We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
Look chaps, I'm as guilty as anyone for making fun of linguistic shape-shifter Derek Rae, but enough is enough. Start pronouncing players names correctly and stop that sniggering at the back. https://www.theguardian.com/football/the-set-pieces-blog/2021/sep/30/how-pronounce-footballers-names-bruno-fernandes-gianluigi-buffon-wojciech-szczesny
posted by gooner71 @ 4:00 PM
We are all former students at Lakenheath High School and other public schools in East Anglia. We were in school in the 70s and 80s and drank deeply from the well of British culture of those decades - the pints, the telly, and of course the footie!
7 Comments:
I just had a chance to read the article and while I commend the fact that he speaks five languages, or anybody that does. However, instead of using that ability to enhance matches , he uses it for self gratification. I agree with the title. Derek is not a Rae of Sunshine and Everybody does not love Rae. Those are my thoughts.
Not an apology, Al-Prez. Start again!
I apologize to Derek. My hats off to anyone who can speak five languages. I don't think a lot of English language people mispronounce names maliciously. Foreign languages are not taught in schools in most countries where English is the official language and that needs to change
No apologies from here
You can pronounce it properly.....but he goes way over the top for my liking.....he doesn't commentate as well as he should because he trying to find space to say ever German club during the match
Why is everyone now saying Meeelan... drives me nuts
Derek's look of disdain is aimed at the Manchester cabal of the LOB.
Thanks for posting the article and starting this fun conversation, Steve. Sorry for not seeing it until now, due to a crushing workweek.
But no apologies from me to Derek either. I can still remember his stint as the official New England Revolution commentator when the MLS started. At that point, he sounded as American as Rob Stone. Then suddenly he re-emerged on ESPN in the 2000s with the strongest burr west of Dundee.
The problem with his approach is that it's inconsistent. If you'd going to go in for fussy pronunciation, you need to go all in, as Max Bretos used to do with all Spanish names. But Derek picks and chooses the ones to emphasize, sometimes even pronouncing one Spanish David (David Silva, for example) correctly as "Dah-veed") and another one (David De Gea) the way that all British commentators do as "Dah-vit"). So, he ends up sounding a bit like Gwyneth Paltrow trying desperately to hang on to her Mockney in a Brit-com. I'm not a fan.
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