tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post2861982840057823419..comments2023-07-24T18:26:19.495+10:00Comments on Alien Onion: His ineffable effable, effanineffable, deep and inscrutable singular Name.*The Alien Onionshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07037127806592724297noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-65029833369800095282010-08-16T12:34:57.743+10:002010-08-16T12:34:57.743+10:00I have never been able to read Jane Eyre the same ...I have never been able to read Jane Eyre the same way since discovering that 'St John' is actually pronounced 'Sinjen'. Why,for heaven's sake? This just seems completely illogical and pointless to me and I can't help resenting Charlotte Bronte for it -thus, she is no longer my favourite Bronte sister. Long live Anne, I say (in a non-literal sense at least...)<br />Love your blog generally!Leoniehttp://bakersdaughterwrites.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-43661064203620137492010-08-16T12:21:33.538+10:002010-08-16T12:21:33.538+10:00I had problems with Babar. I still do! When my par...I had problems with Babar. I still do! When my parents read it to me, they pronounced his name "Bar-bar" (as in black sheep, have you any wool) and the monkey Zephyr as "Zeh-FEER" (rhymes with appear). When I was a teenage babysitter, I was often corrected by extremely irate children for my mispronunciation - apparently it's "Babbar" and the monkey is "Zeffer" (rhymes with heifer - like the actual word, I guess). <br /><br />But I've also heard other people pronounce it as Bab-BAR (rhymes with guitar). I guess cos it's a French book that was made into an American tv series there are a few versions flying around.<br /><br />I've never really been able to adjust, they will always be Bar-bar and Zeh-FEER to me.<br /><br />Similar to your Lara/Laura conundrum, I was always very fond of the kindly male performer Barb on Sesame Street and was about 16 when my mum finally crumbled and informed me I was saying it wrong. His name was just Bob. WHAT?!<br /><br />So I sympathise your plight. Obviously Jansee Nahghee cannot, and will never be, Yonshee Nodge (silly Hungarians!).Jellyfishhttp://twitter.com/jellyjellyfishnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-39296996579084651442010-08-12T16:52:28.393+10:002010-08-12T16:52:28.393+10:00Elise - can only be solved by chocolate (and also ...Elise - can only be solved by chocolate (and also by sticking my fingers in my ears and singing lalalalalaaaaa)Celinehttp://www.celinekiernan.com/blog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-20296846233086452182010-08-12T13:49:47.933+10:002010-08-12T13:49:47.933+10:00Celine! Existential crisis! xCeline! Existential crisis! xmiss elisenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-48944547583895891122010-08-12T06:38:53.056+10:002010-08-12T06:38:53.056+10:00I've only recently been having very similar na...I've only recently been having very similar naming revelations myself! The audio book publishers and I decided to ask my Estonian translator how she would pronounce the Norse names in The Crowded Shadows. It was quite a shock to find out that Sólmundr and Hallvor are not (as I had thought ) saul-mundur and Haal-vore but Suul-mundr and Hal-vuur. I still can't quite get my head around it. I don't know why, but I find it especially disconcerting that Sól should now be Suul.Celinehttp://www.celinekiernan.com/blog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-74802812906174902372010-08-11T19:54:48.314+10:002010-08-11T19:54:48.314+10:00I do quite like it. I am rolling it around in my h...I do quite like it. I am rolling it around in my head. In my dream we had given him another (unknown) name, but this was the name he called himself by. Even if I didn't use it I would always wonder if it was his True Name.Penni Russonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17956453252195293843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-83805015611338678062010-08-11T17:02:37.412+10:002010-08-11T17:02:37.412+10:00Jonathan W - oh good story. I do like a spy with a...Jonathan W - oh good story. I do like a spy with a slippery name. But that must have been quite disconcerting when you were trying to get a grip on him to write about him. I also like the idea of having different selves in different languages. Not a completely different identity, just a Venetian version. <br /><br />Jonathan S - Half-way through! That would be highly dicombobulating. And you can't get away with going back to the old pronunciation in your head if key plot points are involved.<br /><br />--SCThe Alien Onionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07037127806592724297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-50887112022160299182010-08-11T16:35:15.859+10:002010-08-11T16:35:15.859+10:00It took me about six years to write my first book,...It took me about six years to write my first book, which is about the Venetian spy Gerolamo Vano. For at least the first two, I mispronounced his name every time I said it (so I was told discreetly by an Italian friend after one seminar paper). <br /><br />I feel better about this knowing that seventeenth-century documents don't have standardised spellings for names: one spy in my book is referred to as Francesco, Franceco, Franseco and Francheco (all by the same author, and in the same document!) Plus in Venice, people often have an Italian, a Venetian and a Latin version of their name: e.g. Giovanni, Zuanne, Johannes. <br /><br />So is it Gerolamo Vano, or Hieronimo Vanni? Both, depending on the context. Very confusing, but somehow appropriate for slippery spies.Jonathan Walkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16129441891226278101noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-2654261991279463802010-08-11T14:43:28.206+10:002010-08-11T14:43:28.206+10:00Penni - OH EM GEE! Did you like the name? Are you...Penni - OH EM GEE! Did you like the name? Are you going to call him by it?<br /><br />--SCThe Alien Onionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07037127806592724297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-91486143769884699152010-08-11T14:35:45.504+10:002010-08-11T14:35:45.504+10:00I had the most vivid dream in which our baby (a ro...I had the most vivid dream in which our baby (a round toddler boy) told me his name, a name I have never heard or considered, but Martin looked it up and it IS a real name. Also off topic. <br /><br />I listened to Rachel Cusk's the Bradshaw Variations and the narrator kept switching between pronouncing Claudia as Clawed-ee-a and Cloud-ee-a - it was most disconcerting.Penni Russonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17956453252195293843noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1348056790070661555.post-62697568625987445672010-08-11T11:45:19.081+10:002010-08-11T11:45:19.081+10:00This isn't quite on topic, but I discovered th...This isn't quite on topic, but I discovered the English pronunciation of 'Ralph' in my 40s, towards the end of Diana Wynne Jones's <i>The Lives of Christopher Chant</i>. A pun that's central to the plot just didn't work if the bearded man was called Ralph. His name had to be Rafe. So for me, the character disconcertingly changed his name in mid narrative.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com