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Tag Archives: reporters

January 23, 2020
by Graham
0 comments

What is Rudy Giuliani’s job?

Alec Bamford has reported: “Anyone with lingering doubts about the BBC’s blatant left-wing bias should have been listening to Gary O’Donoghue’s reporting on the impeachment story in the World News on the evening of 21 January. Before he corrected himself, … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: bbc, english, journalists, pronunciation, reporters, speech | Permalink

December 17, 2019
by Graham
4 Comments

Cheops

Cheops is the well-known name of the Egyptian Pharaoh whose tomb is the Great Pyramid at Gizeh. This is actually the Greek form of the name, and in modern times he has had his name ‘re-egyptianized’, if I may coin … Continue reading →

Categories: French, Greek, Language, Names | Tags: bbc, english, French, pronunciation, reporters, speech | Permalink

August 15, 2019
by Graham
15 Comments

Greta Thunberg

Since this teenager became world famous, I’ve heard her name pronounced in several ways by BBC journalists and announcers. I don’t know how she herself pronounces her name, as I’ve never heard her say it, and I’m no longer in … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, family name, journalists, pronunciation, reporters | Permalink

October 31, 2018
by Graham
1 Comment

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha

The tragic events of last Saturday in Leicester, when the owner of Leicester City FC was killed in his helicopter shortly after taking off from the centre of the pitch following the match with West Ham United, have also highlighted … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, english, family name, journalists, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters, speech | Permalink

October 16, 2018
by Graham
15 Comments

Khashoggi

Until ten days or so ago, the only person with the name Khashoggi who was well-known was the rather dodgy Saudi Arabian businessman, Adnan Khashoggi, who according to Wikipedia was the brother of Mohamed Al-Fayed’s wife, and so uncle to … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, family name, journalists, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters | Permalink

May 9, 2018
by Graham
4 Comments

Ambiguity

We’re all used to the confusion between the words ‘diffuse’ and ‘defuse’ as verbs, caused by the pronunciation of the latter with the KIT vowel rather than the more etymologically correct FLEECE. If we were to introduce a hyphen into … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: english, journalists, pronunciation, reporters, spelling | Permalink

February 3, 2018
by Graham
0 comments

BBC Today programme

On the Today programme this morning on BBC Radio 4, Nick Robinson interviewed my successor in the Pronunciation Unit, Catherine Sangster (who is now in charge of pronunciation for the Oxford Dictionaries) about the problems of pronunciation. This piece arose … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, journalists, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters, speech | Permalink

April 12, 2017
by gpointon
0 comments

A sad time

I had started to think that someone in the BBC hierarchy had issued an edict that the Syrian president’s name should be pronounced by all journalists in accordance with the Pronunciation Unit’s recommendation, with stress on the first syllable of … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, english, john humphrys, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters, speech | Permalink

March 28, 2016
by gpointon
9 Comments

Palmyra

All three of the current standard pronouncing dictionaries of English give only one pronunciation for this historic Syrian place name – /pælˈmaɪrə/. I assume that this is still the recommendation of the Pronunciation Unit, and yet today, almost every commentator, … Continue reading →

Categories: Language | Tags: bbc, english, journalists, place names, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters | Permalink

March 24, 2016
by gpointon
0 comments

Return to Bosnia

The wheels of international justice grind exceeding slow, and eight years after his arrest, Radovan Karadzić is eventually being sentenced today. I commented in 2008 (here) on the confusion between at least two pronunciations of his family name, and it … Continue reading →

Categories: Language, Names | Tags: bbc, family name, journalists, pronunciation, radio 4, reporters | Permalink

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