Having a non-White Name (1 Viewer)

[gboudx]

Happy Birthday dumbarse.

Yes, happy birthday, Mr. dumbarse.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Seems more like an English language thing than a white thing but I am white so whatever

I agree but went with the title of the video

 

[nolaspe]

my last name gets butchered constantly despite being pronounced exactly how the letters suggest

Ditto... but, it has granted me some great nicknames with my friends...

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

i don't even know you anymore

firing blind, check

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Seems more like an English language thing than a white thing but I am white so whatever

it's exposure - like I'm not sure Anglo Canadians would have as much issue, but brits, yanks (and probably many aussies) like to pretend there aren't other languages (or even cultures)
the idea of pronouncing things in different dialects chafes at our imperialist souls

 

[brandon8283]

Seems more like an English language thing than a white thing but I am white so whatever

it's exposure - like I'm not sure Anglo Canadians would have as much issue, but brits, yanks (and probably many aussies) like to pretend there aren't other languages (or even cultures)
the idea of pronouncing things in different dialects chafes at our imperialist souls

I'd say it's a bit of both.

An anglicized "Hasan" would be pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, and we are familiar with the pronunciation of "Hussein," where the emphasis is on the second syllable. Also, we are familiar with the French word "menage" (for various reasons) and the rapper Nicki Minaj, both of which look similar to "Minhaj" and are pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable.

If you are a typical English-speaker and presented the name "Hasan Minhaj" with no example pronunciation, you are almost certainly going to pronounce that with the emphases on the second syllables and a silent "h" in Minhaj. That doesn't mean that when we're told the correct pronunciation that we shouldn't do it right, however.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I'd say it's a bit of both.

An anglicized "Hasan" would be pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, and we are familiar with the pronunciation of "Hussein," where the emphasis is on the second syllable. Also, we are familiar with the French word "menage" (for various reasons) and the rapper Nicki Minaj, both of which look similar to "Minhaj" and are pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable.

If you are a typical English-speaker and presented the name "Hasan Minhaj" with no example pronunciation, you are almost certainly going to pronounce that with the emphases on the second syllables and a silent "h". That doesn't mean that when we're told the correct pronunciation that we shouldn't do it right, however.

good insight
but i think one of the side effects of the monolingualism is that we haven't trained our ears from variation
so even when we hear the correct pronunciation (like in the first video), the way we 'see' the word still wins out over the way we hear the sound

it's similar to the 'laughs' we have over ...



the joke should be on us, because there are many varieties in pronunciations but we try to monoculture that

 

[Optimus Prime]

good insight
but i think one of the side effects of the monolingualism is that we haven't trained our ears from variation
so even when we hear the correct pronunciation (like in the first video), the way we 'see' the word still wins out over the way we hear the sound

it's similar to the 'laughs' we have over ...



the joke should be on us, because there are many varieties in pronunciations but we try to monoculture that

The sketch that made Key & Peele famous

 

[Mr. Sparkle]

the joke should be on us, because there are many varieties in pronunciations but we try to monoculture that

Monoculture or common language?

If I was dropped off in rural China or downtown Hanoi I wouldn't expect many locals to pronounce my name correctly right off the bat. And that's OK.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Monoculture or common language?

If I was dropped off in rural China or downtown Hanoi I wouldn't expect many locals to pronounce my name correctly right off the bat. And that's OK.

chinese might be a bad example since pronunciation is so specific and important in chinese i would guess their ears a a bit more trained to pronounce things as they sound instead of what they look like

 

[Optimus Prime]

Monoculture or common language?

If I was dropped off in rural China or downtown Hanoi I wouldn't expect many locals to pronounce my name correctly right off the bat. And that's OK.

The issue isn't not getting right off the bat, like you said that's OK. People with difficult to pronounce names know that their names are difficult

The problem is when people refuse to pronounce it correctly, intentionally mispronounce it or just decide, 'I'll call you "Dan"'

 

[Optimus Prime]

I'd say it's a bit of both.

An anglicized "Hasan" would be pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, and we are familiar with the pronunciation of "Hussein," where the emphasis is on the second syllable. Also, we are familiar with the French word "menage" (for various reasons) and the rapper Nicki Minaj, both of which look similar to "Minhaj" and are pronounced with the emphasis on the second syllable.

If you are a typical English-speaker and presented the name "Hasan Minhaj" with no example pronunciation, you are almost certainly going to pronounce that with the emphases on the second syllables and a silent "h" in Minhaj. That doesn't mean that when we're told the correct pronunciation that we shouldn't do it right, however.

And the common (but wrong) way we've been saying his name is how it looks like it should be pronounced

Just odd when he first was getting exposure on the Daily Show that it wasn't corrected then and there early on

I can't imagine that if you told Jon Stewart "you're saying my name wrong" he'd refuse to get it right"

And let's be honest a lot of our collective assumption of his first name probably comes from this

 

[St. Widge]

it's exposure - like I'm not sure Anglo Canadians would have as much issue, but brits, yanks (and probably many aussies) like to pretend there aren't other languages (or even cultures)
the idea of pronouncing things in different dialects chafes at our imperialist souls

I mean, people in New Orleans, white and black, can't pronounce Milan, Telemachus, Leonidas, or Calliope correctly and I think those are all rooted in the Romance languages of the imperialists or at least the foundation of western thought, Greek. My own last name which is rooted in the language of the French Canadians forced out of Canada by the British is mispronounced everywhere outside of South Louisiana and maybe Quebec. Hell, down in Da Parish, people always call Paris Road, "Parish" Road when it clearly says Paris Road on the sign. Yet, we can all say Tchoupitoulas even if we can't spell it and that is a Native American word.

So, I really think it's more about a lack of education and/or attention than anything else. I mean sure, there are those people who continue to mispronounce names because they are backward butt crevasses, but I think most of the time it's more just a lack of education and attention.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I mean, people in New Orleans, white and black, can't pronounce Milan, Telemachus, Leonidas, or Calliope correctly and I think those are all rooted in the Romance languages of the imperialists or at least the foundation of western thought, Greek. My own last name which is rooted in the language of the French Canadians forced out of Canada by the British is mispronounced everywhere outside of South Louisiana and maybe Quebec. Hell, down in Da Parish, people always call Paris Road, "Parish" Road when it clearly says Paris Road on the sign. Yet, we can all say Tchoupitoulas even if we can't spell it and that is a Native American word.

So, I really think it's more about a lack of education and/or attention than anything else. I mean sure, there are those people who continue to mispronounce names because they are backward butt crevasses, but I think most of the time it's more just a lack of education and attention.

what means 'correctly'?
people pronounce the Muses the way they heard them pronounced and that's probably was well before they did a deep dive into Homer and Sophocles - and even then a teacher should be like 'this is the way we think this word was pronounced 2500 years ago'
but the question posed by the videos is more 'can you say Ka-le-O-pe when it's the muse and Kally-OPE when it's the street?'

also it's Cl10 not Clio

 

[brandon8283]

And let's be honest a lot of our collective assumption of his first name probably comes from this

When we should have been using this: