Patrick Roy's name

[SnowblindNYR]

I might have asked this previously, but for the life of me don't remember the answer. I started following hockey consistently during the 00-01 season. I've always known that his last name was pronounced "Wah" but when I started watching classic series from his Montreal games I heard his name pronounced as "Ruah". Now I just watched a Russian feed from 2000 and they also pronounced it "Ruah". Is something wrong with my hearing or did the pronunciation of his name actually change. If so, why? Feel free to lock this once my question is answered.

 

[Canadiens1958]

I might have asked this previously, but for the life of me don't remember the answer. I started following hockey consistently during the 00-01 season. I've always known that his last name was pronounced "Wah" but when I started watching classic series from his Montreal games I heard his name pronounced as "Ruah". Now I just watched a Russian feed from 2000 and they also pronounced it "Ruah". Is something wrong with my hearing or did the pronunciation of his name actually change. If so, why? Feel free to lock this once my question is answered.

Ruah is the closest to correct, two syllables.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

just two different approximations of the french pronunciation of "roy." it varies from announcer to announcer.

with some european players, however, the "official" pronunciation of their last name has changed. usually, in year 2 or 3, especially in the early 90s, you'd see a young guy getting more confidence and he and the team would make it known how to properly pronounce his name.

the weirdest example of this was robert lang. when he came in, everyone pronounced it the english way, which isn't surprising. then a little later i remember distinctly CBC announcers mentioned that they were corrected by the kings PR department and now everybody should pronounce it "lung." then after that they all changed to "long," presumably because lang was like "no no, still not right. it's 'laaang.'" eventually, they got it right.

but it was bizarre-- even as a child at the time, i remember thinking "are these announcers so sheltered that they've never met someone from a non-english speaking country before?" i guess they must have been just reading a phonetic transliteration from the team media guide or press release but it showed no common sense.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

R in french is not pronounced like a w. Ruah would be closer to being correct.

 

[sr edler]

Throw a "Ã¥" into the mix, between the "R" and the "ah", and you're at the end station of this conversation.

RÃ¥-ah.

 

[Merya]

Is it hard R or soft (anglo?) R? Does it depends whether it's French or Quebecoise pronounciation? (or is it Edith Piaf R?!? )

 

[Merya]

Throw a "Ã¥" into the mix, between the "R" and the "ah", and you're at the end station of this conversation.

RÃ¥-ah.

Definitely not Ã…. That's O like in dOOr. Roy I think is O like in cOOl.

 

[MXD]

Definitely not Ã…. That's O like in dOOr. Roy I think is O like in cOOl.

You're right.

 

[Sprague Cleghorn]

Is it hard R or soft (anglo?) R? Does it depends whether it's French or Quebecoise pronounciation? (or is it Edith Piaf R?!? )

It doesn't really matter if it's French from France or Quebecois French. That's like asking whether the American English pronunciation or British English pronunciation of John is correct. Each is going to pronounce it a little bit different, but they're both still correct.

Definitely not Ã…. That's O like in dOOr. Roy I think is O like in cOOl.

You're right.

Shouldn't it be the French pronunciation of oi or oy, which the closest thing in English I can think of is something like mAUi, pOw, or lOUd?

 

[MXD]

It doesn't really matter if it's French from France or Quebecois French. That's like asking whether the American English pronunciation or British English pronunciation of John is correct. Each is going to pronounce it a little bit different, but they're both still correct.





Shouldn't it be the French pronunciation of oi or oy, which the closest thing in English I can think of is something like mAUi, pOw, or lOUd?

The Co(o) of "Cool" and the "Ro" of Roy (and of Roi) are identical for our non-linguistic purposes.

Roy is, like, two syllabs, but "fast" syllabs if that makes sense. You don't dwell on syllabs like you'd do with, eh, "homard" or "genou". Again, for our non-linguistic purposes.

 

[Merya]

So it's "rOaa" and not "rUaa"? That's a lesson. Thanks. Edler was right about the Ã… then! Sorry I doubted.

But how about the R?

e: oh it's conflicted again.. >_<

 

[Merya]

I do it with hard R and sounding like "room": Rrruaaah; and a sigh of aah or whatever. Very hard front mouth R, no throat R.
e: Rrroaaah with door O?
e2: way back it was pronounced like "joy" in finnish broadcasts. This is why it's so interesting to me.

 

[Merya]

When it comes to writing, Finnish is prolly the most logical of all, with only one simple exeption being the "ng" sound.

 

[Johnny Engine]

"R" is an uvular trill - bring your tongue back to your molars instead of leaving it in the middle of your mouth like you do for the R that's common in English.

"O" is a semivowel, so produces the "w" sound.

"Y" makes the "ah" sound.

