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alt title(s): It Is Pronounced Tro PAY; Fancy French Name; Fauxreign Pronounciation; Its Pronounced Tro PAY 
It actually IS pronounced "Tro-pay".
Someone tries to class up something by "pronouncing it posh".
This was common in the middle ages among upper class families who had common surnames — the Featherstone-Haughs for example were named for a poor farming village, so in order to make themselves sound posher, they changed the pronunciation of the name to "Fanshaw".
Usually using French pronunciation. Count De Money Comte de Monét in History of the World Part 1 is a straight comic version. This happens in France also; the Alsatian Gamekeeper in The Rules of the Game is named Schumacher but everyone pronounces it as if it were French (Shu-mar-shay) since they're in France.
British names are infamous for fancy pronunciations — Paul Merton on Have I Got News For You lamented the fact that he'd clearly been off school the day that some of the more outlandish ones were taught. A lot of American names have been "flattened" to sound like they look. McKay for example is generally "Mah-Kay" (or even "Mackie"), in Scotland the pronunciation is closer to Muh-Kye.
A similar thing has happened to place names. Des Moines, Iowa, and Dubois (WY) still have their French silent "s", but the vowels have been Americanized. Also Cairo (Care-oh), Lima (Lie-ma), Athens (Ay-thins), Minot (My-not), Eldorado (El-der-ay-do), Calais (callus) and countless others.
This trope is related to the linguistic phenomenon known as Hyperforeignism .
Many examples will overlap with My Nayme Is, where the name is spelled differently for about the same reason.
Many examples will be subjective as they relate to dialects and accents.
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Examples
Advertising
- One A&W rootbeer commercial features a particularly clueless job candidate referring to his interviewer as Mr. "Dumbass". Eventually, the interviewer states that his name (clearly visible on a nameplate as "Mr. Dumass") is actually pronounced "Doo-Moss".
- In one commercial for Glade scented candles, a woman tries to pass off her new candles as fancy foreign candles. She removes the label and attempts to throw it away, but struggles with the adhesive and it ends up sticking to her skirt in the vicinity of her rear end. After she responds to questioning about whether it was a Glade candle with, "No, it's, uh, French. From France.", one of her friends pulls the label off of her and sarcastically asks, "Haven't you ever heard of glah-DAY?"
- In this ad for the Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan that's primarily a Take That lobbed at the direction of Lexus and several German automakers (BMW, for one), it ends with "Win one little award, and everyone gets your name right. It's pronounced "Hon-day", like Sunday."
- For real? This troper was once lectured by a Korean co-worker, who told him it was pronounced "HYUN-die" (the second syllable pronounced like, what happens when someone kills you). Was she jerking my chain?
- Yes, yes she was. Korean is a language written and divided into syllables. The company as-written in Korean (I don't know how to import foreign lettering, if at all) is written as the two-syllable Hyun-dae, in order to get the sound your coworker tried to convince you it was, due to the structure of the Korean language, would be a 3-syllable hyun-da-i. There is no "I", as we would pronounce just the letter, sound in the Korean Language, their "i" equivallent is pronounced like "ee". The big point of the commercial wasn't the "Dae" pronunciation, it's that most Americans pronounce it similar to Hai-un-day, when the "y" is there, but there is no emphasis on it in correct pronunciation. Think of it along the lines of names like Kyon.
- The "long I" (ai) sound, while it may not exist has far as the Korean written language is concerned; certainly exists. I've had to write it constantly. This business of "dividing into syllables" quite simply breaks down a lot (because Hangul is intended for one or, at most two syllables per vowel, and that doesn't work at all with loan words) and every Korean understands this.
- Interestingly, the official TV ads from Hyundai in Germany pronounce it exactly like the above troper's colleague suggested.
- The Other Wiki and a foreign text-to-speech program both agree on the pronunciation of the original word hyeondae (현대 in Hangul) being something like HYUN-de.
- Another example that This Troper was highly amused to find that the British do not fall into with their commercials, but Americans constantly call by the wrong name is another Korean car company, Daewoo. The "w" is silent. There is actually no "w" sound in the Korean language, although it can be approximated by combination-vowels. So the company should be pronounced "DAE-oo".
- Emphasised by the British slogan "That'll be the Daewoo" (day-you).
- Just to set it right. There are Koreans that say Hyun-dai, there are Koreans that will pronounce a "w" (getting them to say B, P, V, or F is the hard one). There is an entire set of letters in Korean relating to "w plus a vowel". Some of them pronounce the "w", some don't, but you shouldn't call "Ms Hwang" anything like "Ms Hang". Even basic vowel sounds change if you move 50 miles; and the fact that Seoul is kind of like a mecca for Koreans, and will exhibit dialects from all over the place doesn't help. Don't listen to any one person about Korean. Even Koreans admit it changes wherever you go; Jeju-do being the most incomprehensible dialect to other Koreans.
- Similar example with Pantene shampoo — it's a French name, pronounced Pan-ten, but in American adverts is always "Panteen".
- As seen in the cockney Incredibly Lame Pun, "How much are you payin' for your shampoo?" "Pahn' ten."(Pahnd ten, Pound ten, £1.10, for non-Englishers).
- McDonald's is running a commercial for their McCafé coffee drink which has random words getting an “é” pronounced “a” stuck on the end, with whispering voices humming “a, a, a, a” in the background. The commercials are so annoying, it's difficult to decide whether or not they're a Stealth Parody.
- In this troper's opinion, that ad campaign could not possibly have been morgué.
- Oh, Gods. I'm going to send you to the morgue for that one.
- An ad several years ago for the everything-shop Argos featured Graham Norton making "helpful" suggestions to a woman about how to decorate her flat. As soon as she leaves, she calls up the store and they soon deliver furniture, wall hangings and so on. When Norton returns, he's impressed and inquires as to who she hired to decorate the place. She casually says "Argos", but then realizes and decides to impress, saying that of course she was referring to a Lithuanian designer called "Argús".
- Maybe my memory's a little fuzzy but I remember this premise as being acted by Julia Sawalha and Richard E. Grant...
- For years, commercials for Nestlé products in the UK pronounced the company's name as it reads: "NESS-ull". This changed when the company decided to unify pronunciation across all countries, and it's been "Ness-LAY" ever since, apart from the USA where Nesquik chocolate drink mix is still made by "NESS-lee".
- And, of course, nobody in Australia has any idea about how we are meant to pronounce it.
- Lampshaded in a kiwibank advert where the town of Whakatane (Pronounced "Far-Car-Tar-Neigh", I shit you not) Is attempted to be said by an Australian banker as "whack-a-tain"
- This troper thought PC hardware manufacturer ASUS was pronounced AY-sus but it's actually ah-SOOSS.
- Subverted by this commercial for Labatt Blue Light.
- Just about any lingerie advert that uses the pronunciation "lohn-zher-ay." The correct French pronunciation is closer to "len-jer-ee." And to be even more precise, when the French use that word, they don't mean exactly the same thing as Americans mean when they say lohn-zher-ay.
Comics
- Writer Christopher Priest added a recurring character named Dr. Vilain during his run on Steel. The doctor wasn't really evil, just ruthless, and would constantly remind people. "It's French, it's pronounced 'will-hane'". Of course, it's not pronounced like that in French.
- In Hellboy, Trevor Bruttenholm's last name is pronounced Broom.
- In the Marvel Mangaverse, Benjamin Grimm's first name is pronounced "Ben-ya-MEEN".
- In fairness, if I'm not mistaken Ben Grimm is supposed to be Jewish, so a Hebrew name would not be out of place. Normally the first vowel would be short i rather than short e, but otherwise, that is the way it's pronounced in Hebrew.
- In many dialects of English, /I/ (as in bit) and /E/ (as in eternal) are not distinguished before nasals- m, n, and ng. Therefore, it's hard for many English-speakers to tell whether it's Ingish or English, or Binjamin or Benjamin.
- Ghost Rider: Heaven's On Fire features an Antichrist who actually goes by Anton Satan.
Films
Literature
- Lampshaded in in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novel Hogfather: The charming and psychopathic assassin Mr. Teatime keeps telling people that his name is pronounced "Te-ah-ti-meh". Fortunately, he only considers it slightly annoying.
- One of the greatest moments of the story is right after Teatime dies, Death (who he just tried, and failed, to kill) then says, "Stop playing dead, Mister Te-ah-ti-meh" and Mr. Teatime's ghost says in amazement "You got it right!", at which point Death says, "Of course.", basically rubbing in the fact that Death is beyond human and Teatime should know better than to try to kill him.
- Another Discworld one, from the Tiffany Aching subseries: "It's not 'Earwig', it's Ah-wijj." As the character is a self-important, etiquette-obsessed social climber, this may be a nod to Keeping Up Appearances.
- One more Discworld example, also from the Tiffany Aching subseries: Roland de Chumsfanleigh, pronounced "Chuffley". Usually footnoted with "It wasn't his fault".
- A parody of the real English names Cholmondely (pronounced "Chumley") and, as mentioned above, Featherstonehaugh (pronounced "Fanshaw").
- Then there's Edward d'Eath. This is a Real Life surname, though.
- And originally almost always spelled "Death". The surname derives from men who played the character of Death in the medieval mystery plays each English town put on — the roles were lifelong and hereditary. The "d'Eath" or "d'Ath" construction is meant to make the name sound Norman French (and therefore snooty). Other surnames deriving from these plays include Virgin, King, Queen, Prince, Monk, Daft, Angel, and Saint, although a few of those may derive from service to a royal — rarely, because most kings wouldn't have allowed that.
- Lord Peter Wimsey hs two middle names: Death and Bredon. The first is supposed to be pronounced 'deeth'. This actually matters in one of the novels.
- Twain's A History of a Campaign that Failed had a man named Peterson who upgraded his name (Peter is from a word meaning "stone"-> Stone is "lap" in French-> "Of the Stone"= D'un Lap ->) so he called himself "Dunlap".
- Is it supposed to be old French? Because "lap" is absolutely not a word in modern French, and "stone" is "pierre".
- Probably Old French (of which Norman French was a dialect). 'Pierre' as a noun and a name both derive from Latin 'peter' = "stone" (thus the pun in the New Testament: "And upon this rock..."), and 'lap' as in 'lapidary'.
- More of part pun, part new name being given based on the name's meaning, I believe.
- Perhaps inspiring the Count de Money mentioned above, the novel The Red and the Black has a character named the Comte de Thaler (thaler as in the German word that became "dollar") who is a Lawyer Friendly Cameo of one of the Rothschilds and whose German name would be pronounced "Thalay" in France.
- Christopher Chant from the Chrestomanci Chronicles is a very lavish, high-class English gentleman, obviously having this trope as a very noticeable characteristic. It's so noticeable, in fact, that the author lampshaded it in the book Conrad's Fate where most of the characters found it more annoying than charming, to the point where one character yelled at Christopher to not call out his name with "posh voices like that," to which Christopher (not understanding at all how infuriating he sounds) unamusingly retorted that was just how he normally speaks.
- Inverted in the case of Harry Potter's Voldemort, whose name is meant to be pronounced as though it were French but was bastardized by fandom and the films.
- Wow, now the name actually makes some amount of sense when pronounced right. It could mean either "flight of death" or "stealing/theft of death" in French.
- "From" can also be substituted for "of", giving alternate interpretations of fleeing or stealing from death.
- The actor who portrays Voldemort in the movies, Ralph Fiennes, is also subject to this. His name is pronounced "Rayf Fine".
- We made it this far without mentioning Hermione? In the fourth book, Rowling actually had to explicitly spell out the pronunciation of her name.
- This troper felt bad after reading that, since he spent the last three books calling her "Her-me-own".
- Actually, from what this troper reads it appears the movies pronounce her name differently than what Rowling says in the fourth book is correct.
- This troper recalls a classmate around the time of the first book ignoring the order of letters in her name and insisting, with typical self-assured tone, that it was supposed to be "Her-moiny".
- Hermione's case is actually a pretty interesting one : Hermione is actually the french adaptation of Hèrmionè in ancient greek. It's supposed to be read in French : "Ea (as in bear) - rr - mi (as in bit) - o - n." It's one of these names which end up in another language because of popular works' translations (Hermione is a pretty common name in many greek tragedies) rather than day-to-day common talk. So any english-look-a-like pronounciation of "Hermione" is actually an error to begin with... This leads to a problem in the french translation of Goblet of Fire : any french-speaking person has no problem determinating how to pronounce the name (since there's only one possible option) and yet Hermione somehow has to explain to Krum how you pronounce her name. This makes him look much dumber than he actually is...
- Erm..Krum's not French. He's Bulgarian, I think. So Hermione having to spell it out for him is actually plausible.
- And Bulgaria is fairly close to Greece. In Ancient Greek, at least, Hermione is pronounced hair-ME-oh-nay. Then again, Modern Greek might have had a similar vowel shift to that of English.
- And Rowling gets this too. Her name is pronounced "rolling" (as in pin), but people often say ROW (rhymes with cow)-ling.
- One of the Mugglenet guys took some heat for a while for inexplicably pronouncing the French wizard school Beauxbaton as "Bo-bax-ton" in their podcast.
- In Anne of Avonlea, the second Anne Of Green Gables book, the mother of two of Anne's students insists on their last name being pronounced Donnell, accent on the second syllable. (She also insists on her son being called St. Clair, although he prefers his birth name of Jacob. Poor kid.)
- That's actually how this troper has always heard that name (usually in the form of "Mac Donnell") pronounced in Atlantic Canada, probably to diferentiate them from the millions of Mac Donalds around.
- There's a meta-example in the Victorian novel Barchester Towers. One character has the last name Slope, which the narrator informs us was originally Slop (he is supposed to be the descendant of a character from Tristram Shandy) but was changed for "euphony". It was noted by John Sutherland, that the author's name, Trollope, would be a word for prostitute without that important e at the end.
- Inverted by Chris Cwej in the Doctor Who spin-off novels. His surname should be pronounced "Shvay", but because everyone pronounces it "Kwedge" he's decided to go along with it. In his first appearance, though, his new partner Roz Forrester pronounces it correctly, and he corrects her.
- Subverted in Don Juan by Lord Byron: In order to rhyme with such phrases as "new one" and "true one", the name Don Juan has to be pronounced "don-DZHU-an".
- Sneaking onto Imperial Center as a battered, partly cybernetic Imperial pilot, Wedge Antilles goes by Colonel Antar Roat, and has to tell a customs official that it's pronounced Ro-at. The buzz of the voice modulator - cybernetic, remember? - makes him all but unintelligible.
- In M.L.N. Hanover's Black Sun's Daughter series, the main character, Jayné, is used to people mispronouncing her name as "Jane" when it is actually supposed to be pronounced "Zha-nay" in the French manner.
Live Action TV
- In an episode of Frasier, after a family embarrassment, Niles Crane's wife Maris tries to save face by adding an accent to the "e" of her name on her memos, so that her name is read as Maris Crah-NAY.
- The Colbert Report (Col-BEAR Re-poor).
- In one of the early adverts for the show, Colbert tries to justify it by saying that "It's French, bitch!". Some believe this is untrue because the surname Colbert is actually Irish (but see below).
- The existence of at least one Frenchman named Colbert (i.e. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV's minister of finance) justifies Stephen Colbert's French pronunciation.
- And, in fact, Colbert pronounces the final T when reprimanding himself under his breath.
- He also pronounces it with the final T during the 2008 Writer's Strike, he also pronounces "report" with the T.
- The pronunciation of "Report" has about five or six different puns in it; it's not just about "pronouncing it posh".
- According to one of his older brothers (who used to teach at this troper's school) it's officially pronounced Col-BEAR. That's the way students were always told to pronounce it.
- The name in reality is Teutonic ie. early German. The original is Ceolbearht, or "bright ship". As the Teutonic Franks actually lived in what's now northeastern France it's fair to consider it a French name, but there is no way in Hell it could be considered "Irish" except by immigration, which is what happened: the Irish Colberts are descended from French immigrants to Munster. (Or, I guess, by Americans who think everything conceivable is Irish because Irish Is Better.)
- Ceolbearht looks very Celtic. Oh, the Celtic people traveled across what is now Germany and France, so just because the land masses are the same, the people are not; the continental Celtic peoples were largely displaced by Germanic and Italic peoples and the Insular Celtics were left (until the Anglo-Saxons came, then it was mixed in Britain to some degree). It is not French because the people happened to live in the same area. And, it is more Scottish than Irish (in use). It's origins are mostly Germanic (Anglo-Saxon). I don't know what "Americans who think everything conceivable is Irish because Irish is Better" is supposed to mean...methinks you have American/Irish issues.
- In this article, Colbert reveals that he pronounced it Col-bert until he went to college and then self-consciously put on the current pronunciation. He has said that some of his brothers and sisters use Col-bert and some Col-BEAR.
- I believe Colbert himself has said that the pronunciation is a way for us to tell the difference between his real personality (by pronouncing the T) and his stage personality (not pronouncing it).
- Also: Col-BEAR. It's ironic, bitch.
- Mrs "Bouquet" (actually Bucket) from Keeping Up Appearances. Note that her husband always pronouces it Bucket when she's not around.
- Red Dwarf, "Kryten":
Rimmer: You always put the emphasis on "Rim" in "Rimmer". Makes me sound like a lavatory disinfectant.
Lister: Well, what do you want me to call you? "Rim-MAIR"!?
- In Scrubs, a common Running Gag involves the particularly hirsute background character "Dr. Beardface". It seems like a nickname until Dr. Beardfacé corrects them that it's "Beard-FA-SAY!"
- In one episode, J. D. remembers that the correct pronunciation is something like, but not quite, Beardface, but all he can come up with is "Beardmouth!"
- Keith's Dudemeister's last name is from German, properly pronounced "Du-De-Meister". Elliot says it means "Master of Dudes".
- This German Troper can affirm that — although, if meant to mean "Master of Dudes", then the "Dude", used as a foreign word, would be spoken as normal and not in syllables. Not to mention that he'd be laughed at for that name.
- A Saturday Night Live sketch involved a couple trying to decide on a name for their expected child; the husband ends up rejecting practically every common name because it's too prone to being mocked. It's revealed at the end of the sketch that the husband's name is "Asswipe"... pronounced "ahs-WEE-pay".
- Said husband, of course, was actually Nicolas Cage.
- Mocked on Monty Python's Flying Circus:
Interviewer: Good evening. I have with me in the studio tonight one of Britain's leading skin specialists — Raymond Luxury Yacht.
Raymond: That's not my name.
Interviewer: I'm sorry — Raymond Luxury Yatch-t.
Raymond: No, no, no — it's spelled Raymond Luxury Yatch-t, but it's pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove".
Interviewer: You're a very silly man and I'm not going to interview you.
Raymond: Ah, anti-semitism!
- Inverted in another sketch:
Mr. Anemone: Give me the 'oop.
Mr. Chigger: What?
Mr. Anemone: Oh, I don't suppose we know what an 'oop is. I suppose pater thought they were a bit common, except on the bleedin' croquet lawn.
Mr. Chigger: Oh, a hoop.
Mr. Anemone: "Oh, an hoop"... thank you, your bleeding Highness.
- Dr. Spaceman from 30 Rock pronounces his name "spa-CHEMM-'n". Oddly, so does everyone else except resident Cloudcuckoolander Tracy Jordan.
- Rik Mayall's character on The New Statesman, Alan Bastard, spells his surname "b'Stard" just to make sure everyone pronounces it the way he prefers.
- Partly Truth In Television, "Bastard", "b'Stard" and several other variants were quite common at one time. They were mainly families descended from the unacknowledged offspring of Plantagenet monarchs.
- Another of Rik Mayall's characters insists that his surname "Twat" is pronounced "Thwaite".
- In the first season of Yes Minister, Jim Hacker's political adviser Frank Weisel (WYE-zel) is repeatedly (deliberately) addressed by Sir Humphrey and Bernard as "Mr Weasel".
- Mr. Looney ("Loo-NAY. It's French.") in Family Matters. This one actually would be pronounced like that in French, though the French dub simply uses the US pronounciation for all names anyway.
- You brought up Family Matters without mentioning Steve Urkel's "cool" transformation, Stefan Urquelle?
- Guy Secretan from Green Wing went to Whiteleaf Public School, but call it that and face his wrath: it's pronounced Wit-lehf
- Torchwood mentions the "estate agent pronunciation" of the Cardiff district of Splott. "Splowe" is a reasonable approximation of the estate agent pronunciation. The real pronunciation is phonetic.
- In Between the Lions, Dr Nitwit expressly prefers "nit-WHITE".
- Warren Buffett has appeared several times on All My Children since the early 90's. Opal always pronounces it Warren Buffay.
- Are You Afraid Of The Dark had two recurring characters who played to this trope. The first (and definitely the most memorable) was Doctor Vink ("with a vvvuh, vvvuh!") who was constantly referred to as "Doctor Fink". The other (and more in line with the trope) was
Mister Sardo, who would constantly berate people for emphasizing his name's first syllable, as well as adding the honorific ("It's Sardo! No "mister", accent on the do!"). The two actually met in one episode (and were surprisingly slashy...).
- Manservant Neville from The Middleman (pronounced "m'nSERvant").
- A Bit Of Fry And Laurie featured a characteristically absurd example: Derek Nippl-e, whose surname was pronounced by dropping a pen onto a desk. It got sillier from there.
- Shaun Micallef played with this once in a sketch about Dracula: (heavy Romanian accent) "It is actually pronounced, Dra-coo-la."
- Bertram Wooster, from Jeeves and Wooster, always has his name pronounced like Birdie Wooster (rhyming with rooster) by the American characters on the show. (Usually British actors pretending to be American.)
- Parodied on an episode of QI. After Rich Hall suggested the existence of a town called "Satanismymaster-on-Rye", Bill Bailey claimed that the correct pronunciation was "Simster".
- A one-shot character on I Carly's name was not Susie, it was Su-ZAY.
- A stuck-up reporter's name on True Jackson, V.P.'s name sounded like Kitty Monroe, but was spelled Kitty Monreaux.
- One episode of The Nanny had Maxwell Sheffield pronouncing Fran Fine's surname as "fee-NAY" in an attempt to impress his grandmother.
- A running gag in Get Smart had Max always pronouncing The Claw as "The Craw," pronouncing it as the heavily-accented Asian villain does, which usually ended up in an exchange like "Not 'Craw' — CRAW!" . . . "Ah yes, 'The Craw'"
- In News Radio Matthew was reprimanded for mispronouncing Buttafuco live on air. If You Know What I Mean...
- Barney's obvious alias of "Jack Package" when he visits the matchmaker's in How I Met Your Mother is given a paper-thin disguise by pronouncing it "pack-aahj".
