The racist practice of mispronouncing names

[FUCK THE POLICE]

The problem is that English spelling is not phonetic. When we import a word from another language, we usually just directly import the latinization of that word from how it's spelled in that language. Even when that latinization uses completely different phonetic rules from what we're used to. Take Pinyin for instance, that has very specific rules for how to spell a Chinese word using latin letters, granting a specific phonetic value to each letter. When just directly transposed to English, it's garbage because it's totally unlike anything we're familiar with. So basically to speak Chinese names correctly in English, you've got to learn fucking Pinyin.

In Japanese they have a really unique system where they actually have a separate set of letters *just* devoted to imported foreign words. When a term is transposed into Japanese, you make them out using these letters. However often these terms are *really* off and unlike they're native pronunciation. But they dgaf. In English for some reason we have a fixation on correctly pronouncing foreign words that get imported into the language though.

Meaning that there's often really no way to know how to pronounce these names, unless you already know. It's incredibly stupid to hold someone responsible for failing to know all possible names from all possible cultures that could be in the US. Now if you know, and you purposefully mispronounce anyway, yes you are a giant ass dick.

 

[FUCK THE POLICE]

I say that if you aren't putting forth the effort to master your primary or native language, then you are being lazy.

General American and Received Pronunciation are hardly the "mastered" form of the English language. They're just a higher status dialect that gets more respect.

 

[iolo]

Americans have people from more human communities than anyone else, yet they can't pronounce even common names, which seems deliberate, meant to put people down; in France, they have an obsessive urge, dating back to the Revolution to enforce Parisian French, and bugger human rights; in the UK, it is part of the ludicrous class+ system that obsesses them, whereby you couldn't open your mouth without being classified like a bloody insect. The whole matter is the equivalent of the celebrated Political Correctness, the thing some of us call good manners.

 

[Teflon Don]

well tough fucking shit if you have a hard name to pronounce people can't just will themselves to say a hard tongue twister on demand for a name/word they are not familiar with.

Leftists never run out of things to whine about

 

[iolo]

Leftists never run out of things to whine about

Don't these bean-brains ever get bored with squawking the same old shit, like parrots with Altzheimers?

 

[PoliTalker]

Hello cawacko,

Alright, for all you non racist folks, how do you go through life never mispronouncing a name?

The racist practice of mispronouncing names

You know when you're standing in line at a coffee shop, trying to figure out what to order? Your mind races. How much caffeine can I handle today? Should I get that overpriced bagel?

Many people with "unconventional" names experience a different kind of anxiety in this moment: figuring out what "safe" and "easy" name they should use that day.

Having a name butchered happens beyond coffee shops. This same anxiety peeks its head in the workplace, the classroom and many other aspects of life.

In this episode of RadioActive Youth Media, hosts Zuheera Ali and Keya Roy talk to author Ijeoma Oluo and each other about their experiences living in the United States with "difficult" names. They also talk to Rita Kohli, a professor at University of California, Riverside who has done research on the effects of mispronouncing names on students of color.

Spoiler: This practice of mispronouncing names isn't just embarrassing. It has a long and racist history.

https://kuow.org/stories/a-rose-by-any-other-name-would-not-be-me

I thought this was going to be about the hicks who have to say 'eye - rack,' instead of 'ear - rock.'

Kinda hard to win hearts and minds if you're not even going to try to get the name right.

I always wondered if it stemmed from 'eye - tallion,' when referring to people from Italy. Which always struck me as absurd. Like they are going out of their way to mispronounce it. What do they call the country? 'Eye - Tally?'

 

[Minister of Truth]

General American and Received Pronunciation are hardly the "mastered" form of the English language. They're just a higher status dialect that gets more respect.

They are the correct forms. I would expect a Mexican man to be equally proficient in Spanish, and a Russian man proficient in duplicity.

 

[kudzu]

Alright, for all you non racist folks, how do you go through life never mispronouncing a name?




The racist practice of mispronouncing names

You know when you're standing in line at a coffee shop, trying to figure out what to order? Your mind races. How much caffeine can I handle today? Should I get that overpriced bagel?

Many people with "unconventional" names experience a different kind of anxiety in this moment: figuring out what "safe" and "easy" name they should use that day.

Having a name butchered happens beyond coffee shops. This same anxiety peeks its head in the workplace, the classroom and many other aspects of life.

In this episode of RadioActive Youth Media, hosts Zuheera Ali and Keya Roy talk to author Ijeoma Oluo and each other about their experiences living in the United States with "difficult" names. They also talk to Rita Kohli, a professor at University of California, Riverside who has done research on the effects of mispronouncing names on students of color.

Spoiler: This practice of mispronouncing names isn't just embarrassing. It has a long and racist history.


https://kuow.org/stories/a-rose-by-any-other-name-would-not-be-me

That is the silliest thing I have ever heard.