Unilingual English speakers generally don't use the uvular trill, and they never follow a rhotic (R) with a semivowel (W, Y), so pronouncing "Roy" this way isn't really possible if you don't specifically practice it, or otherwise learn French.

It's the exact same set of sounds in "croissant", which pretty much any anglophone will call a "cwassant" or a "crossant".

 

[sr edler]

So it's "rOaa" and not "rUaa"? That's a lesson. Thanks. Edler was right about the Ã… then! Sorry I doubted.

No worries. My "better" half is Estonian so I've had this conversation many times before, about the "o" and the "Ã¥". And I'm always right.

 

[Laveuglette]

Rooah, without a separation between the syllables.

 

[tarheelhockey]

IIRC it's like "boy", but with an r at the beginning.

 

[MXD]

IIRC it's like "boy", but with an r at the beginning.

It's not how you pronounce "Roy" in that case. What you described is, basically, how one would pronounce Roy in Roy Conacher.

 

[tarheelhockey]

It's not how you pronounce "Roy" in that case. What you described is, basically, how one would pronounce Roy in Roy Conacher.

I wasn't serious

There was a time when you could separate "real" hockey fans from guys who were just bs'ing about sports, based on whether they knew how to pronounce "Roy made a save on Yzerman".

 

[MXD]

I wasn't serious

There was a time when you could separate "real" hockey fans from guys who were just bs'ing about sports, based on whether they knew how to pronounce "Roy made a save on Yzerman".

I thought your post was... well, weird, too.

 

[sr edler]

When I was a kid in school, like 11 years old or something, there was a guy who pronounced Mario Lemieux's surname "Le Max". I think he was serious.

Also, when the Gretzky all-star team was in Sweden during the 94–95 lockout I was there at the Globe Arena during a training session and there was a grown up man who was seemingly obsessed with Mark Messier. Or "Messiahr", as he called him [rhymes with "desire"].

 

[Pominville Knows]

I once called Jeff Taffe you know what right in his face more than one time.

 

[Big Phil]

I once called Jeff Taffe you know what right in his face more than one time.

Can you elaborate?

By the way, Don Cherry makes no apologies for purposely mispronouncing names. He would constantly say "Pat Roy" in the most English way possible. Jacques Martin was always "Jack Martin" also the English way of saying that and Jaromir was always pronounced "Yamee"...........I have no idea why. Too stubborn to change I guess.

 

[Killion]

...By the way, Don Cherry makes no apologies for purposely mispronouncing names. He would constantly say "Pat Roy" in the most English way possible.

Yeah, or in the infamous HNIC Alpo Suhonen comments, derisively suggesting the guy as a Coach about on par with dog food in using a food analogy..... Punch Imlach with Frank Mahovlich... pronouncing it in every way possible but the right way (which is pretty straightforward - Mahovlich)... Mahollowitch.... Mawlavic... Mahojavick etc and all quite deliberately disrespectful. Not everyone obviously anglacized their surnames when either they, their parents or Grandparents emigrated to Canada... and like all new waves of immigrants becoming sometimes the targets of those who had arrived earlier. Particularly so during the late 40's & into the 50's following the War, a lot of Eastern Europeans, Poles, Hungarians, Croats & so on. Made to feel unwelcome, DP's (Displaced Persons), Italians referred to as WOP's (Without Papers)... all through no fault of their own of course. Their homelands destroyed, smoking ruins, great many being persecuted, fled for the lives. Non-citizens in the lands of their forefathers & now 2nd Class Citizens in the New World? For a sensitive & proud guy like Mahovlich, constant insult, persecution of a kind that never ended, clearly had no place in society nor in the game but exist it did. Cherry enjoys being called a Redneck and thats fine. Rednecks a hardworker. He's a hardworker. Fits him, fits Imlach & others. In actual fact their Xenophobes. Old School Upper Canadian Xenophobes.

 

[Pominville Knows]

Can you elaborate?

By the way, Don Cherry makes no apologies for purposely mispronouncing names. He would constantly say "Pat Roy" in the most English way possible. Jacques Martin was always "Jack Martin" also the English way of saying that and Jaromir was always pronounced "Yamee"...........I have no idea why. Too stubborn to change I guess.

I was looking for an autograph amongst many suitors, so i felt the need to call his attention. So i called out vertually Taffy but with an E like Taffe(The candy does not exist in Sweden and i now realise via google why the case was not obvious to you). So i called out the candy name at least five times, until an american lady beside me told me the real pronounciation. I got a real sense of shame, and becouse he surely must have heard it i came to tell him about the mishap, and it seemed like it had happened before. I was dressed in a Penguins jersey a couple of months after the 2009 cup so i still felt a bit ashamed i must say. The thought still gives me the creeps, but these things can be stressful so things can happen.