Music
- Possibly an inversion, Weird Al Yankovic's name is pronounced the way it's spelled: YAHN-ko-vick. However, countless people insist on saying it like YAN-ko-vich (and sometimes even spell it like that - I've even seen "Weird Al Yankovitch" a few times). It should be noted the "Yan" is actually pronounced nasally as if it were French (sounds roughly like "Yong"), rather than rhyming with the English word "van".
Mythology
- A lot of mythological figures, particularly Greek ones, get their names pronounced wrong or the pronunciations anglicised. Even the Latinisations of the names: Hercules, Latin version of Greek hero Heracles, should be properly pronounced HAIR-koo-less (and the Greek version would be HEY-rak-lays). Others include Dionysus (Dee-OH-nee-soos), Perseus (Pair-SAYS, with both esses soft), Zeus (ZAY-oos), and the list goes on and on. On the non-Greek side of things, we have the Norse god Odin, whose original name Óðinn should be pronounced something like Oh-THEEN with a hard "th" (as in "the" or "that" - try making a "d" sound but put your tongue between your teeth while you do it). And then of course we have the incomprehensible pronunciations of the Celtic heroes Cú Chulainn (koo-hoo-LEEN) and Scáthach (SKAH-hah).
[[folder:Other]]
- Brian Regan has a comedy routine in which he has trouble remembering names, and he stresses the difficulty of making a mistake when somebody else's name is similar to another.
"Oh, hey there, Carolyn."
"It's Caroline. It's Caroline, Brian."
"It's Bri-awnh! Yes, my name is Brauaaagh! It's very hard to say my name correctly, because my name is Brynamengenjah! Can you say that? Very few can."
Professional Wrestling
- Old-school announcer Gordon Solie, trying to class things up, would pronounce "Suplex" as "Souplay".
- It's pronounced "souplay" in amateur wrestling, partly because of the sport's European origins and partly because some people involved with amateur wrestling view pro wrestling as a mockery of their sport and want to distance themselves from it.
- Japanese wrestler Taka Michinoku's name is often typed TAKA Michinoku. (In Japan, his character used to insist that the "Taka" be in "American letters", while the "Michinoku" (like most other names) was printed in Kanji.) While it isn't pronunciation per se, it is a character trying to distinguish himself and "social climb" through a name difference.
- This trope might also apply to KENTA (Kenta Kobayashi) and CIMA (Nobuhiko Oshima), who're referred to as such, never using kanji or katakana. Averted by Shingo Takagi in Japan (where his name kanji are used), but he fell right into it in ROH where he was billed as SHINGO.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons has the bulette, whose name is "pronounced Boo-lay." If it were really a French word, that is exactly how it wouldn't be pronounced. Apparently, it's now back to being the "bullet", as the person who wrote the 2nd Edition caption was being pretentious.
- There are also the evil fish-men called the sahuagin, which is frequently pronounced "sa-HWA-gin" but is officially (according to the sourcebook The Sea Devils) supposed to be "sa-HOO-a-gin".
- Among this editor's circle of D&D-playing friends, it's "sa-HAY-gin". Didn't help much when he started playing the first Final Fantasy, in which certain sea creatures are given the abbreviated name "SAHAG".
- D&D Online: Stormreach, which includes some voice acting, returns the pronunciation to "sa-HWA-gin".
- Also in the Monstrous Manual are the tabaxi, panther-like humanoids who are pronounced "ta-BAX-ee" or "tah-BAHSH-ee" depending on the clan.
- Not to forget the Ixitxachitl. And no, you wouldn't get any two people to agree on how to pronounce that. The Monstrous Manual gives the "correct" pronunciation as "Ish-it-SHACH-eet-el".
- You could start by getting some archaelogists, specializing in Aztec language.
- No, you just need someone who speaks Spanish. Since Aztec words were first transcribed in the Roman alphabet by (relatively modern) Spanish explorers, all of the words are phonetic in Spanish. The only complication is that the "-tl" construction doesn't appear in Spanish, but it is pretty much pronounced like anyone would try and pronounce it. Personally This Troper thinks Aztec words are pretty awesome; particularly the story of Popocatepetl and Ixtachihuatl, two mountains near Mexico City which were once lovers; their names are just so damn awesome.
- Then there's "Lich", which is pronounced like "Like" but with the "ch" sound as in "Bach" or "loch". A lot of people say "Laitch", "Litch" or "Lick".
- In the future setting of Chaos, the pronunciation of the word "meme" (memes have become an even much more important concept in the future than they are today) has changed to "mem" (rhymes with "gem"), as opposed to today's "meem" (rhymes with "dream").
Theatre
Video Games
- It's pronounced SAM-us, not SAY-mus.
