Rude Words

It's not what you think... if you clicked through for a discussion of expletives and profanity, this isn't it. 

Recently, I am bothered by two words, and they are both Proper Nouns, or names. Mispronouncing a person's proper name is rude, would you agree?  Some people don't mind. Some do.

My name is Rowena. Ro-wee-nah. Because I am British (or was when I was born), the emphasis goes on the penultimate syllable, so it is Ro-WEE-nah. 

When someone with different speech habits calls me Ro-wen-NAH, I correct them. Often, they then "correct" me, by insisting on stressing "Nah" in my name, or the "wen". A wen is an old English word for a wart, by the way.

There is a cleaning product that we have enjoyed in England for years. It has recently migrated, but its pronunciation has not migrated. I grew up being told by TV pitch persons "Persil washes whiter, and it shows". That is PER-sil.

Here and now, the pitch persons call it per-SIL 

Why do I find that rude?  "Per" means "through", "with respect to...", "according to..".  What is "Sil"?

According to Merriam Webster, "sil" is yellow ochre. That is surely not what you want in your tidy whities... "through yellow ochre".

The Secretary of the Treasury's last name is Bessent. According to the internet, the name has English or French roots, and its meaning is associated with gold coins.

How very appropriate! 

Anyway, the etymology of his name explains why it is proper and polite to speak of him as BESS-sent. Some financial pundits, who presumably do not approve of his way with money, insist on calling him Bess-ENT, as if he were a female tree herder named Elizabeth out of Tolkien's fabulous world, and they will stick to stressing his supposed Entishness even after the host of the financial news show pronounces the name correctly, and does so multiple times.

I find it very rude and unattractive of a guest on a show to dual with the host over someone else's proper name.

There is another proper name that some people who should know better mispronounce for effect. Everyone stresses the penultimate syllable, European style. It's POO-tin, (and we know this because apparently after Alaska, someone left a protocol guide where it could be found). Poo is amusing enough, but some insist on saying PEW. Like Pepe Le Pew. That seems rather childish. Also rude.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry