Krikorian: People should stop pronouncing Sotomayor’s name correctly.

[Enrique]

Don't give in! Keep pronouncing Spanish names like a real American!

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/krikorian-sotomayor/

Krikorian: People should stop pronouncing Sotomayor’s name correctly.

Mark Krikorian of the right-wing Center for Immigration Studies blogs on the Corner today about his outrage over people “eferring” to Sotomayor over the “unnatural pronunciation” of her own name:

Deferring to people’s own pronunciation of their names should obviously be our first inclination, but there ought to be limits. Putting the emphasis on the final syllable of Sotomayor is unnatural in English (which is why the president stopped doing it after the first time at his press conference), unlike my correspondent’s simple preference for a monophthong over a diphthong, and insisting on an unnatural pronunciation is something we shouldn’t be giving in to...

One of the areas where conformity is appropriate is how your new countrymen say your name, since that’s not something the rest of us can just ignore, unlike what church you go to or what you eat for lunch. And there are basically two options — the newcomer adapts to us, or we adapt to him. And multiculturalism means there’s a lot more of the latter going on than there should be.

What’s next? Should people with “unnatural” names “adopt a name just for identification purposes that’s easier for Americans to deal with“?

[FSogol]

1. IIRC, the correct pronunciation for Krikokian is:

"Shithead" with equal emphasis on the first and second syllables.

[Ganja Ninja]

4. Cri-cokey-an?

No wait, Cri-cory-an :shrug:

[Adelante]

2. The "newcomer" who was born and raised in the Bronx

These "new countrymen" are just nuts :crazy:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

3. OK, line up, and let's draw straws -

who's gonna be the one to tell this dickwad that this is America in 2009?

[shadowknows69]

23. You'd have to tattoo it on the inside of his eyelids for it to work

Hey....Any tattooists in the house?

[izquierdista]

5. Unnatural names

That's what most of us Polacks have had to do. Well, except for Zbigniew Brzezinski, he didn't make any accommodation for mush-mouth Americans.

[calico1]

6. What exactly is a "natural" American name?

Krikorian?

[Enrique]

7. I'm going to call him Mark Smith

I'm not going to "give in" to the pressure to call him by his actual name.

[FSogol]

9. Sacawajea?

[Vickers]

8. Well ain't *that* the Krikorian calling the Sotomayor black...

:eyes:

[Caliman73]

10. Wasn't it some Texas Congress person who said....

That Chinese people should have names that are easier to pronounce? How about not be lazy and learning how to pronounce things. You don't have to get the mechanics down pat, just try a bit.

[Javaman]

11. And this, I give you, is the best they got.

and I should be worried about the repukes why?

they are now getting down to twisting peoples names to look cool.

well, since they act like they are 7 years old, this falls right in line with their mentality.

[Javaman]

12. And this, I give you, is the best they got.

and I should be worried about the repukes why?

they are now getting down to twisting peoples names to look cool.

well, since they act like they are 7 years old, this falls right in line with their mentality.

[MountainLaurel]

13. Shouldn't he be out

Working on a eugenics plan or something?

[Cha]

14. Fuck the xenophobic.

dissing pig.

[BuddhaGirl]

15. I'd like to know how the idiot pronounces his own

"foreign" Armenian name :eyes:

Technically it's Kreekoree-yahn, with emphasis on the last syllable.

Is it ok with you, Mark, if I pronounce it Krye kor ain???

Jesus effing christ!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

16. LOLZ...remember this the next time some DUer tries to cite CIS as a valid source for immigration

facts.

[Gormy Cuss]

17. Great idea, Mr. Creh-core-EE-an.

Emphasis on the second syllable of a four syllable name has to be on the penultimate syllable to be American.

[LanternWaste]

18. Krikorian is pronounced 'Smith', yes?

Krikorian is pronounced 'Smith', yes? Otherwise it sounds... unnatural.

[calico1]

20. I agree.

"Krikorian" sounds too ethnic.

:-)

[LanternWaste]

22. Every time I see one of your posts...

Every time I see one of your posts I am reminded of the song, Calico Girlfriend, by Mike Nesmith-- damn you :P

[Uncle Joe]

24. Krikorian sounds too much like Kryptonite; alien and possibly harmful to super heroes.

Does anyone know if Krikorian has been vetted?

[DinahMoeHum]

29. Actually, it's pronounced "ESHEK"

"Eshek" is the American Armenian way of saying "asshole"

:evilgrin:

[kiranon]

19. And we should pronounce Boehner as Boner not Baner? Hmmm. Ok.

[Berry Cool]

26. It's like Stephanie Miller always says--

"When two vowels go walkin' the first one does the talkin'." :rofl:

[kskiska]

21. They still haven't even nailed Cheney

Lynn Cheney has said on TV that it's CHEE-nee. Now her daughter is saying it's CHAY-nee. Maybe they're taking a page out of Ronald REE-gan's book.

[Duer 157099]

25. Seems to me it may be derived from "mejor" and anyone who knows Spanish

knows that "mejor" is pronounced with emphasis on the second syllable.

Idiotas (Krikorian et al)

[calico1]

30. Actually "mayor" would be translated to mean

"elder" or "senior" depending on the context. But you are correct, the emphasis is on the second syllable so it is ma-YOR.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

36. Or "bigger," or "biggest." -nt

[shadowknows69]

27. They got nothin'

[Jack Rabbit]

28. Here in California we have no problem pronoucing her name correctly

soh toh mai YOR

Be sure to give the final r a light twirl. If you are from the northeast, this may take some getting used to, but it is something that makes Spanish a beautiful language which to listen.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, himself a recognized master of the English language, said that in his opinion Spanish is the best language for poetry.

[calico1]

31. There are a lot of us Hispanics in the North East too.n/t

[lunatica]

32. OK from now on everyone's names are John Doe and Jane Doe

Problem solved. Unless everyone prefers to go by a number, but only in English 'cause those french numbers are way too hard to remember, much less pronounce.

[kentuck]

33. Who is this Kivorkian dude, anyway?

:-)

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

34. The mayor of De Soto, TX may be annoyed by the confusion. -nt

[DaveinJapan]

35. Moron should change HIS name...

How the hell do you pronounce Kirkorian? It's kinda weird. All those K's keep getting stuck in my throat, plus that weird as hell "orian" thing at the end. He should change it!

[Iggo]

37. This from the people...

...who go out of their way to pronounce "Iraq" the most difficult way possible: Eye-Rack.

It's not about ease of pronunciation. It's about finding ways to insult people and trying to look like a victim while doing it.