Re: National Spelling Bee - national shame?

Seán O'Leathlóbhair wrote:

My experience with proper names in America is rather different to
yours. One obvious example is Iran and Iraq with initial long English
I which is common in the US but not here. Once, I tried phoning a man
called Feuer in America. This appeared to be German (it was combined
with an apparently German first name) so I attempted a German
pronunciation. The receptionist denied that anyone of that name worked
there. I was puzzled for a moment since I had just received a fax from
him then I realised the possible problem and asked for Mr Fewer. Ah,
we have a Mr Fewer she said and then connected me to the correct
person.

An awful lot of German names got de-Germanized around 1915.

But my pediatrician's name was Dr. Scheuer, pronounced as in German, and
it wasn't until I started German in 10th grade (long after
pediatrician-years) that I learned it wasn't totally off the wall.
--
Peter T. Daniels grammatim@xxxxxxx
.

Relevant Pages