Shot to Nothing

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Can We Get Past This Whole Mispronouncing For Politeness Business?

Stay away from myNow that Monsieur Fukudome is headed to U.S. shores perhaps we should try and nip this thing in the bud once and for all. If only for entertainment purposes.

Why do sportscasters feel the need to change the pronunciation of some guys name, just to avoid saying a 'bad word'? I mean, come on, nobody refrains from using the term 'Bitch' during dog shows do they?

Case in point - Willie Colon, Tackle, Pittsburgh Steelers
For some ungodly reason, announcers have taken it upon themselves to change 'Co-lon' to 'Cologne'. Like 'Willie Perfume' is really a whole lot worse then 'Willie Ass'... for pete's sake.

Case in Point - Sam Koch, Punter, Baltimore Ravens
Look, take this name and show it to any European and he'll tell ya that 'Koch' is pronounced 'Cock' ok? It's not Koosh or Kosh or Kuch or any of those other silly versions that various announcers have come up with. The mans name is Sam Koch - deal with it, I'm sure he has. It's probably the reason he became a punter.

There are numerous 'Gay' s in sports these days and we aren't trying to change their surnames are we? Let's just drop the whole charade now ok?

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19 Comments:

At 8:58 pm, Anonymous AJ said...

Actually, Sam Koch's last name is pronounced "cook", as in the guy hanging out next to all the kitchen utensils. Don't ask me why; it's a silly Nebraska thing, I suppose.

(That said, don't let me rain on your parade: resume calling him "cock", by all means)

 
At 9:54 pm, Anonymous Biff Scooter said...

Actually in Japanese it's Foo-koo-doh-may. Think Austin Powers and Fukumi (actually a girl's name in Japanese) and Fukuyu (not even close to a name in J-go). He has it right, it's foo...even if it looks like the f-word.

Anyway, it works in reverse. Anyway named "Deb" here would be laughed at in Japan as that mean "fat" in japanese. Don't even get me started on Ed as "ED = Erectile dysfunction" and there are tons of ads in Japan that call it "Ed." Another anomaly, that whole can't get it up is a "Western" thing, eh, hence the non-translation into a J-term. And that's too much info for most of youse.

 
At 11:56 pm, Anonymous badbadgirlx said...

I can't read anything but "FuckYouDoMe." but you know, I'm classy that way.

 
At 11:59 pm, Anonymous Top Posts « WordPress.com said...

[...] Can We Get Past This Whole Mispronouncing For Politeness Business? [image]Now that Monsieur Fukudome is headed to U.S. shores perhaps we should try and nip this thing in the bud once and […] [...]

 
At 2:42 am, Anonymous Mark said...

Yeah, I don't know about Colon, but you're definitely 0-for-2 on Koch and Fukudome.

Koch = Cook

Fukudome = Foo-koo-DOH-may

Nice try.

 
At 2:59 am, Anonymous alexcase said...

Once taught a Chinese student in London called Fanny Fuk Oh. Really. All the teachers had seen enough odd names that just "Fanny Fuk" might not have even got a mention, it was the last exclamation that really got us.

 
At 4:36 am, Anonymous josh said...

Colon is pronounced like the fragrance as well - it's Spanish, just like Bartolo Colon and like "Cristobal Colon" is Spanish for Christopher Columbus. Nice post - do some research next time.

 
At 4:38 am, Anonymous Cristóbal Colón said...

You sir are an ignorant slut. Colón is a common Spanish surname, and it's pronounced just like the "polite" announcers are doing it. My guess is that the Steelers player, from the Bronx, is Latino and that they're pronouncing his name correctly.

 
At 5:13 am, Anonymous Chris said...

Have you ever met anyone not named Bob Jones?

 
At 7:42 am, Anonymous Sanchez said...

Well gee... thanks for sucking the fun out of it everyone.

Sheesh.

 
At 2:09 pm, Anonymous steviethek said...

Well, I enjoyed it.

May I humbly and politely refer you to my post on a similar, equally improper take on professional athletes' names?

http://steviethek.wordpress.com/2007/12/13/stevie-the-k%e2%80%99s-%e2%80%9call-poopie-xi%e2%80%9d/

BTW, there is a Japanese restaurant near us called "Fugakyu", to which my reply is inevitably, "Fugakyu too!" ;)

 
At 2:54 pm, Anonymous tidefanintn said...

It's possible he pronounces Koch as Cock. It's a family name of mine (we pronounce it Cook) but I've seen it pronounced like it's spelled (as in former NYC mayor Ed Koch) and met people who pronounce it Coke as well.

 
At 3:46 pm, Anonymous zythophile said...

Be thankful the Canadian brewery Kuntz isn't in business any more ...

 
At 4:14 pm, Anonymous GeekPornGirl said...

This is beautiful. I went to school with a family named Dyche (pronounced "dyke") and when I ran into them 20 years later they pronounced it "Du-chay". Now what's a lesbian supposed to say to that?

 
At 5:48 pm, Anonymous mattdabbs said...

In German Koch is pronounced - Coke at least that is how H&K, the company that produces firearms, pronounces it.

 
At 8:34 pm, Anonymous steviethek said...

There is also Sam Koch, the coach of the UMass soccer team, and he pronounces it "coke" as well.

 
At 10:39 pm, Anonymous Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt said...

So that's 0-3 on name pronunciations. Have you been right about anything, ever?

 
At 4:17 am, Anonymous steviethek said...

Boy, most of your readers are really humorless douchebags, aren't they?

 
At 12:04 pm, Anonymous Sanchez said...

Ha! Yep, but I love them all anyway!

 

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