Annoyance at incorrect pronunciation of Asperger

Page 2 of 3 [ 33 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next


Do you often hear people using the incorrect pronunciation?
Yes 29%  29%  [ 7 ]
No 46%  46%  [ 11 ]
Other 25%  25%  [ 6 ]
Total votes : 24

SilverProteus
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 20 Jul 2007
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,915
Location: Somewhere Over The Rainbow

11 Aug 2014, 6:08 am

Bleh, they're probably dyslexic if they switch the 'p' with a 'b'.



Piers
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 23 Jul 2014
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 71
Location: England, United Kingdom

11 Aug 2014, 12:09 pm

RetroGamer87 wrote:
No one down here uses the soft G. I've only heard the soft G from British documentaries. Just because people are from England, that doesn't mean they speak English properly. Even the Queen mispronounces certain words regularly. As Henry Higgins would say "why can't the English learn to speak?"

Piers, do you mean to say you've got asperger's and your name is Asperger? That is so meta :chin:


I do have Asperger's and my surname (and blood) most certainly is Austrian :p I was raised in the UK and live here so have to put up with people unable to speak English, still it's not as bad as talking with an American!



naturalplastic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Age: 70
Gender: Male
Posts: 35,189
Location: temperate zone

11 Aug 2014, 7:21 pm

Piers wrote:
naturalplastic wrote:
Always assumed it was the hard G (like granite) not the soft G (J sound).

But apparently the Brits say it with J sound half of the time and think it a correct alternate pronunciation.

To me that seems horribly wrong.

BUT...

It all hinges on one thing: how did Dr. Asperger's family get their name?

If he is named after an ancestor who came from the town of Asperg (in South Germany) than it can only be pronounced with the hard G ( in either English, or in the doctor's native Austrian German).

BUT..he could be named after an ancestor who sprinkled holy water in a Catholic Church. The name of that task is "asperging". The person who does it is an "asperger". The job title is pronounced with a hard G in the doctor's native German. But in English it is pronounced with the J sound. The job is pronounced "asperJer", thus the family named after the job title (like Schmidt/Smith) would also be Anglified to asperjer, and thus so would the name of the condition named after the doctor with that family name. So it could be argued that in English it would HAVE to be pronounced "asperjers".

Thats the rub.


But, a soft G doesn't exist in German.


WTF are YOU taking about?



Thats my VERY point! If you Anglicize it would be pronounced with a J sound. If you're speaking German you keep the G sound. As I said above several times.

By "Anglecize" I mean turn it into generic English ( I dont mean"to speak English in the British style').

But actually-it just occured to me that - if that IS why some folks use the soft G (to Anglecize) then that doesnt make sense.


We English speakers don't study "One Stone's Theory of Relativity". We call it "Einstein's Theory of Relativity". We don't Anglacize Albert's name. So why Anglecize Dr. Hans's name?

Screw "asperjer's"!

Hard G it is! I say!



skibum
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jul 2013
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,494
Location: my own little world

11 Aug 2014, 7:42 pm

Piers wrote:

I do have Asperger's and my surname (and blood) most certainly is Austrian :p I was raised in the UK and live here so have to put up with people unable to speak English, still it's not as bad as talking with an American!
We're not that bad. :p


_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph


kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

11 Aug 2014, 8:25 pm

Many people, including my mother (who has a Master's degree in Social Work) have spelled it "Asperger'S."

To be really correct, it should be pronounced the way the guy's last name was pronounced--in the German way.

The Anglicized way, of course, is quite acceptable to me.



