Stephen Colbert's pronunciation of his name

dxhound2005

It would become a lot more common if some Irish people got their way. All the Gallaghers, Cahills, Dohertys etc from round the world would have to learn to say their family names a new way. At least Colbert is not trying to force anyone else to follow him.

dxhound2005

dxhound2005 wrote: »

John Cleese's father changed his name from Cheese to Cleese.

His Dad deserves a shout out for that, for blessed are the Cleesemakers.

dxhound2005

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Some people have got it into their heads that there can only ever be one pronunciation, one definition, and one spelling for each word. This is the cause of much of the wrong headed posts on threads like this.

Nobody is really saying that, nevertheless there are incorrect pronunciations of words.

It is a bit mad, but the maddest thing of all is telling other people that they don't know how to pronounce their own family name.

If someone spells his name Ian, but pronounces it like ion is that correct? We can respect peoples wishes but nevertheless disagree with it.

If Colbert's relations were all Irish then he has clearly changed the pronunciation. Colbert is an Irish name, the origins in Ireland have nothing to do with the French name. An easier way to drop the T is to get rid of it. Rename himself to CoalBear.

dxhound2005

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Weird and strange? Not to me.

If his name was Jimmy Smith and he changed his pronunciation from Smith to Smy, you would be incensed so you would.

JeffreyEpspeen

Self-loathing re: his Irishness?

The Colbert Report sounds better with a hard t anyway.

bnt

biko wrote: »

That's what happens when you're full of yourself like Stephen is.

If so, he's turned that in to a useful persona for TV. The pretentious side of Colbert became a separate character, the kind of twit who thinks that because the T can be silent in his name, it's also silent in "report". He's described Stephen Colbert, the character, as "a fool who has spent a lot of his life playing not the fool – one who is able to cover it at least well enough to deal with the subjects that he deals with". He seems to have fooled a lot of people in to thinking that's who he really is.

Tilden Katz

Did you smash it wrote: »

I think you missed the point. That point is he has changed how he pronounces his name compared to how his father pronounced it.

That’s the weird part. Ultimately he can pronounce it as he wishes but it’s strange to suddenly change the pronunciation of your own name at 30 or whenever he decided to do it.

Well actually, and I only discovered this in the last 24 hours, apparently Stephen Colbert’s father wanted to changed the pronunciation to Colber(silent T) but didn’t out of respect to his own father. But of his offspring, some pronounce it Colbert and some pronounce it Colber(silent T).

dxhound2005 wrote: »

It is a bit mad, but the maddest thing of all is telling other people that they don't know how to pronounce their own family name.

It just seems silly and pretentious to some of us to change it. Colbert is such an inoffensive name. And of course it makes no difference to any of our lives. But if that was the criterion for discussion on message boards, they’d quickly grind to a halt.

Pyridine

An explanation from the man himself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QquTUR9nbC4

Badly Drunk Boy

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Some people have got it into their heads that there can only ever be one pronunciation, one definition, and one spelling for each word. This is the cause of much of the wrong headed posts on threads like this.

It is a bit mad, but the maddest thing of all is telling other people that they don't know how to pronounce their own family name.

There aren't infinite ways to pronounce names and words either. And there are wrong ways to pronounce names, but...if continued, a wrong way can become an acceptable version. It doesn't just become a 'right' way automatically because somebody uttered it into the Cosmos.

Did you smash it wrote: »

I think you missed the point. That point is he has changed how he pronounces his name compared to how his father pronounced it.

That’s the weird part. Ultimately he can pronounce it as he wishes but it’s strange to suddenly change the pronunciation of your own name at 30 or whenever he decided to do it.

It was his father who gave him the idea, according to a previous post, suggesting to his sons to use either version. Stephen then opted for it when starting a new part of his life (university in a new area).

While changing the pronunciation of your name is a bit odd, it's not exactly an abominable act. Plenty of people change their names when going into 'showbiz' and nothing is thought of that. (I know he did it a bit earlier.)

dxhound2005

Badly Drunk Boy wrote: »

There aren't infinite ways to pronounce names and words either. And there are wrong ways to pronounce names, but...if continued, a wrong way can become an acceptable version. It doesn't just become a 'right' way automatically because somebody uttered it into the Cosmos.

The pronunciations/spellings/definitions which are in use are listed in dictionaries. They include variants where they are in use, e.g. Z is used in some American spellings instead of S. That is a long way from being infinite.