A note on pronunciations

Pierre McGuire is the worst offender, but there are many others as well who simply try too hard to pronounce French-Canadian names. Here's a hint: if you have trouble pronouncing it the French way, don't bother trying.

I'm sure I'm not the only one cringes every time he hears Latendresse pronounced "lah-tawn-dtlesss." It's ok guys, really, you can call him la-ten-dress, without any pseudo-French accents or extra syllables. I'm sure he won't mind.

There was some debate about how to pronounce Huet last year. Some called him "hewwww-ette", while others just stuck with what came naturally (hue-eh). I don't think there's anything quite as cringe-inducing (other than the blood-curdling anguish of a Ric Jeanerette "SCOOOOOOOOOGHGHHGGHGGHHHHHHHHHHR-cough-cough-hack-wheeze-RRRRRRRRRRRR" call) as an announcer trying desperately hard to pronounce a French name in an accent that no race on earth has ever used.
So, announcers, do us all a favor. Just say the word the way it looks, and don't worry about how it's pronounced. If you aren't sure, guessing about what constitutes an authentic French pronunciation will not help.

Of course, on the flip side of the coin, we have Don Cherry, with his intentional bastardizations of players names, such as Seiko Koivo, or Alex Korvalov. Cherry gets off on mis-pronouncing foreign names, as he is a racist, jingoistic blow-hard who enjoys causing trouble.* Also, folks like the aforementioned Jeanerette make a mockery of themselves when they can't even pronounce their own players' names, like Jaroslav "Spaw-Chuck." Or Sam Rosen who still insists, 14 years later, that it's pronounced "Kovalov."

So, hell, which do you prefer? A ridiculous announcer using a fake accent, or a dumbass who reads the first few letters on the back of the jersey and then makes up the rest?


*But damn, he's entertaining.