Arrrgh! I missed that this thread was started in 2018. It's an interesting subject, but the OP has long since given his talk.
There was a commercial several years ago for a product or service that I have long since forgotten, that revolved around a job applicant repeatedly addressing the owner of the Dumas company as Mr. "Dumb-a-ss". I have encountered a handful of situations where people have assumed the pronunciation of a person's name to be something quite crude. When in doubt, I ask how to pronounce a person's name before I attempt to do so. I have sometimes been quite surprised at the answer when it's nothing like the way it is spelled in English.
Like Worcester, Massachusetts.
Many immigrants that came through Ellis Island had the spelling, and pronunciation, of their names changed by the Immigration officials and it continued to be used by the government and subsequently by the people wanting to become citizens. I have several friends whose family names were changed that way, and over a hundred years later they still use the "Americanized" version.
There was a commercial several years ago for a product or service that I have long since forgotten, that revolved around a job applicant repeatedly addressing the owner of the Dumas company as Mr. "Dumb-a-ss". I have encountered a handful of situations where people have assumed the pronunciation of a person's name to be something quite crude. When in doubt, I ask how to pronounce a person's name before I attempt to do so. I have sometimes been quite surprised at the answer when it's nothing like the way it is spelled in English.
Like Worcester, Massachusetts.
Many immigrants that came through Ellis Island had the spelling, and pronunciation, of their names changed by the Immigration officials and it continued to be used by the government and subsequently by the people wanting to become citizens. I have several friends whose family names were changed that way, and over a hundred years later they still use the "Americanized" version.
