Name pronunciation in the NHL is one of my pet peeves. Too often people in our business either guess or just ask someone they think knows how to pronounce a players name. Too often they are wrong. The only way to get it right is to ask a player directly how he wants his name pronounced.
The way the question is phrased is the most important thing. Some guys say to a player "is it pleck-AH-nits?" Often a player just says "ya" because that's close enough and they don't care. That's why you have to ask a player "how do you pronounce your name?" and then listen to how he says it.
I know this Montreal centre has his name pronounced two different ways. I asked him when he first came into the league to pronounce his name and I recorded him saying it. He pronounces his name "pleh-CAN-its" just the way Bob Cole says it on HNIC and not "pleck-UH-nits" they way some people pronounce it.
Kudos to HNIC's Jim Hughson doing the Vancouver/Nashville series. Preds goalie Pekka Rinne has one of the most mispronounced names in the NHL. His first year in the NHL Gord Wilson and I were in the Preds locker room and the first question we asked him was how he pronounced his name. It is not "RINN-eh" or "RINN-ey" it is "REE-NAY". Hughie did his homework and asked the simple question. It doesn't seem like a big deal but its one of the smallest but most important details of doing our job. Hughie does not miss the details.
See you at the rink.
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2 comments:
Love the attention to detail, Dean. Have often noticed how much care you take with pronunciation.
PS: Ever gonna start using your Twitter account? Even just to post links back to you blog entries would useful.
I have the very same problem and can't stand listening to some pronunciations.
Can we get some consensus on "McElhinney" before the season starts? My beef is more with the "Mc" being pronounced "Mac" than emphasis on the rest of the name.
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