City Names

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 12:13 PM 12/6/99 -0700, you wrote:
>Given that my name does*n't* sound like the name of the rather more famous
>David Bowie,[1] i've learned to take my name being mispronounced in stride.
>
>Still doesn't explain multiple telemarketers calling and asking for what
>sounds to me like "David Botha", though.
>
>[1] FTR, his last name is [bo.i], mine is [bu.i]. To drag this back on-topic
>for the list, i've been told that there's a north-south difference on the
>island containing Scotland and England (is there a name for that island) for
>my last name, where in the north it's [bu.i] and in the south it's [bo.i],
>but i haven't been able to verify this.

It's Great Britain!

>David Bowie                                       Department of English
>Assistant Professor                            Brigham Young University
>db.list at pmpkn.net              http://humanities.byu.edu/faculty/bowied
>    The opinions stated here are not necessarily those of my employer
>
>From: "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at PILOT.MSU.EDU>
>
>
>: Although she is proud of her Sicilian heritage, my wife (the former
>: Carol Guagliardo) finds some comfort in not hearing the disasters of
>: her name now that she is a Preston.
>
>: She reports some modifications that even suggested that speakers
>: looked no further than the first two or three letters.
>
>: >I believe our dear Brett Favre was born and raised in Mississippi
>: >and brought his unusual pronunciation with him. Certainly, Green Bay
>: >residents stumbled over the pronunciation in the early days, just as
>: >other people still do.
>
>: >French names are not the only ones with a variety of
>: >mispronunciations--we don't even want to get started Spanish names!
>: >As a high school student of Spanish I and II, I was shocked to hear
>: >La Junta, CO, pronounced with the English J!