Tom and Ray don’t pronounce their last name like it is spelled it seems. If pronounced by spelling, it would be something like Mag-lee-aw-zee, right?.
But when I hear them say it, I can’t really understand exactly what they say. But I think it is something like “Mawl-yaht-zee” .
So just curious, what’s the correct pronunciation of Tom and Ray’s last name?
An Americanized pronunciation would probably be something along the lines of Mag-lee-ozzey.
However, if you use the correct Italian pronunciation, it would indeed be something like, “Mawl-yaht-zee”.
Americans tend to screw up the pronunciation of many foreign names, with Italian ones being among the most frequently mispronounced. As a result, some people just give up and use the Americanized pronunciation for their own name, even though it is incorrect.
As an example, an old friend of mine has the last name, Vigneri. Even though he has lapsed into pronouncing it, “Vig-nary”, the correct pronunciation is along the lines of, Veen-yary.
Sometimes it is just easier to go along with the incorrect masses, rather than to keep trying to correct them, I suppose.
We’re even more fun with German names.
“Nawww. I don’t really like München. I’m gonna call it Munich instead. And while we’re at it, you’re Germany, not Deutschland.”
Of course, we also say “Mecksiko” rather than “Mexico,” so we’re pretty equal opportunity name butcherers.
That is true, Shadowfax, and it isn’t limited to those of us in The US.
The Brits, who seem to have a life-long grudge match with the French, manage to mispronounce most French words, and they do it even worse than we do in The US.
One example that comes to mind:
Garage is pronounced Gaa-ridge in The UK.
But, to return to the topic of the Italian language, one of my pet peeves over the past few years is the emergence of “Paninis” on restaurant menus. “Panini” is actually the plural of “panino”, so when you order, “a Panini”, you are actually telling the waitress that you want “a sandwiches”.
In Italian any time there are 2 zees, it is pronounced “ts”, as in Intermezzo, Italian for intermission.
Place names get changed by history. Laramie was originally La Remie in French.
The ultimate historical distortion is a bay in Newfoundland, Canada, which the French named “Baie d’Espoir” (bay of hope) and the locals call it “Bay Despair”, bay of despair!
I had an great uncle (an older gentleman) who pronounced it gaa-ridge because it was the gaa-ridge (carriage) house.
One of their funniest stories involves the time one of them was in the Army and was a thorn in the side of his drill sergeant, who intentionally mangled his name, calling him “Prahvat Mag-Lee-Oh-Zee.”
Another army story, though not totally relevant, is an illustration of the lack of cultural awareness in some parts of the US:
A friend of mine, who is Armenian, tells the story of when he was in basic training, back in the era of the Korean War. His drill sergeant, who was a “good old boy” from the deep south, had a hard time pronouncing my friend’s last name, and asked, “Is that Eye-Talian?” My friend replied, “No, Sarge, it’s Armenian”.
The Sergeant’s reply was, “Same sh*t”.
I’m not sure whether the sergeant’s geographical ignorance or his obvious prejudices was more appalling, but the bottom line is that he was…as thick as a brick and as dumb as a box of rocks.
I served with a fella whose last name was very long and confusing, started with an “A”. His name tag on his fatigues went almost all the way from his right shoulder to his buttonhole. We just called him “alphabet”.
I did a project in Thailand a number of years ago. The local chief engineer had a really long and un pronounceable name.
Back home I had an eye exam and I showed the card to my optometrist, who promply asked if he could keep it as a small eye chart!