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Stephen Colbert's pronunciation of his name

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Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    I could never understand Noel and Liam Gallagher pronouncing their surname Gall-ag-er. They are first generation English. Their parents were born and raised in Ireland and used the correct pronunciation surely. Though... I'm not sure if I have ever heard Noel or Liam actually saying their own surname. Maybe I'm transferring the British media's (understandable, I guess) mispronunciation onto them. Maybe they do pronounce it Gallaher. Or maybe their parents found it easier to just pronounce it Gall-ag-er.

    It's easy to understand, just as it is easy to understand how Gary Cahill calls himself Kayhill. It is simply that there are plenty of family names which have two or more accepted pronunciations. It also happens in Ireland with names like Purcell, Kinsella, Costello, Coughlan and Leahy. John Leahy the Tipp hurler calls himself La Hee.


  • Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    It's easy to understand, just as it is easy to understand how Gary Cahill calls himself Kayhill. It is simply that there are plenty of family names which have two or more accepted pronunciations. It also happens in Ireland with names like Purcell, Kinsella, Costello, Coughlan and Leahy. John Leahy the Tipp hurler calls himself La Hee.

    Yeh but the great vowel shift never hit Tipp. You and I might call call the excellent butcher James Whelan Wheel-an, but where’s he from he’s called Whay-lan.


  • Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    JayRoc wrote: »
    So I guess Dave Chapelle should say "chapel"?

    Honestly...the french pronuciation is the most obvious for the name "Colbert" imo.

    Why would chapelle call himself chapel? It’s not spelt like that. That would only work as an analogy if it was spelt Chapel but pronounced Chapelle.


  • Registered Users Posts: 81,223 ✭✭✭✭biko


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


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    biko wrote: »
    That's what happens when you're full of yourself like Stephen is.

    Or Claudette.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 236 ✭✭Kumejima


    Every time I see the guy I'm reminded of Norm MacDonald's assessment of Michael Jackson.


  • Registered Users Posts: 379 ✭✭Tilden Katz


    It's easy to understand, just as it is easy to understand how Gary Cahill calls himself Kayhill. It is simply that there are plenty of family names which have two or more accepted pronunciations. It also happens in Ireland with names like Purcell, Kinsella, Costello, Coughlan and Leahy. John Leahy the Tipp hurler calls himself La Hee.

    I have never heard Gall-ag-er be an accepted pronunciation of Gallagher in Ireland. Ever. And this isn’t a rare surname. If their parents pronounced it Gall-ag-er, I’d feel very comfortable saying that it wasn’t because that’s how it was pronounced in their parts of Ireland before they emigrated.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    Mixed messages on the thread. Foreigners of Irish descent should use the Irish version of Gallagher, Moran etc. But a foreigner who uses the French version of Colbert gets condemned.


  • Registered Users Posts: 27,391 ✭✭✭✭odyssey06


    The name could be French originally... from wiki

    Colbert is an Irish, English, and French surname and given name of uncertain etymology. It is possible that it appeared independently several times throughout history...
    The name is common in English-speaking countries, particularly Ireland, but some of these families may have their origin in France, where the name is very common, and may perhaps be descendants of Huguenot refugees.

    "To follow knowledge like a sinking star..." (Tennyson's Ulysses)



  • Registered Users Posts: 3,698 ✭✭✭Did you smash it


    odyssey06 wrote: »
    The name could be French originally...

    Colbert is an Irish, English, and French surname and given name of uncertain etymology. It is possible that it appeared independently several times throughout history...
    The name is common in English-speaking countries, particularly Ireland, but some of these families may have their origin in France, where the name is very common, and may perhaps be descendants of Huguenot refugees.

    It is a French name.

    The “issue” or the oddity is when did Stephen take the conscious decision to decide the way his father pronounced it wasn’t how he wanted to pronounce it. That’s just what I find a bit fake or pretentious about it. The desire to change the sound of his own name.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


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


  • Registered Users Posts: 379 ✭✭Tilden Katz


    Mixed messages on the thread. Foreigners of Irish descent should use the Irish version of Gallagher, Moran etc. But a foreigner who uses the French version of Colbert gets condemned.

