BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: GUEST,Boab
Date: 04 Oct 01 - 12:54 AM

I told a tale recently on mudcat about a party across the dtreet and our frantic improvisation in getting a barrel of beer to give up its contents. Our host's name was Colin ---aye, "Koh-lin" It seems to depend on just where in Scotland you were raised; I never once ran into a "Caw-lin".

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 11:03 PM

The composer Ralph Vaughn-Williams, pronounced Rafe. John in Hull, is this a Welsh idiosyncrasy? Sophocleese, well here in Canada (Alberta and Saskatchewan, the important parts) Colin is nearly always Coal-in except for new American expatriates a'workin for the oil companies.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: sophocleese
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 10:10 PM

Well here in Canada (a cultural oasis sitting now here and now there between the two cultures) anybody I've known with the name has alway pronounced it Caw-lin. Coh-lin seems affected to me, sort of like holding your pinky at an angle when drinking tea which isn't really classy but only thinks it is, but I don't know an awful lot about vowels in other dialects or regions.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 09:18 PM

Actually, I don't drink, John. I do make typos however :-)

Interesting to read all the input so far. It would appear that KOH-lin is not a universal American usage.

My recollection, as I said in the first post is that Powell was referred to as "Collin" by the media in the early nineties, I am sure I would have noticed otherwise.

But, my memory MAY be playing tricks.

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 09:08 PM

You been at the whisky Murray? It's JOHN. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 09:07 PM

My son, Colin, born in the USA, is called Cawl-lin, as that is the way I'd heard it always pronounced, as though it was spelled "Collin." I named him that for our Scottish and Irish ancestry.

I despise that Powell has his pronounded the way he does. It is asinine, IMO.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 08:58 PM

Johm, necause he's a rover, and seldom sober. (Joke which might not be understood by anybody outside of Kirkcaldy)

Actually, I think he pronounces his name "Raif" ....

Murray

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 08:48 PM

Reminds me of the actor Ralph Fiennes, his name gets pronounced Raith. I am not sure why.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 08:44 PM

Guest Genie, you would be out of step in Cheney, Washington (Chay-ny). I once had a coll-ie dog, but in Dog Heaven it probably is Coal-ie.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 08:31 PM

From the interview I heard, I got the impression that he was given the short-A pronunciation at birth and would actually prefer it, but he is resigned to its having been transformed into the long-A version.

It's kind of like our Veep, Dick "Cheeney," who has gotten used to being called "Chayney," because the mispronunciation is so widespread.

Genie

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: CarolC
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 08:17 PM

Powell's parents were immigrants to the US from an island nation. I'm not sure which one, but I think it had a British cultural tendency. My understanding is that his parents were more British, culturally, than they were American. And they gave him the British pronounciation when he was born.

I don't know what the origins of the other fellow's pronounciation, the one that Powell now uses, were.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: Bert
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 08:14 PM

McGrath, I think it's just American, having heard the name Ian pronounced Ion.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 08:12 PM

I'ver heard it being said as Colon Bowel, which at least is consistent.

What I'm not clear is whether this an individual family idiosyncracy, or is that the normal way Americans pronounce the name? I imagine they might start doing so now, but up till now have they?

I don't think anybody this side of the Atlantic has ever pronounced it that way, except in relation to the General.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: CarolC
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 08:03 PM

...or maybe it was MSNBC. And if I remember correctly, the last name of the other guy was the same as the name of the street that the Powell family lived on. That seemed to have something to do with it along with the fact that young Colin seemed to be fascinated with all things military.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: CarolC
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 07:55 PM

He was given the "Collin" pronounciation at birth, but because of some events during his childhood, the pronounciaton of "COL-in" that was used by someone who had become notable during WWII got applied to him by the people in his neighborhood, and it stuck. I can't remember the last name of the other guy.

Anyway, that's what I heard in a biography about him on CNN recently.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: Bert
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 07:47 PM

Yeah the American pronunciation is quite amusing. In England it was 'o' as in dog and 'i' as in tin. In America the poor guy goes by the name of Colon.

Subject: RE: BS: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: harpgirl
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 07:42 PM

...hi murray...my grandad's name was Colin and we called him "Coal Lin". I thought that was an English pronounciation. But he was so self-deprecating, he could have wanted it another way but never said anything. hg

Subject: Pronunciation of 'Colin'
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 03 Oct 01 - 07:35 PM

The thing that puzzles me most about this current crisis is how Colin Powell has morphed into "KOH-lin" Powell. I have seen him on TV on and off ever since the Gulf War and I could swear that years ago his first name used to be "COLLIN", just like half the boys I grew up with in Scotland. (The other half were all called Angus)

So can somebody shed some light on the matter? Is this the current hip American pronunciation? I used to think it was affectation on the part of the American media, but even Tony Blair calls him "KOH-lin". What do YOU call the Colin in your life ?

Murray