Why is it OK to pronounce Mexico "Me-hi-co" on TV?

[BigRed]

No, not OK. Why is pronouncing someone's name correctly obnoxious? What's the difference between pronouncing a name right and spelling it right in a story? I find it far more obnoxious to not take the time to learn how to say someone's name the right way and just go with how you think it should be pronounced. I didn't realize doing something the right way is a "schtick"

Lots of people pronounce it the right way. Gimenez EXAGGERATES his pronunciations. I don't care for it. I think it's obnoxious.
Get over yourself, newbie, and lose the anger. :

 

[flaming_mo]

No, not OK. Why is pronouncing someone's name correctly obnoxious? What's the difference between pronouncing a name right and spelling it right in a story? I find it far more obnoxious to not take the time to learn how to say someone's name the right way and just go with how you think it should be pronounced. I didn't realize doing something the right way is a "schtick"

I don't believe that American announcers are obligated to give native-language pronounciations for players or countries. Just like I would expect French announcers to say "Les Etats-Unis" instead of "United States," I expect American announcers to say "Mexico" instead of "May-hee-co."

 

[Canyonero!]

The "May hee co" thing is a gimmick, not about "getting it right" as baskethead says. If he was so concerned about that, I'm sure he'd call Germany Deutchsland.

 

[Double J]

I always thought it was "Me-hee-co." That's how Speedy Gonzales pronounced it, and wouldn't he know, being the fastest mouse in all Me-hee-co?

Andale, andale, yee-hah!

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Peggy Hill says Me-hi-co, that's good enough for me.

 

[Inky_Wretch]

As I've said many times, if you're going to start trilling your Rs and adding a Spanish accent for some names, then you should be doing the same for Seamus O'Toole or Bonnie McDougal.

 

[jay_christley]

On a side note, for those of us watching the World Cup on telemundo, it's great to hear them rattling on in Spanish, throw in a perfect straight forward, bold "Von Steiger" and then right back seemlessly into Spanish.
Ah, good times.

 

[baskethead]

I didn't realize I was angry, I thought I was just discussing someone. And I'll try to "get over" myself. I don't have a problem with someone saying Mexico as opposed to Me-hi-co. I"m just saying, to me, it's refreshing to hear someone try to say people's names right. If you can say it the way it's meant to be said and know the way it's meant to be said, why not say it they way? The same goes for names of American athletes. It irritates me when I hear people call Tear-rul Owens, Ter-rell. It doesn't make me angry, it's just the difference between calling him by his name and not calling him by his name.

 

[Football_Bat]

As a kid, I used to giggle at the name Jorge.

Until Jorge Orta came along.

Now I just cry. :'(

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

Americans generally can't pick a style and stick with it when it comes to the Tour de France. If you are going to use the first two words of that title as I typed them, you're using French and should pronounce the last word as they do in France (if you want to be consistent). Americans switch to English after saying two-thirds of the title the French way.

If consistency mattered, we'd either say:

Tour of France (all English words; last one rhymes with ants)

          or

Tour de France (can't really think of what it rhymes with, but you know what I mean)

 

[Lugnuts]

Johnny's right.

Why do we pronounce Jorge as HOR-hey, and not George?  Julian Tavares is HOO-lian.  I hear alot of guys saying PEAR-ez instead of per-EZ.  We "Spanishize" all those names...

And yet...

The Spanish pronunciation of Beltran would be bel-TRAHN, not BEL-tran. 

It's like we pick the ones that are easy to pronounce "Spanish"-- and Englishize the difficult ones.

Do those of you who don't want the announcer to prononce it MEH-he-co expect him to pronounce is own name JIM-en-ez?  He's probably a native Spanish speaker.  It probably sounds like nails on a chalkboard for him to say MEX-a-coe. 

You're just going to have to accept that we are a blend here in America, and that's how our language is going to be as well. 

As an aside....... his pronouncing it that way will probably endear him to thousands of Hispanic Americans, which doesn't hurt ratings.

 

[MU_was_not_so_hard]

Same reason people say Keh-bec instead of Kwee-bec... because it makes them sound kool

My grandmother (who was born in Quebec) used to get ticked when people pronounced it the American way.