[Ads-l] Cooking with the Kochs

[Wilson Gray]

Wikipedia:

“The Koch family (/ˈkoʊk/ <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English>
KOKE <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Pronunciation_respelling_key>) …”

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’ve 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, “I think not.”

OTOH, according to the first article respecting the Koch brothers that I
read in the NYT, the relevant Koch family itself prefers the pronunciation,
“Cook.” By complete coincidence, there were, in post-war Saint 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 “Koch,” 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 “Cook.”

Youneverknow.

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