My name isn’t very easy to pronounce for Spanish people. And I’m just talking about “Joshua” here – they don’t even attempt to pronounce “Zamrycki”. It’s a little easier for Catalans (just like Catalan is easier for me to pronounce than Spanish) because they can make the “J” sound, but it’s still not quite right.
Over the years, I have become accustomed to hearing my name butchered in a plethora of ways. I take no offense to this whatsoever. On the contrary, I find it fascinating. So now, whenever I hear any of the following “words”, I turn to see who’s talking to me:
- JA-soo-ah
- YA-soo-ah
- JO-soo-ah
- HO-soo-ah
- ho-SWAY
- YO-soo
- JO-soo
Sometimes they find out that my friends call me “Josh”:
- JOES
- YOES
- YOESH
- JAS
- YAS
And if they ever attempt “Zamrycki”, it usually comes out as one of these:
- sam-REE-kee
- tham-REE-kee
- tham-RRRRRREE-kee
Most of the guys on my volleyball team call me Josh (YAS, actually). Although, last year there were a few guys who took to calling me Tham (short for tham-REE-kee). Whenever the ball was intended for me in a game, it was completely normal to hear someone yell out like machine gun fire, “tham-tham-tham-tham-tham-tham!”. I kinda liked it. It got to a point where, when I’d enter the gym for practice, someone would yell, “tham-tham-tham” as a sort of “Hello” to me. But most people still called me Yas.
Now, they’ve been calling me Yas for years. Why not, it’s my name. Well, the other day someone on the team asked me for my phone number. I told it to him and he entered it into his mobile phone. To make sure he had written it correctly I had a peek over his shoulder. And there, where my name should be, was written the word “Jazz”. I had to think about this for a moment. But then it occurred to me that, in Spanish, the word Jazz sounds exactly like the way they pronounce Josh (Yas). For the past six years, they have all been calling me Jazz! That is so cool.
You do come from a “jazz” background. I never realized there were so many variations to your name.
Any clue as to what baby girl’s name will be?? I still like Sarita, a princess by any other name is still a princess. Sara for short and still an S for Stanley. Just a thought. Any name is okay with me, as long as she is yours and Jan’s. Wait just a minute . . . that would make her my granddaughter, of course she will be a princess, no matter what she is called. Yes !!!!!
Love you guys, can’t wait to see y’all.
Come again? Catalan easier than spanish? Yer off yer head!
Anyway, why wouldn’t ‘jazz’ be pronounced ‘yath’? I guess in catalan it would be ‘yas’ but not in spanish. Maybe in some parts of andalucía and south america … Then again, double-z doesn’t even exist in spanish, so I guess anything goes.
Ah whatever. I’m gonna start calling myself ‘funk’.
Bob
@Mom – We still don’t have a name for Little Girl and, honestly, we’re in no rush. We have been looking to use the name Stanley in some way – either beginning with St- or ending in -ly. We’ll see.
@Funk – Every Spanish person I’ve ever met has always pronounced the word jazz as “yas”. True, the overwhelming majority of them are Catalan, but I think they’re just trying to pronounce jazz as closely to the English version as possible – and that’s all they got!
And yes, I find Catalan easier to pronounce correctly than Spanish.
Yea, I guess you’re right. Since ‘jazz’ is a ‘proper name’ of something they don’t butcher it and try to pronounce it with spanish rules, like they do with ‘sidecar’ (seed-eh-car) and others …
Well congratulations jazz. Incidentally I think it would make more sense to call myself ‘pop’. Or the dork formerly known as ‘funk’.
??