The Silver Screen Oasis

Kay Fwan-ses

jondaris wrote:Kay Fwan-ses

Wavishing!

How about Marlene Dietrich? Is it Mar-leen or Mar-lay-nuh?

I think it's Mar-lay-na but I would bet too much money on it.

Glad you like the quote CarrieLiz.

movieman1957: I hope I wasn't rude in the way I mentioned what I found about Franchot Tone. If I was, I'm terribly sorry.
- Carrie

CarrieLiz, as the wonderful song goes: You say tomato, and I say tomahto.

I can't speak for Chris (movieman1957), but he's a really laid back kinda guy, and you weren't rude at all.....

Chris is usually the "Peacemaker" around here, so it's fun to play his role

Carrie

Good heavens I never thought any such thing. Glad to have it right. All's well.

Oh, I'm glad. I got to worrying, so I thought I would ask. Thank you both for putting me at ease.

Getting back to the topic, which is the correct way to say Lana Turner's name? I've sometimes heard the first A pronounced like the one in fan, other times as ah.

Ahem -- I'm the "someone" who started the pronunciation thread on the TCM boards. Since I used to work in radio, I used to sweat over how to correctly pronounce famous names on the air, especially since I have a troublesome surname myself. I've spent a lot of time listening to newsreels, radio broadcasts, and other spoken-word sources for clues on correct pronunciation. One of the more interesting sources I've used is The Literary Digest -- back in the 1930s, it ran a regular feature giving phonetic pronunciations of names in the news.

On radio back in the '40s, Ms. Turner's name was consistently pronounced LAH-na, and Ms. Dietrich herself gave out her first name as Mar-LAY-nah.

Jacques Tur-NEWER, Tur-NOWER, TUR-newer, TUR-nower -- or some other possibility?

And was Maurice's last name pronounced similarly, or did the son break from the father?

ChiO wrote:Jacques Tur-NEWER, Tur-NOWER, TUR-newer, TUR-nower -- or some other possibility?

And was Maurice's last name pronounced similarly, or did the son break from the father?

This one's tricky. I've heard the name pronounced both tour-NER and like Turner, but the actual pronunciation is somewhere between the two -- I can pronounce it, but it's hard to describe in writing. I think both Maurice and Jacques pronounced their name the same way.

jdb1 wrote:My readings and TV watchings indicate that "Charmondeley" is pronounced "Chumley."

I do recall some British mystery novel I read a while back where it was pointed out to the police that someone called "Featherstonehough" pronounced it "Fanshaw." Well, that revelation could have knocked me over with a feather(stonehough). I don' t know - was that for real, or a joke?

And is not the Scots name Menzies, which we in the US would pronounce as written, pronounced "Men-ees" somewhere in the Highlands? There's also the Yorkshire policeman Andy Dalziel, from the excellent detective series by Reg Hill, who laughs at people who don't pronounce his name "Deal," as it should be (and Andy is proud that it's a Scots name).

Well, now . . as for names of Scottish persons . .
I fear, linguo-culturally, there's never a simple formula; you see, as with the North American nations, Scotland was colonized, and settled, in "waves":

Picts- 300 BC - 600 AD [Grampians, then south & west]
Irish- 500 AD - 950 AD [Argyll/Inner Hebrides]
Norse & Norse-Manx- 550 AD - 900 AD [Hebrides/Caithness]
Cymric Britons- 650 AD - 850 AD [from Strathclyde, up thru Borders]
Anglo-French Normans- 1100 AD - 1350 AD [Borders, up thru Sutherland]

Small wonder that so little from beyond Hadrian's Wall makes a uniform sense, eh?
For instance, besides planting 4 "native" languages across the country (Gaelic, Doric, English & Scots), here are some examples of local family & place names resulting from that intense, hybrid acculturation:

Colqhoun: caw-LOON / cal-HOON
Buchan: BOO-wunn
Dalzell: DEE-ul / DAZ-zull
Balmoral: bam-MOR'L
Menzies: MING-us / MAN-suss
Edinburgh: AD-un-BUR-r(u)h
Wemyss: weems
Islay: I-luh
Strachan: strawn
Cruachan: KROO-wa-kun
Dalrymple: darr-RILE
Hawick: hoyk
Farquarson: FAK-sun
Cumming: KOH-meen
Leod: lowd
Kirkcudbright: KUR-coo-bree
Magnus: mangz
Ruadrigh: ROHR-ree
Kerr: kahrr
Scrymgeour: SKRIM-sher
Borthwick: bohr'k
MacEwen: mick-YOON
Home: h[y]oom
Machrahanish: max-eh-ruh-HENDJ

And remember, when toasting a Scotsman, always shout: "Slainte mhath!" (pronouned slahn-chuh vay).

CoffeeDan wrote:Ahem -- I'm the "someone" who started the pronunciation thread on the TCM boards.

Oh hello! I hope you don't mind my starting this thread.

Not at all, Carrie. Actually, I'm glad you that you did -- I've been cutting back on my computer time these days, since it's beginning to interfere too much with Real Life, but I'm still striving for balance.

To answer some of your other queries, it's MAY-lin Hamilton (if it's the same as actor Mahlon Clark), Frank bor-ZAY-ge (hard "g", as Chris mentioned earlier), and Frieda in-NESS-kort.

And for Deborah Kerr, I always remember the billboard campaign that started when she signed with MGM: "Deborah Kerr -- Rhymes With 'Star'!"

Hi, Klonny, welcome back.

Thans for the pronunciation guide.

"Wemyss=weems."

Now I understand why the surname of famous 17th Century English diarist Samuel Pepys is pronounced "Peeps." (But it's still a silly name.)

jdb1 wrote:Hi, Klonny, welcome back.

Thans for the pronunciation guide.

"Wemyss=weems."

Now I understand why the surname of famous 17th Century English diarist Samuel Pepys is pronounced "Peeps." (But it's still a silly name.)

Yup, one thing you can say for the English under William & Mary . . they were definitely down with their pepys.
'Specially 'round Easter time!
And thanx for the welcome; friends like you is what made coming back such a distinct joy!