- Derby [pronounced "DAR-bee"] in Bully.
- Charmles in Dragon Quest VIII refers to himself as "Sharm-LAY". He's the only one who does — everyone calls him "CHARM-ulz", or Charmless when he's not looking.
- Kyushiro from Samurai Shodown used to correct the game's pronunciation of his name, when he won. ("Winner: Kyoshiro!" "Kyuuu-SHI-rooo!")
- "Ts'ao Ts'ao," not "Cow Cow". Note though all of the Warriors games after Dynasty Warriors 5 — both of the Warriors Orochi duology and Dynasty Warriors 6 — got this right (with the exception of Wei's Warrior Orochi ending), as do the voiceovers in Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, but some pronunciations are still audibly off, and there was the unfortunately-named Cao Pi...
- This troper heard it (from a critic in a review for the movie Red Cliff) pronounced as "Chow Chow". I like imagine his son was then "Chow Pie".
- More likely "Chow Pee"...
- When This Troper and several of her friends watched another friend playing Final Fantasy XII, the pronunciation of Marquis...just ow... She has since learned that the English version is pronounced the way they say it in the game, but it's spelled Marquess. The correct pronunciations are "markee" and "markwis", respectively.
- This troper had to resist pulling his hair out over his friends pronouncing the Final Fantasy spell "METEO" as "Muh-TAY-Oh". The fact that it brought down meteors (the spell name being METEOR shrunk to fit the interface) was completely ignored, even after this troper pointed it out.
- The character of Dudley Cholmondely in Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon. His name is pronounced "Chumley"; justified in that "Cholmondely" is actually pronounced that way (see the Discworld example above).
- Ryu in the Street Fighter series is often pronounced "Rai-you" by people who were fans of the series during the original Street Fighter II days, when the announcer didn't pronounce his name. (It's actually "Ri-you" pronounced as one syllable.)
- Cait Sith from Final Fantasy VII, pronounced "Ket shee". He's named after the Cat Sìth, a creature from Scottish mythology (hence why he talks with a Scottish accent).
- Because it's SO EASY to tell the accent of a character in a game that has no voice acting.
- A lot of people to this day STILL want to believe the translators got the pronunciation wrong with Tidus and Zidane when Dissidia was dubbed in English. Disregarding that Tidus was derived from his original Japanese name, Tida, which meant 'sun' in Okinawan and not referring to 'tidal waves' and for Zidane, completely disregarding that certain headbutting football player.
- It's Ninja GUY-den, not Ninja GAY-den.
Web Animation
- Strong Bad once did the same for Illinois ("Eel-ee-nwah"). He also calls Texas "Tejas", pronounces "California" the Spanish way, etc.
- "Eel-ee-nwah" is pretty much how it's pronounced in French, though, and this troper always assumed that was the original pronounciation that got deformed in some way, since "Illinois" looks very much like a French word, and not much like something English-speakers would make up.
- You're on the right track. It's a French adaptation of an Algonquin word. The silent 's' was definitely added by the French. It was probably pronounced something like "Eel-ee-nee-weh".
- He also (at least once) pronounced Ohio "OH-HEE-OH". This could be a subtle, running gag about him making just as many goofs as he corrects in his SB-Emails or a part of his oft-childish personality and his accent.
- Justified in Compy Catalog, when he decides to buy a "Compé" to replace the Lappy 486, which he blew up with a USB self-destruct button in Hremail 3184. The Compé is a lot newer than the Lappy, and comes with a built-in "Virtual Paper".
- In the last episodes of the Strangerhood it's revealed that Nikki's name is actually pronounced Nik-kay.
Web Comics
- Volklore's female protagonist, Femálë Protagonist.
- Also, from Sluggy Freelance we have Dr Hot-Chick: "It's pronounced HAUGHT-SHEIK!"
- It's Too-che-sto-nay instead of Touch Stone.
- The Cyantian Chronicles: Various Cyantian characters use Latin pronunciations for their names. IE:
- Chatin = Sha-Teen not Satin.
- Collin calls Twinky on calling Chatin "Satin" at one point. Although, to be fair, Twinky first heard Chatin's name through a translator, which translated it into "Satin".
- Cilke = Sil-Kay not Silk
- Cilke doesn't mind getting called Silk, because it's such a pretty fabric.
- Chrome = K-Ro-May not Chrome, though he doesn't mind the alternate pronunciation.
- Cardde = Kar-Day not Card.
- Calle = Kal-ay not Cal
- Cisco is a subversion, as he's still Cisco.
