This is something that came up a lot when I was in the US last month, so I figure it must be worth clarifying. My name is pronounced:
Soo TCHAR-m'n
That's 'soo' to rhyme with 'boo' or 'goo' or even 'gnu' (but absolutely not 'view').
'TCHAR-m'n' to rhyme with, er, well, um... 'charman' (and bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the well-known brand of toilet paper).
Two really important points about my surname:
1. It's a hard CH, as in chocolate or chalk or chuffin 'eck.
2. The last syllable is a schwa, so you don't emphasis the 'man', but make it more of a 'mun'.
This may sound to some as if I am stating the obvious and being a bit precious about it, but I heard 'Sharmin' so often last month that it started to get on my wick a bit. Seven letters, two syllables, really very easy, please try harder.
Also, whilst I am clearing up misconceptions, I'd like to make the point that as much as I love the Welsh, and as much as I adore being able to speak Welsh, I'm still English. Very, very English. So if you meet me and wonder why I have an English accent instead of a Welsh one, then that would be why.
There. That makes me feel better.
|
||||||||
|
Login
stalker gen
![]() I've now permanently moved my blog over to http://chocolateandvodka.com/ and will no long be updating this version, other than with the occasional summary of new posts. Please do not leave comments here, but instead find the equivalent post on my new site, and comment there instead. Comments left here will not be published, as I'd like to keep things all together on the new installation. Sorry if this is an inconvenience. |
Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Suw Charman
on Sun 03 Jul 2005 05:50 PM BST | Permanent Link
Comments
Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Anonymous
on Sun 03 Jul 2005 06:43 PM BST | Permanent Link
tsu tchermin
Re: Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Suw Charman
on Sun 03 Jul 2005 07:24 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
more like tsu tcharmun. definitely a tchar not a tcher. And definitely a mun not a min. :)
Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Steve Kane
on Sun 03 Jul 2005 07:47 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Ah, I always pronounced it "hot snatch".
I stand corrected. Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Robert Andrews
on Sun 03 Jul 2005 09:19 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Not like this chick then... ?
![]() Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Lloyd Davis
on Sun 03 Jul 2005 10:27 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Anyone for Soy Chow Mein?
I'll get me coat. Re: Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Suw Charman
on Sun 03 Jul 2005 11:12 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
*guffaws*
You know, someone did link to me a while back as Su Chaw, or something similar. So you're not far off. Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Reynolds
on Mon 04 Jul 2005 12:06 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
And there I was thinking I was pronouncing it right all along, and then you go and confuse me with unnatural 'Ts' things...
Bugger. Rhymes with...
by
Anonymous
on Mon 04 Jul 2005 03:21 AM BST | Permanent Link
Given your recent Flickr picture stream, one rhyme comes to mind...
A globetrotting minx named Suw Charman, Never had to call for a barman, Nearby blokes would say "Suw, What can I get for you?" When she recrossed her legs to disarm 'em Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Chris W.
on Mon 04 Jul 2005 04:01 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
What you need is IPA! (Not the beer, the International Phonetic Alphabet.)
Lessee, your dialect is rhotic (i.e. you pronounce the "r")? And the "a" like in "father"? OK, then [su: 'tʃɑ:r.mən] (for those who have an IPA capable font intstalled). Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Coder Keitaro
on Mon 04 Jul 2005 10:07 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
You think that is bad?
One reason for me having an alia on-line is because my name gets so mispronounced and even mispelled that it drives me crazy. Martin Graney, FYI. As I live in the Netherlands Martin very often gets spelled Maarten or even Maartijn. i.e. Dutchified. Although the Dutch rarely mispronounce or mispell my surname. However from the English, as my surname is Irish and unusual, I see a regular mispronunciation of 'granney' [an addition of an extra n], and misspellings of "Gradey", "Gravey" and even "Groaney" :-( I have been known to shout, "Look it is bloody simple. The e changes the aah sound into an ayyy sound. So it is grey-knee. Like the colour and the bendy thing half way down my leg that will soon join voilently with the loose collection of dangly objects between yours!" I have acutally given up. I make reservations using my first name. And I use an alias on the interweb. Re: Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Suw Charman
on Mon 04 Jul 2005 10:15 AM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Ha ha ha.
You have my sympathies. Variations of my name that I have seen: Chairman Charming (no, really) Charmaine Jarmin Sharman Shaman And the classic was, as I spelt my name to someone: "c - h - a - r - m - a - n", they said "don't you mean p?". What? What p? Where is there a fucking p in charman? Then it dawned on me - they were convinced I must mean Chapman. Gah. Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Anonymous
on Mon 04 Jul 2005 02:22 PM BST | Permanent Link
but I heard 'Sharmin' so often last month that it started to get on my wick a bit.
Those were Frenchmen thinking you are cute. Re: Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
B. Janssen
on Mon 04 Jul 2005 02:24 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
I hate it when I forget to log in.
greets, Bram (which does absolutely NOT rhyme with jam) Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Robert Andrews
on Tue 05 Jul 2005 12:16 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Gulf War 1 had Stormin' Norman, the blogosphere has Charming Charman.
and toilet roll... ![]() Re: Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Suw Charman
on Tue 05 Jul 2005 12:34 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
Yeah, me and bog roll. Great. What a marvellous thing to remind people of. :-p
Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Anonymous
on Tue 05 Jul 2005 07:32 PM BST | Permanent Link
Nobody ever pronounces my last name right either. It's "Wechsler". American English pronunciation, please, although someone who goes to the trouble of producing the (correct) German pronunciation gets half marks for trying.
Hint: It is not Welcher or Welsher. Re: Suw Charman - A Pronunciation Guide
by
Kat
on Thu 14 Jul 2005 06:28 PM BST | Profile | Permanent Link
At least you only have 3 letters to spell! I've spent years spelling Kathryn to people and even when you tell them letter by letter they still manage to get it wrong! I feel quite sorry for the Catherine at work with the same surname as me who gets a large amount of my email sent to her in error.
|
|||||||


