[Ads-l] Cooking with the Kochs

[Peter Reitan]

The only family I know with the name spelled K-o-c-h pronounces it Cook.

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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2017 9:50:31 AM
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Subject: Cooking with the Kochs

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Subject:      Cooking with the Kochs
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Wikipedia:

=E2=80=9CThe Koch family (/=CB=88ko=CA=8Ak/ <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/=
Help:IPA/English>
KOKE <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key>) =E2=
=80=A6=E2=80=9D

This pronunciation, [koUk], is the one that I use for this name,
irregardless of any contra-indicative evidence: Mayor Coke and not Mayor
Kotch. I=E2=80=99ve never so much as seen in person anyone even rumored to =
bear
this name. So, does anyone else really care? In the words of the living
legend, Noam Chomsky, =E2=80=9CI think not.=E2=80=9D

OTOH, according to the first article respecting the Koch brothers that I
read in the NYT, the relevant Koch family itself prefers the pronunciation,
=E2=80=9CCook.=E2=80=9D By complete coincidence, there were, in post-war Sa=
int Louis, when
white folk still played ball, a couple of brothers - in the genetic sense -
Bob and Jerry, who were locally-famous as b-ballaz. They even attained some
level of all-America status. Their surname was also =E2=80=9CKoch,=E2=80=9D=
 pronounced
KOKE, as Wikipedia states. However, by further complete coincidence,
_these_ brothers Koch also said, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
that their surname was, in fact, properly pronounced =E2=80=9CCook.=E2=80=
=9D

Youneverknow.

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