Who's Bearish on Med-Ved-eff?

[Jerry Katsell]

             Dear All,

 

            After an informal survey today of 14 American English
speakers with no Russian, the following pronounced transliterations
sounded reasonably like Medvedev to my near-native Russian ears:
Safire-Mid-VYE-def-0; Hill-Med-Ved-eff-6; Saunders-Mid-VEH-dyiff-4;

Katsell-Med-VED-yeff-4.

 

            Obviously the micro-survey is inconclusive. "Y" tended to be
pronounced like ee in eek, and to constitute a separate syllable.
Safire's VYE sounded like vee-ehh. "Mid" had a tendency to sound as flat
as "midday," and the point about "who needs the double ff?" is well
taken. Those pronouncing Prof. Hill's version did pretty well-though the
e in the eff at the end tended to be sounded like Russian Э.

 

            One wag suggested on learning the name's meaning: "Why don't
we just call him Dim Bear and fuggedaboudit!"

 

            Cheers,

 

            Jerry Katsell


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