I don't think it crazy to think this, but it seems to me that a writer ought to be able to correctly pronounce the names of people and places he creates.
Now, I know what you're thinking. (Well... probably, "this is totally from left field." But after that.) They're the creator. Isn't the way they pronounce it correct? And usually, you'd be right, like in this case:
I remember the first time I met Terry Brooks at a book signing, and learned that "Shannara," which everyone I knew (who knew the books) pronounced "shun-ARR-ruh," was always imagined by him as "SHANN-uh-ruh." But I never had heard it "my way" on an official book-on-tape or anything, so that was it. He was right.
By contrast, there's a documentary floating around from a few years back in which George Lucas repeatedly pronounces the name of the ice planet at the beginning of The Empire Strikes Back as rhyming with the word "both." And who knows, maybe in the Super-Uber Special Edition, everybody will pronounce it that way. But until that day, the fact remains that every single time the name "Hoth" is spoken in the film, it rhymes with the pale-skinned, all-black-wearing fashion trend.
Then there's Marc Cherry, creator of Desperate Housewives. The DVD set of the show's relative letdown of a second season hit stores this week, and in all the features and commentaries he does, he pronounces the name of Eva Longoria's character not as "GAB-ree-ell," as everyone on the show does, but as "GOB-ree-ell." It sounds borderline pretentious -- a border I'm sure would be crossed if he ever tried to say the character's nickname "Gabby." "Gobby" would be a description of a kindergarten art project involving Elmer's Glue.
Yes, this a totally trivial thing to make such a big deal about.
If you didn't know that's what this blog is some 90+% of the time, you must be new here. Welcome.
6 comments:
"Gobby" would also make a damn fine House Elf name in Harry Potter, book 7. "Harry Potter and the House Elf Who Saved the World", soon to be available at a bookstore near you.
if you have ever played Kameo for the Xbox 360, there is one main character (the creepy Mystic who looks like she came out of The Dark Crystal) who repeatedly mispronounces the word "troll" throughout the entire game (the trolls are the bad guys) she says something like "trall" it was more funny each time I heard it.
the mole
We run into this issue all the time in WoW as well.
That kind of stuff drives me nuts, too. And it just brought back a fun memory from about six years ago when I was still working at Skywalker Ranch.
One morning I was on my way to the web department and I passed George Lucas who was discussing something with Rick McCallum. And George said "Corus-Kant" (whereas everyone, even in the movies (right?), pronounces the name as if the second C were silent, like "Corussant" (which is what I've actually heard a French pastry being called once in a while in Virginia). In any case, I had to STRONGLY resist the urge to walk up to him and correct the man.
To this day, I'm still glad I DID resist that urge. :) Talk about sliding down the path to the Dark Side (and the Pink Slip).
FKL
FKL - Great story. :-)
I'm reminded of a quote Bill from Decipher used to say all the time. I think maybe it was from Mystery Men:
"Don't correct me. It sickens me."
Great story, FKL. Your post wasn't bad either, Dr. :)
The instance of this that bugged me the most was Picard in the DS9 pilot. Ba-JOR, indeed. But he said it first in the series so was everyone else wrong for seven years or was Patrick Stewart possibly "phoning it in" that day?
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