The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #124681 Message #2756916
Posted By: McGrath of Harlow
31-Oct-09 - 04:44 PM
Thread Name: BS: American English usages taking over Brit
Subject: RE: BS: American English usages taking over Brit
Changing the pronunciation of foreign words when they come into the language is a reasonable thing to do. And the same is true when it comes to accepting that certain foreign names have an established pronunciation which has gone native - as for example Paris, or the examples Q gave.
But that is different from what happens when politicians and broadcasters impose an invented mispronunciation on the name of a foreign country or on someone from a foreign country who comes into the news. Basic good manners should require that an attempt is made to say such names in a way that is broadly accurate.
Failure to do this is either laziness or indicates a lack of courtesy. It seems to be saying, in Bill D's words "I am not going to make those funny sounds, no matter how the natives say it!"