Air May

So I was ordering an almond latte the other day.

Now typically, I'm a patient kind of guy; I'm kinda bothered when people mispronounce things, but I don't make a big deal about it. But on this day, the waiter decided to tactlessly correct me by repeating my order purposefully emphasizing "le TAY" (as is the typical HK pronunciation). To which I replied "that's right, I'd like an almond LA-tay" (it's entirely possible that my snarkiness was due to my morning coffee-deficiency). Looking back now, I guess it was kind of silly to risk getting a loogey laced latte but that guy was just so friggin' smug (without cause!!!)

Anyways, it got me thinking about all the famous designer names that are often mispronounced, despite the fact that said brands are held in such high esteem. It seems to me that designer-obsession basically breaks down to 2 reasons:

1) You admire the work of a particular fashion label
2) You want people to admire you for using the brand

If it's Case #1, then the least you can do is get the name right; it's just a matter of respect. And for Case #2, pronounciation is all the more important because if you're going to be a snob you need to sound like one (unless you want people to think of you as a neophyte).

I think the problem is that too few people (store employees included) bother to learn know the proper pronunciation and so everyone ends up sticking to what they hear. I understand that getting a grasp of a foreign language can be tricky, but it's not like you're actually learning entire phrases; it's just a name. For example, Versace, Gucci and Chanel could easily be pronounced "Ver-sayce", "Guki" and "Chan-nel" if it wasn't for their ubiquitous presence. Still, there are still several brands (Hermes, Agnes B and Moschino come to mind) that are so popular that it boggles the mind why people still can't get the pronunciation correct:

Ana Sui: ana swee
Agnes B: ahn-yes bay
Comme des Garcons: come day gar-sahn
Givenchy: ji-vohn-shee.
Hermes: air-may
Lancome: long-com
Laneige: la-nezsh
Lanvin: lawn-van
Loewe: lo-eh-vay
Moschino: moss-ki-no
Ralph Lauren: Ralph LOR-ren
Uniqlo: u-nee-koo-lo
Zegna: zen-ya

And while we're at it, here are some names/words I wish people would get right:

Angela: Anne-gel-la. Not Angel-la.
Janet: Jah-net. Not Ju-nette (which is spelled Janette).
Julio: Hoo-lee-o. In Spanish, "J" is pronounced like "H".
Katherine/Kathryn: Kath-rin. Not Ka-threen. If you want to use the "een" ending, then it should be spelled Cathrine.

Espresso: Es-presso. Not Ex-presso.
Mechanism: MECK-can-ism. Not meh-CAN-ism.

And my absolute favorite:

The letter "Z" is pronounced "Zed" or "Zee", not "E-Zed". Why HK schools have been teaching it this way, I have no idea.