Why do so few people pronounce "Scorsese" correctly? (1 Viewer)

[andrew markworthy]

This from the people who can't pronounce the 'h' in 'herbs' (have you guys any idea how pretentious that sounds to the rest of the English-speaking world?).

And I'm afraid the stuff about British nutrition is way out of date and based on GI's experiences of the years when we had severe rationing. In any case, a lot of the stuff you guys turn your noses up (haggis, etc) are amongst the tastiest dishes imaginable. However, it's your loss.

And just to strangle another old myth - the Brits do use the word 'cookies'. The term is reserved for what we would consider children's confections (chocolate chip cookies, etc). The term 'biscuit' is reserved for the sort of things that adults are expected to eat (digestive biscuits, rich tea, etc). I can see how the confusion might have arisen amongst American visitors. We also use the term 'french fries' though specifically to refer to those curious thin things that get served at McDonalds, etc. The term 'chip' specifically refers to the rather thicker, more substantial item that you have with fish and chips, etc.

Back on topic - having said in an earlier post that Brit critics pronounce Mr S's name 'correctly' I heard one of them say 'Scor-SAY-see' yesterday evening. Mr S is in the Brit news because he won a few things at the BAFTAs at the weekend (for those as don't know, the BAFTAs are like the Oscars, but with more taste ).

Sorry guys, it's Monday morning as I'm typing this, and I'm in a Brit sarcasm mood. I love you really.

 

[Henry Gale]

Yes, but if you have an Uncle Herb in Devon, you call him "erb."
And what is it with "fill'-et"? It's "fill-ay'"...at least in France and North America it is.
Really though, I love Great Britain.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Ok, I am friends with a family of Scorsese's (no relation, or at least not close relation to director Marty). They, themselves, pronounce their name "Scor-SAY-zee."

I've always been under the impression that this difference in pronounciation was simply an issue of "americanization" of a more ethnic name. Heck, my heritage it chocked filled with varient spellings of the names in my lineage because it's often difficult for non-native immigrants to spell their foreign last names in a language they barely speak, let alone spell.

For example, on my father's side there is the family "Tennant" and I have found no less than 13 spellings of this name in various lines of the family. When immigrating, it seems officials would simply jot down the closest approximation of the pronounciation of what they were verbally given.

And, as time moves forward, sometimes families would simply adjust to how the locals pronounce the particular spelling. I mean, it it easier to correct everyone, or just go with the flow? Especially in a culture where assimilation is key!


As a side note, I still will not sign on to the popular pronounciation of Brett Favre - this cannot, under the rules of english, be pronounced "Farve." The damn V comes before the R for goodness sake.

 

[Sam Favate]

There's a funny scene in Cameron Crowe's Singles in which Tim Burton (playing a director of video profiles) is called the "next Martin Scor-sees."

 

[Colin Jacobson]

But do those who WORK with him pronounce it correctly? Based on my memories of the various DVD supplements for Highlander... yes. That's the big difference with Scorsese...

 

[hugh bob]

ehm, as an Italian living in Italy I suppose I'm authorised to say that 'Scor-se-se' is pronounced the Italian way, so no big differentiations between first and second 'se'.

after the 'scor' part, the first 's' sounds like in 'sun', the second 's' sounds like in 'rose'.

I guess it sounds something like 'scor-zae-sae', but definitely no 'see' nor 'say' in there, I mean no 'ee' or 'ay' sounds at all.

cheers

 

[Seymour Uranowitz]

Hey, I'd be happy if people would just spell it right. Googling "Martin Scorcese" yields over 81,000 hits, including several fan sites that have that spelling as the title. Heck, a search on this very site yielded 7 threads with that spelling -- and that's just today.

Pronunciation can be fudged, but if you're a fan, you could at least learn how to spell the guy's name!

 

[Jerry Almeida]

I understand what you're getting at Colin, but I don't think "working" with him really has anything to do with it either.

Your original question was, "...shouldn't those who know him pronounce it right?"

In my experienc, knowing or working with someone doesn't really help in the pronounciation department. My last name is pronounced Ahl-may-duh, but is often pronounced Ahl-mee-duh. And this is by people that I've worked with for over 5 years now. They hear me say my name all the time, I've corrected them before, heck, if you call my vmail you hear it pronounced correctly. However, they still say it wrong, even after all these years.

 

[John Swarce]

I always cringe when people say "Porsh" (or "Por-she" ) refering to the automotive brand, when it is pronounced "Por-sha". Cripes, does no one pay attention to their commercials!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Here's another question: are people with frequently mispronounced names like "Colin" or "Alameida" more sensitive to mispronunciations?

 

[Lars Vermundsberget]

The way I see it, the Italian here is the one who makes more sense.

The key is, IMO, that the English-speaking have a hard time grasping the concept of an "e" pronounced at the end of a word (or part of a word, or syllable) that is neither an "ee" nor a diphthong ("ay").

That also goes for the "Porsche" example.

 

[Henry Gale]

Reminds me of my old girlfriend, I used to like to grasp her diphthong.

 

[Sandra]

so in clear it should be pronounced Scor-Se-Ze the italian way...basically, either he doesn't even know how to pronounce his own name, or he given up on getting people to get it right and goes for an easier prounouciation (like I do when I tell people my french name here in the UK..or my first name for that matter)

 

[Colin Jacobson]

But that doesn't make sense - if he just gave up, he'd go by "Scor-SAY-zee", since that's what most people call him!

 

[Joel...Lane]

I was watching Empire Of Dreams yesterday. That's the big 2 hour doc on the Star Wars OT DVD bonus disc. Scorsese has a couple of soundbites in it and as the narrater "introduces" him, he pronounces it scor-sessy twice.