Speaking of which

[prog]

How would you pronounce the surname "Theurer", if it belongs to an American? I'm going with a lisping "Sawyer", but maybe you know better. (Hmm, a Google-found page suggests "Tyrer".)

Comments

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Actually, I had a friend in jr. high whose last name was spelled Neuffer, which in German would be pronounced "noyfer", but its pronunciation had mutated into "knifer" (well, not with the K sound, but you get the idea). So Theurer -> "Tyrer" would at least be following a similar trajectory into American English.

[prog.livejournal.com]

Right, I generally assume that any American surname of non-English-speaking origins has got a century or so of mumbling bastardization behind it.

I went to a high school called St. John Neumann, which was pronounced "Newman". Once we had an assembly where a learnéd guest said that it really ought to be pronounced "Noyman" coz that's how the school's namesake pronounced his own name, and so the vice principal self-consciously called the school "Noyman" for the rest of the assembly to humor the visiting dude, and we never really let him live it down.

buh-dang-ga-bloing ba-dink *whoosh* POP

[ahkond.livejournal.com]

(knock on the door)

Hello, ... NOYMAN!