Here's where you can ask how to pronounce exotic band names

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (554 of them)

Ay-gay Bahm-yah-see, I think.

What about Justus Kohncke? I get the vague impression that his first name should be something like "Eustace" before my pitiful grasp on German sounds gives out completely. And is his last name "Conk" or is there some rule of German that makes it sound completely different?

― Telephonething, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:53 (twenty-one years ago)

three weeks pass...

Justus: Something like "Yoostoos" rather, with both vowels short.
Köhncke: Approximately "Kernke" with non-pronunciation of the r.

What about [Marc] Ribot? Rib-EAU in the French manner or simply Ribbot?

― OleM (OleM), Friday, 8 April 2005 15:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Ree-BOW, I think, but I could be (and probably am) completely and embarrassingly wrong.

― Telephonething, Friday, 8 April 2005 15:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Sharrock: Shuh-ROCK

― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Friday, 8 April 2005 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

How about Urusei Yatsura?
OOD-sayee yachts-da.
Maybe in Scottish! In Japanese it's "Ooh-Ru-Say-Ee Ya-Tsu-Ra"--Just like it looks

-- Good Dog (feather...) (webmail), October 19th, 2004 4:09 PM.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Haha, good luck in Japan!
-- gygax! (gygax0...) (webmail), October 19th, 2004 4:11 PM. (gygax!)

This is funny. I think gygax is close but if you say it the way good dog wrote it while using a lazy 'r' that comes close to sounding like a 'd' and while eliding the 'u's, you'll have it.

No one ever answered this upthread, ages ago, so I'll do it.

Les Rita Mitsouko = Lay Reeta Meetsuko

― M. White (Miguelito), Friday, 8 April 2005 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

AC/DC : "Ach und Dich"

― donut debonair (donut), Friday, 8 April 2005 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Kitsune: Kitsoon? Kitsoonay? Kitchen?

― davidsim (davidsim), Friday, 8 April 2005 22:45 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always just pronounced it kee-tsu-nay with no syllabic emphasis, like the Japanese word. I imagine the Francofied version would sound pretty similar, too, just with an emphasis on the final syllable (they write it with an acute accent, IIRC, or is it grave? whatever).

― Telephonething, Saturday, 9 April 2005 03:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Charalambides is correctly pronounced "shar-uh-lam-bee-dez"

Dif Juz is a corruption of "diffuse"

― Ian Riese-Moraine. To Hell with you and your gradual evolution! (Eastern Mantra), Saturday, 9 April 2005 03:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Did anyone ever clear up the Jandek "jan" or "yan" thing?

― Fa Fa fa FA, Fa fa Fa fa FA Fa (poop), Friday, 15 April 2005 01:15 (twenty-one years ago)

This is funny. I think gygax is close but if you say it the way good dog wrote it while using a lazy 'r' that comes close to sounding like a 'd' and while eliding the 'u's, you'll have it.

-- M. White (deir...), April 8th, 2005 12:40 PM. (Miguelito) (later)

In the west the lips get round for the "R" and the tongue is isolate; whereas in Japan I hear more of a brief tap of the tongue behind the front teeth with a "D"/"L" hybrid enunciation. The measured phonics (as MWhite and Good Dog suggest) I never seem to hear outside of gaijin-speak. Many of the middle and trailing "U"s in Japanese are so short they're barely audible... for example:

Kitsune: Kitsoon? Kitsoonay? Kitchen?

the hiragana for kitsune is:
‚« ki, pronounced "kee"
‚Â tsu, pronounced "tsoo"
‚Ë ne, prounounced "nay"

Speaking in measured phonics would sound like "kee-tsoo-nay" but what i hear in a typical japanese speaker tone is more like "keets-nay". YMMV.

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 15 April 2005 01:45 (twenty-one years ago)

one month passes...

From an ignorant New Pornographers (and Destroyer) fan:
Dan Bejar = BAY har? Bee JAR?

― jedidiah (jedidiah), Friday, 27 May 2005 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

I always just say "Sakamoto" to avoid that first name:

Ryuichi...

Ry-oo-chi?

Ry-oo-ee-chi?

I had a friend who just called him Ricki.

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Bejar:
I have a friend with the same last name and he pronounces it Bee Har.

Ryuichi:
Leeoochee (to say it gracefully: evenly and quick, like 2.5 syllables).

― gygax! (gygax!), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:07 (twenty-one years ago)

David Pajo: PADGE-o? PAY-yo? PAH-ho?

― Curt (cgould), Friday, 27 May 2005 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

two weeks pass...

this isn't a band name, but how exactly does one say 'arular'?

― buzz fledderjon, Sunday, 12 June 2005 18:51 (twenty years ago)

How about these:
Dungen?
Dettinger?
L'usine?
Ulf Lohmann?

― Old No.7, Sunday, 12 June 2005 21:49 (twenty years ago)

I think Dungen is Done-yen

― Black Arkestra (Black Arkestra), Sunday, 12 June 2005 23:37 (twenty years ago)

J Mascis' surname?

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Monday, 13 June 2005 00:06 (twenty years ago)

"Mash-is," I think.

And I've just been saying "Are-u-lar" (long U, emphasis on the first syllable). Both may be horribly, tragically wrong, but I'm sticking with 'em, god dammit.

― Telephonething, Monday, 13 June 2005 01:24 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

I am forever clueless about how to pronounce ENNIO MORRICONE. is it ee-nee-oh more-ee-cone?

― La Monte (La Monte), Sunday, 10 July 2005 00:53 (twenty years ago)

Eh-nee-oh more-ee-CO-neh, I'm pretty sure. LATIN CLASS DON'T FAIL ME NOW.

― Telephonething (Telephonething), Sunday, 10 July 2005 01:04 (twenty years ago)

Screw African poverty. This is how the musicians should've spent a Saturday raising awareness.

― Cunga (Cunga), Sunday, 10 July 2005 04:03 (twenty years ago)

Lisa Kekaula?

― mentalist (mentalist), Sunday, 10 July 2005 04:20 (twenty years ago)

Vybz Kartel?
-- whenuweremine (aretz...), February 6th, 2005.

Vybz Kartel = vibes cartel

― Hot Pants, Sunday, 10 July 2005 20:14 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

celtic frost:

SELL-tik or KELL-tik?

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:20 (twenty years ago)

I say keltic.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, Keltic, seconded.

I may be dumb, but as i got 14/1 on M.I.A. winning the mercury, can someone please tell me how to pronouce her name? is it maya? or EM.AYE.AI?

― bg (creamolafoam), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 14:01 (twenty years ago)

thank you both.

as for MIA/maya, i've always taken it that MAYA is her birth name and EM AYE AY is her stage name and, therefore, you can pretty much use the pronunciations interchangeably.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 14:09 (twenty years ago)

Ferenc?

― andrew m. (andrewmorgan), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 15:40 (twenty years ago)

I've only heard "mass-kiss" for Mascis.

― nickn (nickn), Tuesday, 2 August 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

M.I.A. = her initials, with Maya being her first name

― naus (Robert T), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 07:47 (twenty years ago)

Ferenc = feh-rents, I think.

― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 08:05 (twenty years ago)

[sheepishly]
Beyoncé, anyone?

― Myonga Von Bonehead (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:32 (twenty years ago)

popular electrohouse artist chelonis r. jones: shell-on-is? chell-on-is? "other"??

― haitch (haitch), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 14:07 (twenty years ago)

30 years I've been saying "one-oh-one-ers", and the other night I heard a deejay say "one-hundred-one-ers". Pleas tell me he's wrong.

― brianiac (briania), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

siouxsie = ???

― shudder redduhs (shudder), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 15:23 (twenty years ago)

susy

― fe zaffe (fezaffe), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

bee-YON-say

― jaymc (jaymc), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 15:34 (twenty years ago)

[i]susy
-- fe zaffe [/i]

it was that easy all along? damn!

― shudder redduhs (shudder), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 16:52 (twenty years ago)

How do you pronounce the band name "Le Tigre"?
Is it like Lee Tig Ray

― hannah, Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:23 (twenty years ago)

Luh Tee-gruh

― Rizz (Rizz), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

isolée.

is it french-like: ee-zo-lay
or english-like: eye-so-lee

― shudder redduhs (shudder), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 19:31 (twenty years ago)

Ee-zo-lay, accent on the last syllable...

And is it just me, or can anyone else not listen to "Easy Lee" anymore without mentally inserting "Isolée"?

― Telephonething (Telephonething), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 20:01 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

help me out my friends:

kreucht
fleucht

― jergins (jergins), Thursday, 22 September 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

three weeks pass...

The dude in the record shop who used to play bass in my brother's band and who annoys me by acting like he knows more than he does (don't dispute Bark Psychosis minutiae with me, Graham Sutton's number is in my phone) pronounced Geogaddi "heothadgy" or something yesterday.

How do YOU say it?

― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 18 October 2005 12:25 (twenty years ago)

nmperign??? i say en-emm-pear-inn
tu m'???
Laddio bolocko? the goblin voice on the last track seems to say bo-low-ko, rather than BOLLOCK-O

And what about the Bevis Frond? I figure it must be Bevvis, but I so want it to be Beavis.

― MESTEMA (davidcorp), Wednesday, 26 October 2005 11:32 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

Róisín?

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Thursday, 10 November 2005 23:49 (twenty years ago)

one month passes...

I've heard it pronounced "Roy-sheen." All, er, two times I've heard it said aloud.

Robag Wruhme? Because if his last name really is pronounced "vroom" then that is awesome.

― telephone thing, Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:18 (twenty years ago)

That's German, right? In that case it's more like "vroomer" (in a non-rhotic dialect of English, ie the last r is silent).

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Thursday, 15 December 2005 09:55 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 454 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.