    You’re welcome to direct me to where I commented on Stephen Colbert’s pronunciation of his surname. Or any posts that I thanked that condemned him for it. It isn’t “mixed messages” for different posters to express different opinions.

    Liam and Noel Gallagher’s parents weren’t foreigners to Ireland. They were Irish. Born here. Had their childhoods here. How did they pass an incorrect pronunciation to their sons? Stephen Colbert’s family emigrated way way back. Errors were far more common way back and the lines of communication with home countries were much more patchy. People didn’t keep in as close of contact.

    Though reading about it since, it seems that Stephen Colbert’s father just preferred Colbert with a silent T. That’s a tad pretentious. He wasn’t of French descent.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    You’re welcome to direct me to where I commented on Stephen Colbert’s pronunciation of his surname. Or any posts that I thanked that condemned him for it. It isn’t “mixed messages” for different posters to express different opinions.

    Liam and Noel Gallagher’s parents weren’t foreigners to Ireland. They were Irish. Born here. Had their childhoods here. How did they pass an incorrect pronunciation to their sons? Stephen Colbert’s family emigrated way way back. Errors were far more common way back and the lines of communication with home countries were much more patchy. People didn’t keep in as close of contact.

    Though reading about it since, it seems that Stephen Colbert’s father just preferred Colbert with a silent T. That’s a tad pretentious. He wasn’t of French descent.

    There is no incorrect pronunciation of the two I am familiar with. Just two different pronunciations. You never heard the English Gallaghers prounouncing their own names, so you don't know which version they use.


  • Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    Mixed messages on the thread. Foreigners of Irish descent should use the Irish version of Gallagher, Moran etc. But a foreigner who uses the French version of Colbert gets condemned.

    Different people with different opinions on thread, shocker. Call the New York Times.


  • Registered Users Posts: 379 ✭✭Tilden Katz


    There is no incorrect pronunciation of the two I am familiar with. Just two different pronunciations. You never heard the English Gallaghers prounouncing their own names, so you don't know which version they use.

    If they pronounce it 'Gallaher', then great. It makes no difference to my life either way but I'd find it satisfying.
    John Cleese's father changed his name from Cheese to Cleese.

    I find that more understandable - nickname dissuasion.


  • Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    There is no incorrect pronunciation of the two I am familiar with. Just two different pronunciations. You never heard the English Gallaghers prounouncing their own names, so you don't know which version they use.

    I don’t buy there aren’t incorrect pronunciations of words. For instance I couldn’t pronounce the word “word” as “dog****”.

    Gall-ag-her is an English pronunciation, a bit like cafe to rhyme with daf. That’s ok but I don’t think it was the Irish immigrants but probably teachers, and others who mispronounced and they got stuck with it.

    Colbert is taking the piss however, if his relations were all Irish though.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,698 ✭✭✭Did you smash it



    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.

    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    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.

    Weird and strange? Not to me.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,698 ✭✭✭Did you smash it


    Weird and strange? Not to me.

    It’s definitely unusual to change how you pronounce your own name.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭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.


  • Posts: 1,263 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


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


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


  • Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    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.


  • Posts: 3,801 ✭✭✭[Deleted User]


    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 555 ✭✭✭JeffreyEpspeen


    Self-loathing re: his Irishness?

    The Colbert Report sounds better with a hard t anyway.


  • Registered Users Posts: 12,949 ✭✭✭✭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.

    From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch’.

    — Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14 Astronaut



  • Registered Users Posts: 379 ✭✭Tilden Katz


    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).
    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.


  • Registered Users Posts: 275 ✭✭Pyridine


    An explanation from the man himself:



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,389 ✭✭✭Badly Drunk Boy


    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.
    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.)


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  • Registered Users Posts: 20,329 ✭✭✭✭dxhound2005


    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.


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