Earth_Intruder
Tufted Titmouse
Tufted Titmouse

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jun 2014
Age: 54
Gender: Male
Posts: 38

11 Aug 2014, 8:55 pm

I don't think it matters where the Dr's name originated from, I think it matters how the Dr himself pronounced his name. The spelling and pronunciation of surnames mutate over time. My mom pronounces her maiden name the same as her father did, which was different from the way that some of her father's brother said it. I pronounce my name a little differently from my father, but in a manner that I feel is more universally accepted. My partner immigrated from France as a child with a difficult and rare surname and I honestly don't think he knows how to truly pronounce it in French, but, moreso, it is the case that he pronounces in a manner that should be phonetic to Americans, but gets butchered constantly by people trying to be fancy anyway. And the scary part is that I hope to someday marry him and take his name. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking that it will be fun to have an intimidating name. Oh, and one of his young relatives has starting using double capitalizations even though his family hasn't done that for as far back as he can trace. It actually ruffled his feathers slightly, but I think the best policy is to try to conform to the pronunciation that people use when saying their own name.



skibum
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jul 2013
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,494
Location: my own little world

11 Aug 2014, 9:18 pm

People mutilate my name all the time and some of them even have the nerve to argue with me about what my name is. It drives me nuts. After more than 4 decades of having my name I think I know what it is and how to pronounce it. :D


_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph


RetroGamer87
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Jul 2013
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,160
Location: Adelaide, Australia

11 Aug 2014, 9:44 pm

Even if we did want to anglicise asperger, the hard G also exists in English so there shouldn't be any need to soften it to make acceptable to anglophones. The fact is that some things just do get anglicized or else our history books would have Yooleeus Kyesahr in them.

My family have debates about how to pronounce our name. I'll admit that there was once a time when anglicizing it was a necessity but I think it's about time they acknowledged that the napoleonic wars are over.



ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 67
Gender: Male
Posts: 38,084
Location: Long Island, New York

12 Aug 2014, 1:43 am

It not the mispronunciation per say that bothers me. It is that bullys have used it to invalidate people and have largely succeeded in convincing people that what was was a huge positive is at best a neutral descriptor and at worst such a negative that it needs to be abandoned. Very infuriating.


_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


Piers
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 23 Jul 2014
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Posts: 71
Location: England, United Kingdom

12 Aug 2014, 10:38 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
It not the mispronunciation per say that bothers me. It is that bullys have used it to invalidate people and have largely succeeded in convincing people that what was was a huge positive is at best a neutral descriptor and at worst such a negative that it needs to be abandoned. Very infuriating.


That's one 'luxury' I didn't have - an early diagnosis. They still found other reasons to bully me, however.

My opinion, which may not have totally come across in the initial post, is that he was Austrian, therefore his name is pronounced with a hard G. Many words and names have been Anglicised, but names shouldn't. Let's take the Irish surname 'O'Reilly' - the Anglicised version would simply be 'Reilly' (an argument could be made, but ultimately would not be won).

Anyway, it appears that the majority aren't annoyed - I'll correct people where I feel it's appropriate as I'm used to doing it with my surname.



Kiriae
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Mar 2014
Age: 36
Gender: Female
Posts: 2,349
Location: Kraków, Poland

12 Aug 2014, 11:30 am

I have never heard anyone pronouncing Asperger any unusual way. Maybe I just didn't pay attention (I always use subtitles even in Polish movies because it is easier for me to read than listen). Or maybe I just don't watch enough English publications.
In Polish language there is only one way to pronounce it I guess. And it is As-per-ger, you pronounce it just it is written, you can clearly hear every letter. Someone calling it Asburger or Aspardżer would sound just weird.



skibum
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jul 2013
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,494
Location: my own little world

12 Aug 2014, 11:48 am

Azpardzer??? That's a first. LOL!! !!


_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph


skibum
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jul 2013
Age: 58
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,494
Location: my own little world

12 Aug 2014, 11:48 am

Aspardzer??? That's a first. LOL!! !!


_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph


CockneyRebel
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jul 2004
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Posts: 118,420
Location: In my little Olympic World of peace and love

12 Aug 2014, 6:20 pm

I've always pronounced it with a hard G.


_________________
The Family Enigma


MindBlind
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 1 May 2009
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,341

12 Aug 2014, 6:53 pm

I know, I think it's stupid. Just because a word sounds like something stupid in your own language, it doesn't mean you change the pronunciation. I've always pronounced it AsPERger and I see no problem with that.



Lumi
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Sep 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,513
Location: Positive-minded

12 Aug 2014, 9:50 pm

Surprised by how many replies.


_________________
Slytherin/Thunderbird