Pronunciation issue

[kiramdear]

Anybody want a shot at pronouncing my last name? I've heard it all.

"De-Grey"?

[beatlefreak]

Degree?

[sowhat]

Digrey?

[jimk]

Anybody want a shot at pronouncing my last name? I've heard it all.

deh-GRAY

(I hope I didn't embarrass myself)
JimK

[stubby]

DAY - gray.

[jps]

Those of you who can read German . . . er, Schweizerdeutsch . . . can get a bit more info here:

http://www.migrationsmuseum.ch/index.php?navid=6

My brother-in-law, and his kids, can. They are from Zürich.

[ben_brown]

I have never heard "backer" until I joined this forum.

[beatlefreak]

For years I pronounced it 'bocker', but have been training myself to say 'backer'. It is, afterall, how the company says it should be pronounced. It makes sense, too. There's a Rickenbacker ad from the sixties headed The Beatle Backer. It wouldn't make much sense to pronounce it as "The Beatle Bocker".

[jps]

Any one ever heard of a linebocker?

[rikk]

Kris, you got it. "S"es are silent, like the temperature. Although my grandmother pronounced it VERY differently.

[johnallg]

For years I pronounced it 'bocker', but have been training myself to say 'backer'. It is, afterall, how the company says it should be pronounced.

Same here, Kris. After 3+ years of training, saying "bocker" now sounds weird.

[rikk]

For years I pronounced it 'bocker', but have been training myself to say 'backer'. It is, afterall, how the company says it should be pronounced.

Same here, Kris. After 3+ years of training, saying "bocker" now sounds weird.

Say it real fast so you can't tell which way.

[rickenbrother]

Any one ever heard of a linebocker?

Or firecracker?

[drumbob]

If it was spelled Rickenbacher, it would be pronounced Ricken-bocker. That's the correct German way. We Anglicize the pronunciation, so it's a short a sound, which is technically correct for that spelling.

I guess the five years of German I took should count for something, right?

I say Ricken-backer.

[kiramdear]

A rick is a rick is a rick; by any other name it would still chime as sweetly. I think it's more important that people want to say the name than it is how they say it.

I don't bother to correct them; I'm already quite fascist and pedantic sounding on any number of subjects, thank you. One just tries to lead by example...