Some footballers come from strange foreign lands and have strange foreign names which are difficult to pronounce. Here at Southampton, we have a couple of centre-backs whose names appear to confuse most commentators. But isn't sort of in the job description to be able to say their names properly? I mean that basically is what they do for a living - say names. Yesterday watching Sky Sports News I became extremely confused trying to figure out who scored our first goal. Apparently it was someone named Yus Foofya: Edit: the video I originally posted has been taken down following a copyright claim, so here is one of a cat barking. Enjoy. [video=youtube;aP3gzee1cps]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP3gzee1cps[/video]
Well, we all technically pronounce Fonte incorrectly, though the man himself says he doesn't mind "Fontay"
When it comes to mispronouncing foreign names, nobody did it better than John Motson. Remember "The Germans are taking it down the right now... Kuntz..."?
I am on a one man mission to pronounce Fonte, Font. Also the French pronunciation of Schneiderlin would be Schneiderlan (as in Spiderman).
I'm not sure on the origin of his name, but it sounds German doesn't it? If it is then we might be pronouncing it right.
My favourite was Paul Merson trying to pronounce..........anyone actually, but mostly Shefki Kuqi! And the bloke on SSN also struggled with Reading players' names. And then told us Bristol City and WHU had drawn 0-0. Amateurs!! Just goes to show if it aint in the Premier League, they aint interested.
Amateurs, yes, but attractive also. That's Sky's business model. I'm not complaining when Hayley McQueen and Natalie Sawyer are on my screen.
Zurab Khizanishvili is a good one, plus it made a good bit of money on the back of shirts too! Van der Vaart is often pronounced incorrectly too to avoid the 'fart' sound.
Tbh, apart from a few undoubted gems like Jeff Stelling, and of course Matty, I think SKY Sports is poor. Yes, I speak as one who would never go near SKY to increase the personal fortune of Rupert Murdoch by a single penny, but I have seen their quality of output. It's ratings biased and of poor overall quality. It is a subscription service, which means it has a duty to cover all the teams adequately, because the subscribers undoubtedly come from all corners of the UK, and most will support their home teams. Yet they behave almost exclusively like a advertising based service, which means they concentrate on that which is deemed to be popular, because that apparently gets the most viewers. Mind you, there are plenty of sheep out there with the wool well and truly pulled over their eyes.
Yep, he's from Alsace, like Wenger, hence the German name. Not sure if he prefers the German or French pronunciation though.
He had it earlier this season - stuck with Lee. Hooiveld was fun for him - "It's a goal from.. the big one, the defender, Hoy.. he's got the longest name on the pitch!" Poor Mers.
Regardless of the presenters' inability to do their job properly, and the fact that Rupert Murdoch is straight up evil, I do love a bit of Sky Sports News. And though I would side with the BBC on just about every other aspect, it's just sport, and Sky do it better. I'll never watch Sky News though, that's dreadful.
