The name's the thing

[kejedo]

In our local cong, we have a brother Enemyuway, from Nigeria. Since my sons' ancestors are from Western Africa, I was especially interested in pronouncing his name correctly. So, last week, he was standing with another brother (American) and i was going over to say, "Hi." From a distance, a couple of the young American Bethelite brothers look similar, unless I have my glasses on. I didn't. And said "Hi Brother Enemyuway, and Hi to you, too brother."  Catching my vague greeting, Brother Enemyuway jumped in to help me out. "The brother's name is Proctor. Start thinking about a tractor, and it will remind you about Brother Proctor." Hmm, so now Brother Enemyuway, from Africa, is helping me with remembering those challenging American names. Am I the only one who has had interesting interactions with nomenclature? ?    Y (nominally intrigued)S

[Qapla]

Names can be challenging ... as an illustration: The actor Sean Bean

 

Although he was born Shaun Mark Bean he uses "Sean Bean" as his professional name. Sean is an accepted spelling for Shaun/Shawn. Think of the actor Sean Connery.

 

The thing is ... look at Sean Bean. Both names are 4 letters long - with the last three letters being the same. However, they are not pronounced the same.

You have:

• Sean ... pronounced as "awn" with a "sh" sound on the beginning
• Bean ... pronounced with the "e" pronounced it is named and the "a" is basically silent

So, why don't we say Sean Bean as:

• Seen Been
• Shawn Bawn
• Shene Bhene
• Shawn Bhawn

And don't even get me started with Brett Favre (pronounced Brett Farve)

 

 

BTW Pauline ... we had a Brother in our area for a while that had a name that makes "Enemyuway" seem like it would be easy to pronounce ... don't ask me what it was because I can't remember - since he has been gone for several years and I barely got it right when he was here.

[tekmantwo]

7 hours ago, Qapla said:

And don't even get me started with Brett Favre (pronounced Brett Farve)

Yeah, I heard it pronounced several different ways when he was first starting out.

 

I know a guy with the last name 'LaToile'....pronounced 'Luh Twah'...

 

When we were kids we went to Brother Egbert Mertanzerburgs house for book study.

I'm not sure I spelled that right. I do know my bro knows all of Burts middle names, yup, all of them, as in many more than one...

[kejedo]

The last name of one brother visiting me Sunday is DeBuquela, I've never seen it in writing, but that is the most common of the several pronuncuations I hear. Dutch is his first language. He's very soft spoken, but his English is beautiful. I'm glad his and his wife's assignment has been extended til end of 2020. Another Bethelite Bro. clued me in that the DeBuquelas are fond of Soul Music. Brother DeBuquela mentioned that he enjoys most all music genre. Good to know for when we plan our next get together in my community room. 

                                                 Y(loves music, loves to dance)S

   

[kejedo]

13 hours ago, Qapla said:

And don't even get me started with Brett Favre (pronounced Brett Farve)

 

 

BTW Pauline ... we had a Brother in our area for a while that had a name that makes "Enemyuway" seem like it would be easy to pronounce ... don't ask me what it was because I can't remember - since he has been gone for several years and I barely got it right when he was here.

In East Boston MA, there is a relatively short St. The Street sign on one end says "Havre Street." The opposite end sign reads "Harve Street." I've heard it said two ways. Guess it depends on where one stands on the pronunciation (A word which I frequently see written two different ways.)

[kejedo]

Recap of a conversation I overheard when teaching Esl. Starts out with two male students, Antonio and Ahmed:

Antonio: Hi. I'm Antonio. (The two shake hands)

Ahmed: (points to chest and nods slightly) Ahmed.

Antonio: Nice to meet you, Ed

Ahmed: Ahmed

Antonio, yes, good to know  you Ed.

Third student, Juan joins the group:

Antonio: Juan, this is Ed.

Juan: Hi Ed

Ahmed: Ahmed.

Juan, Yes, I heard it. Nice to see you, Ed.

Ahmed: Ahmed. 

(teacher joins group and attempts to unscramble intros) 

                                                                           Y(hopes it got straightened out, better sooner than later)S

 

 

[Sylv]

2 hours ago, kejedo said:

The last name of one brother visiting me Sunday is DeBuquela, I've never seen it in writing, but that is the most common of the several pronuncuations I hear. Dutch is his first language.

   

if he's Dutch, the spelling could be something like de Boekelaar