Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!ittvax!dcdwest!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!sri-unix!duntemann.wbst@XEROX.ARPA
From: duntemann.wbst@XEROX.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: SF Pronunciation
Message-ID: <1757@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 9-Jul-84 05:53:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.1757
Posted: Mon Jul  9 05:53:36 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 12-Jul-84 01:15:39 EDT
Lines: 39

While on our way to a hamfest Sunday we were discussing the Dune
trailer,
and found to considerable amusement that we had four different ways of
pronouncing Aetrides (God, I hope that's spelled correctly...)  It's
a problem that comes up only in discussion, fortunately, as I reserve
the right to choose how I pronounce nonstandard words.  You'd
be surprised how vehemently some people defend their own way of
pronouncing something as The Real Thing.

I also write the stuff, and the second most frequently asked question
(after where you get those crazy ideas) is, of course, where do you get
those crazy names.  My answer is both simple and honest:  I get them
from
my high school yearbook.  The following names were classmates in
woodshop:  Czuchra, Hkrepech, and Labiak.  Bajh was originally
Bayh, whom I named after the Governor of Indiana, and changed only after
my sister cautioned me against offending politicians.  (Who are
simultaneously
the most vicious and most powerful people in America.)

Many slavic names sound (and look) amazing alien-like to WASP types.
Not
all Polish names end in ski or wicz; my mother's maiden name was
Przybytek
(Polish for "chalice") and a personal favorite Polish word (strur,
"rat")
will be an Evil Emperor type in a novel I have on the drawing board.

If your high school class were all WASP types, get yourself a Chicago
phone book.

I forgive people who can't pronounce my story character names quite
readily, as it's a rare person who can pronounce "Duntemann" correctly
without some coaching.

And hell, what's in a name, anyway?

--Jeff Duntemann
duntemann.wbst@xerox