Pronouncing Bowie

[David Bowie]

In the thread "Phonetic alphabets",
Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU> wrote:

: Any relation to James Bowie of the knife?  I think he's also [bui]...

He's a somewhat distant cousin. There was a pair of brothers surnamed Bowie
who came to Maryland from Scotland a couple centuries back--Jim Bowie is
either descended from the brother i'm not descended from (i think it's that
one, but this is from fuzzy memories--my father's the one who'd know), or
else his line breaks off from mine one generation later.

: ...And is Bowie, MD a family namesake?

Maryland had two governors Bowie--and Oden Bowie was apparently good enough
at it during his one term in office (1869-1872) to have not one, but two
towns named for him (Bowie and Odenton). He was a horse breeder, and the one
who came up with the Preakness--maybe that counted for more then than it
does now. (He was also a railroad owner, the governor that oversaw the
reopening of the U of Maryland School of Law, and the first Maryland
governor to live in the current governor's mansion, FWIW.)

I've seen that there's a Bowie County in Texas. I've always presumed that
one's pronounced [bu.i], but anyone out there know for sure?

And then, of course, there's the only pronunciation of my name i actively
*dis*like: [bau.i]. *Pure* reading pronunciation, i'd thought, before i met
someone from Canada (Toronto area, IIRC) who's surnamed Bowie and pronounces
it that way himself.

David Bowie                                         http://pmpkn.net/lx
    Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
    house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
    chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.