Heard some Depeche Mode on the walk in this morning and it got me thinking that when I was small their name was often pronounced “Depechay Mode” by some folk (often DJs on Top of the Pops). I can’t remember when that went away, but it has always stuck.
Anyone got any other examples of this? For example, did anyone else (like me) erroneously call Kanye West “Kayne West” when he first popped up 10-15 years ago?
I seem to recall Alison Moyet being annoyed by those who were francofying her surname.
Björk and Lorde have had a bit of a rough beginning pronunciationwise as well.
So how are we supposed to pronounce Moyet then?
Yes, it’s a French name, she’s half French.
OK, she tweeted a couple of years ago “The clue is in Moyet. Even the French call me MOY-ette. I just go along with it. It’s ‘Mwu-Yeh’ actually. Love Alf”
Could’ve sworn I read an interview with her back in the 80s where she insisted it was moy-ette, and expressing annoyance otherwise…I must have misremembered.
I also thought it was Kayne West. And the Harry Potter books were the first time I encountered the name Hermione – I thought it was pronounced ‘Herr-me-own’.
Yes – I too always thought my daughter’s friend’s forename a tad exclusive, pronounced ‘Her-me-on’.
It was eventually pointed out to me by her (disapproving) parents that the name is the female derivative of Hermes. I asked why they could not just have given her a ‘normal’ girls name instead of something out of Harry Potter?
The shame, the shame.
You were clearly never subjected to the joys of The Winter Tale (Shakspeare, W) for English O or A level…
*shame-faced* managed to get through an English Lit degree without reading it, too.
No. Macbeth at ‘O’ level only.
However, the book cover merely concealed my copies of Dandy and Beano. Well versed in the Broons if not the Bard.
I first knew it from the Bowie song Letter To Her-me-own.
I seem to think Duran Duran was often mispronounced in the early 80s. Either that, or I’ve decided to mispronounce it in homage to the aforementioned TOTP presenters.
Tony Blackburn started that.
Not like him to stint on attention to detail.
As usual the answer is Bowie. Or is it Bowie? No, it’s Bowie.
The BBC weighed in on this important issue recently – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-40417509
Neu always got me.
I gather it is Noy not New
Only picked up on that very recently myself.
The Oxygene 4 Hitmaker was always referred to in our house as “Gene Michael Jarry”.
Alright, it was just me. It was the seventies and “foreign” hadn’t been invented.
I always pronounce Celtic Frost as in the football team — can’t help it.
Another non-music one that gets me is pronouncing St John as ‘sindjen’. Does. Not. Compute.
Right you are, Lester!
‘Lestah’, if you please.
Rather like Menzies ‘Ming’ Campbell.
Oh, and Autechre. I had some of their albums for years before I heard their name pronounced. Up until then, if I needed to say it I’d just mumble.
I’ve always said it “Aw-tekka” wondering whether it’s supposed to be “Oh-tekka”. Could conceivably be “tek-ruh” I guess. What is it?
Yeah, Aw-tekka is how I heard it. I think I originally thought it was Aw-tesh.
Bless you!
Wasn’t there a band called !!! a while ago? I think it was pronounced something like ‘chick chick chick’ but can’t check because it appears to be unGooglable.
There was. It was indeed supposed to be pronounced Chk Chk Chk, if memory serves. I refused to listen to them because that’s just fucking irritating. Were they any good?
It will probably annoy you even more, Bob, but I think it’s cute that they have an album called Thr!!!er. Yep, it’s pretty good:
(One Girl/ One Boy)
I thought that when they first started out it was described as “any three repetitive sounds”, but they changed it later on because it proved too difficult to tell who was being talked about.
!!!’s Me And Giuliani Down By The Schoolyard is one of the great singles of the 00s. Really.
Apparently, Dave Gilmour gets annoyed if you pronounce his first name ‘Dave’. It appears you pronounce it ‘Da-vid’.
Those pesky foreigners again.
When Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa turned up at Spurs John Motson, Jimmy Hill et al couldn’t agree the pronunciation.
Ardilesh?
Via?
Villia?
Ardiles became known simply as Ossie, and Villa was called “that bloke who scored in the 81 Cup Final”
See also Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who started out being pronounced “Sol-skyer” then “Sol-shyer” and then, eventually “Solsheeeeaayyyyyerrrr”. It was almost a competition to see who could make it the most exotic. Reminds me of this:
Sufjan Stevens
Not: Suf Jan Stevens (as I think it should be), but Soof Yawn Stevens
HUSKer Du or WHOsker Doo
?
Don’t you remember?
(this might be the nerdiest music joke ever perpetrated on the AW)
Watching the Sgt. Pepper documentary from the late 80s that’s on the new boxset, I was suprised to hear an older version of Giles Martin pronouncing Kenya as ‘Keeenya’. I can only assume it was a class/age thing.
I pronounce that rapper’s name Sweaty Ken.
The band used to call themselves ” Depeshay ” Mode and it was only relentless lobbying by MEPs that enforced the correct pronunciation. Once we are out of the EU, we will have to go back to Depeshay. I hope those who voted to Leave are proud of themselves.
I once saw a sneery article on FACT laughing at noobs who pronounced Oneohtrix Point Never incorrectly (no, it’s not Oh-nay-oh-trix, and only the gauchest of cretins would say it thus, apparently). I stopped reading FACT shortly afterwards.
I once reduced the waiting room in A&E in Liverpool to fits of giggles* by demonstrating I didn’t know how to pronounce Siobhan, the first time I ever saw the name in writing.
*all apart from Siobhan’s mum, who gave me daggers and explained how to pronounce it in a rather colourful manner!
I am reminded of Cerys Matthews and her ‘say it how you see it’ pronouncing of Yvonne. Similarly, she once enthused about the anals of jazz.
As a citizen of Sweden, where dots above letters actually changes the pronunciation, I find it difficult to suddenly ignore said dots when they appear above letters in metal band names…
Kylie Min-ogg is frequent on Swedish radio. Altough it’s a tricky one, so fair enough.
Jay Z was once pronounced as Jay Z by a teacher and a think I was quilty of the same mistake with ZZ Top in the eighties. I was young and needed the money.
Make that although and guilty.
Manic Street Preachers has always been pronounced with a different emphasis in the phrase than you’d use normally, i.e. street preachers who are manic rather than preachers from Manic Street.