "Calais" is "Callous." Not to mention the name of their most famous athlete, which should actually be pronounced "Ben-wa"
My name is a bit of a struggle for the uninitiated, but it still doesn't explain why public address announcers have managed to convert the c's into r's and insert an "oouch" syllable which is nowhere to be found.
gonchar wrote:
whats funny are West Coast people going to Massachusetts for the first time and asking directions to Billerica and Worcester.
What's really funny are East Coast people coming here to Kentucky and trying to pronouce Gamaliel.
How do you say it?
Ga-mail-ya.
I have no clue why that's not obvious. I love laughing at people when I know something they don't. It makes me feel superior.