More on Pronunciation

A couple days ago I blogged about confusion in the software industry over certain terms... and ended by talking about confusion with pronunciation of other terms. A friend of mine decided to send me links to a couple things on Bjarne Stroustrup's site that seem especially relevant. The funniest was his FAQ, which among other things explains how to pronounce his name:

It can be difficult for non-Scandinavians. The best suggestion I have heard yet was "start by saying it a few times in Norwegian, then stuff a potato down your throat and do it again :-)" Here is a wav file.

For people who can't receive sound, here is a suggestion: Both of my names are pronounced with two syllables: Bjar-ne Strou-strup. Neither the B nor the J in my first name are stressed and the NE is rather weak so maybe Be-ar-neh or By-ar-ne would give an idea. The first U in my second name really should have been a V making the first syllable end far down the throat: Strov-strup. The second U is a bit like the OO in OOP, but still short; maybe Strov-stroop will give an idea.

Yes, this probably is the most frequently asked question :-)

P.S. My first name is Bjarne - not Bjorn (not a name), Bjørn (a related but different name), nor Barney (an unrelated name). My second name is Stroustrup - not Stroustroup, Stroustrop, Strustrup, Strustrop, Strustroup, Straustrup, nor Straustroup (documents using each of these misspellings can be found using google).

He's really pretty funny. Too bad he doesn't have a blog.