wprager
Administrator
Number of posts : 52818
Age : 62
Location : Kanata
Favorite Team : Ottawa
Registration date : 2008-08-05
rooneypoo wrote: Straight Shooter wrote: rooneypoo wrote: Bass Destruction wrote: rooneypoo wrote: Bass Destruction wrote: rooneypoo wrote: Bass Destruction wrote:Thanks for clearing that up! I think I know what accent you are talking about. Like the accent over the C in the youtube video right?
In which case I'll stick to Mee-hhhhah-lehk.
Seriously, there's no question here. Michalek asked the media to pronounce his name "Mi-kall-ic" when he got here.
But there is a proper way, and an improper way. I have a last name that was shortened from another Irish last name, so it doesn't really seem to have any roots to anything. I also grew up in the French system, and they kept butchering my last name. But it didn't bother me that much, and I would let them pronounce it like that. Doesn't mean that's the proper way. I'd like to pronounce his name as closely to what it actually is as possible, regardless if he says it's ok to pronounce it wrongly.
Pronunciation and stress patterns are determined by tradition and therefore totally arbitrary. Why do we say quixote (quix-ot-ic) and Quixote (key-hoe-tay)? There's an historical reason, for sure, but in the end, both words co-exist, non-sensically, side by side in English.
Language is prescriptive. How we use it determines what's 'right.' There's no essential truth to any language form.
Plus, listen to the video again. The stress falls on the hard K sound -- "Kall".
Language is one thing, proper names is entirely different. Ergo, quixotic vs Quixote.
I feel as though he told the media to say Mee-kall-leck to make it easier on them, not because it's correct.
And I've listened to the video many times, and it sounds to me as though he is saying hhhalik, like in Chanukah, as though coming from the back of the throat.
Dude, why can't you accept that Milan Mickalek knows how to pronounce "Milan Michalek" better than you or I do? Not much to debate here.
Dude, relax. Bass is saying he said he feels like Michalek asked to have it pronounced one way to make it easier on North American fans and media. Not because that way is correct though.
Yeah, people hold press conferences to make sure people collectively mispronounce their names. Sounds right to me!
Rooney, I often correct people who pronounce my name making it sound French (think Praget). I tell them to pronounce like like "prayer" but with a hard-g in the middle, so something like Pray-gher. But that's not how the name was actually pronounced back in Russia.
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