- Syrys = Sigh-russ or Cyrus not Sir-iss
- None of these are strictly Latin pronunciations, though (and at least two misinterpret "c" and "ch" in the Latin alphabet). To do that, they'd have to be pronounced "KA-tin"/"KA-teen", "KILL-kuh," "KRO-muh," "KAR-duh," "KAL-uh," and "Sürüs," with the ü similar to French u. (It's one where you pucker your lips quite a bit to produce the sound.)
Western Animation
- In Hercules, god of where three roads meet Trivia keeps having to tell people "Actually, it's 'try-VEE-ah'." Unfortunately this is a SLIGHT case of Did Not Do The Research - Trivia in actual mythology was female and a ROMAN goddess - the Greek equivalent would have been Hecate. Her name would have been pronounced something like "tree-wee-ah".
- Used in Kim Possible, when Kim meets her brothers' guidance counselor.
Kim: ... Miss... Guide?
Miss Guide: "Guh-DAY", dear.
Kim: Uh, g'day to you too.
- On King Of The Hill, Rad Thibodeaux, a "self-proclaimed genius", pronounces his last name as "Thi-ba-DAY-oks." This leads to Hank attempting to correct him (Thibodeaux is French — a very common Cajun name pronounced like Hank says):
Hank: Isn't that pronounced "Tib-a-do?"
Rad: Well, you know, sometimes, by mistake.
- Newscaster Brian Pinhead (pih-NAYD) on The Tick
- On Bobby's World, Bobby's family name is Generic, pronounced GEN-er-ic and mispronounced by everyone else in the world. This is probably based on Howie Mandel's experience with people pronouncing it MAN-del.
- Inverted on The Simpsons, when Moe makes fun of Homer for Frenchly pronouncing garage as "ga-RAJ" (the correct way in America). Moe prefers the term "car hole".
- Also on The Simpsons, Marge's country club friends Karen, Gillian, Elizabeth, Patricia, and Susan all pronounced their names differently than the norm. She also had a friend named Rauberta, but that's not as funny in the list since it's spelled differently as well as being pronounced differently.
- There's also Krabappel which is pronounced "Cruh-BAW-pull". Not sure what that is, but it seems designed just so you avoid reading it as "crabapple".
- And again when Bart corrects Homer on the pronounciation of "party", insisting that it's "par-tay".
- An early episode had an argument between Freddy Quimby and a waiter over whether "chowder" was pronounced "CHOW-dah" or "shau-DAIR".
- In Futurama:
Zapp: Shampagin?
Leela: (sarcastically) I didn't realize you were such a coin-a-sewer.
- Done again in "The Devil's Hands Are Idle Playthings" when he pronounces "bravo" and "encore" as "bray-vo" and "enn-core".
- Parodied on Drawn Together, during one of their finale's when Captain Hero corrected the host saying "It's pronounced Kah-Pee-Tawn. The Hero is silent." This is also a reference to Captain Hero's behavior after his last name, Shero, is revealed. It's pronounced "Hero", the "S" is silent.
- When Peter from Family Guy goes to an ultra-posh auction house surrounded of the wealthiest elite, he says "It would look really good in Lois's crapper... I mean, crapier." This pronunciation is immediately corroborated. "Oh yes, I would simply love that in my crapier!"
- Done in an episode of The Proud Family, where Penny gains a case of Acquired Situational Narcissism and insists on "Penn-AY."
- Like spughetay! Cos it rhymes with money, y'all!
- This was done in The Critic, too. Jay goes to a fast food restaurant and addresses the clerk by the name on his nametag, "Pizzaface." The clerk of course responds with, "Hey, that's Pizza-fah-chay!"
- An episode of Tale Spin featured a shifty client who was quick to point out his name was "pronounced wee-ZEL!"
- One episode of Veggietales features the tale of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, where the title characters were nicknamed Rack, Shack, and Benny because their real names were hard to pronounce, even to themselves:
Rack: I'm Shadrach!
Shack: I'm Meshach!
Benny: I'm a Bumblebee... a Bennyboo... I'm Benny!
- The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin features the villain Jack W. Tweeg. His name is pronounced as would be expected (rhymes with "league"), but his subordinate, LB, insists on misprouncing it in humourous ways to mock his boss. Tweeg even has a Villain Song about how to pronounce his name.
- Timon And Pumbaa once met a suspicious-looking raccoon named Thief who insisted that his name was pronounced "theif" (rhymes with "life").
- Lilo And Stitch The Series has the villainous Dr. Hämsterviel. Pronounced HOHM-ster-vheel, although many prononce it like "hamster wheel". The fact that Hämsterviel is in fact a literal intelligent gerbil doesn't help the situation.
- "Cowand Chicken got one under the radar featuring the Ahz-Wee-Pay tribe
Real Life
By the way, it's pronounced "Trope" in French too: the "e" is silent.
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