Let Us Now Pronounce Famous Men by Rob Kyff on Creators.com

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Let Us Now Pronounce Famous Men

Q: What's the proper way to pronounce "Carnegie"? I am from Pittsburgh, where the guy lived for many years and had a university named for him — Carnegie Mellon. We pronounce it "kahr-NEG-ee" in these parts of the woods. I hear newscasters and people from the New York area pronounce it "KAHR-nuh-gee." — Liz in Butler, Pa.

A: Funny you should ask. Last month, I set foot in Carnegie Hall for the first time in my life — to savor not a string quartet but a concert by Jason Mraz, my 15-year-old daughter's favorite pop singer. (Perhaps we should change the punch line to the old riddle, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" from "Practice!" to "Parent!")

As for how to say "Carnegie," the guy himself placed the accent on the second syllable. As Webster's New International Dictionary explained in 1934, "The pronunciation with 'ay' (kahr-NAY-gee) was that of Mr. Carnegie himself, but as the Scotch 'ay' is 'stopped,' that is, pronounced with no terminal glide, it sounds like 'eh' (kahr-NEG-ee) to many."

So "Carnegie" is indeed properly pronounced "kahr-NEG-ee." As Charles Elster writes in "The Big Book of Beastly Mispronunciations," "No pronunciation maven with a reputation to lose sanctions first-syllable stress (of 'Carnegie')."

But as you suggest, most New Yorkers refer to "KAHR-nuh-gee Hall," and the best-selling writer Dale Carnegie made friends and influenced people by pronouncing his last name that way too.

Because "KAHR-nuh-gee" is so common, many dictionaries list this rendering as the preferred pronunciation.

My own hunch is that the correct "kahr-NEG-ee" has lapsed into a terminal glide simply because English speakers tend naturally to stress a word's first syllable.

Just for fun, see whether you can choose the correct pronunciation of the last names of these other famous Americans:

1. Joseph Pulitzer: a) PULL-it-sur or b) PYOO-lit-sur
2. Elvis Presley: a) PRESS-lee or b) PREZ-lee
3. Leonard Bernstein: a) BURN-styn or b) BURN-steen
4. Louisa May Alcott: a) AL-kaht or b) AWL-kut
5. Heywood Hale Broun: a) BROON or b) BROWN
6. Willa Cather: a) KAWTH-ur or b) KATH-ur
7. Cesar Chavez: a) SHAH-ves or b) CHAH-ves
8. W.E.B. Dubois: a) doo-BOYZ or b) doo-BWAH
9. Jason Mraz: a) MUR-az OR b) mur-AZ
10. Rob Kyff: a) KIF OR b) KYF

Answers:

1. a
2. a
3. a
4. b
5. a
6. b
7. b
8. a
9. b
10. b

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.