23 August 2008

Presidential Mispronunciation

I am a supporter of Barack Obama and this issue will not cause me to change my vote.

However...

It has just occurred to me that if Obama wins the US presidential election I will spend the next four years being driven completely batty by the way the BBC news anchors pronounce his name.

His name is NOT "Berrick Obamer!"

Perhaps I should go to the BBC Studios in London and work with them until they get it right?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had to stop listening to their Olympics telecasts. Beijing is not in Chiner. It's just not!

Global Librarian said...

What is with adding the "r" when a word ends in a vowel?

And I just plain have no explanation for "Berrick!"

Kirk said...

For some reason I would have guessed they'd pronounce it "buh-RACK"...maybe we'll have to watch BBC America to see if they do it there too.

Anonymous said...

I'm voting for McCain, so this doesn't bother me a bit. I'm staying anonymous, too.

GL'sD said...

Is this something like you going to Savanner or Atlanter

The Big Finn said...

The thing that amazes me about this is that Brits often deny doing it. We have an American friend named Rita, and all our British friends call her Reeter. When I ask them, "Did you just say Reeter?" they deny it. What's up with that?

Diane Mandy said...

Barack or Berricker...makes no difference so long as he wins!

Kirk said...

For what it's worth, I'm just now reading this long (and quite interesting) article from yesterday's Washington Post about Obama's childhood (and his mother's), and it specifically mentions that Obama's father referred to himself as "BEAR-ick," not "buh-ROCK." Maybe the Brits are actually onto something.

Global Librarian said...

However, Barack Obama himself uses the pronunciation of "buh-RAAK oh-BAA-muh."

And shouldn't he be the final authority in how his own name is pronounced?

One further note: I e-mailed BBC World News to complain about the mispronunciation. Haven't heard anything back...

rswb said...

Foreign people always pronounce names differently, though. Isn't it part of the charm? No one in Reto's family pronounces my name the way I do, and Reto has an official pronunciation of his name for english speakers (which is different to the proper version).

Global Librarian said...

A slight difference due to accent can be charming.

So different that it takes you a moment to realize who the heck they are talking about is a bit too much...

Anonymous said...

If you're a jewish irishman (or woman) that makes him:

...Baruch O'Bama!

;-)

Lynda said...

Well as an Australian married to a German living in Egypt - I think this is a two way street, can not tell you how badly I squirm when Australian capital cities are pronounced by commentators in the US! LOL I think Mr Obama is big enough to handle his name being pronounced anyway so long as there is a Mr President in front. LOL