There is an excellent chance you’ve already seen this video elsewhere on FreethoughtBlogs. I post it here as well, because you may not have seen it but still want to know how a bunch of us here talk about this when we get together. There is also one thing I’d like to draw your attention to.
A number of people have been mispronouncing my name lately on the radio and in Google+ hangouts and the like. They’ve been doing this despite me doing a radio show on which I introduce myself approximately every other week.
Now, I’m used to this. People who hear the radio show regularly still mispronounce my name. Still, if you want to know how it’s done, let this discussion be your guide.
Just make sure you pay attention to how I pronounce it, not how that Meyers guy does.
Stephanie Zvan is one of the hosts for the Minnesota Atheists' radio show and podcast, Atheists Talk. She serves on the board of Secular Woman. She speaks on science and skepticism in a number of venues, including science fiction and fantasy conventions.
Stephanie has been called a science blogger and a sex blogger, but if it means she has to choose just one thing to be or blog about, she's decided she's never going to grow up. In addition to science and sex and the science of sex, you'll find quite a bit of politics here, some economics, a regular short fiction feature, and the occasional bit of concentrated weird.
Oh, and arguments. She sometimes indulges in those as well. But I'm sure everything will be just fine. Nothing to worry about. Nothing at all.
Hm, thanks. I was pronouncing it as though Dracula were trying to say the word “swan.” (Also I thought Dan Fincke’s E was silent.) The things you learn from audio!
The schwa is introduced mostly because it’s not comfortable for primarily English-speaking mouths to hold the Z all the way to the V. It’s come by honestly, though, since the name is a “corruption” of le vin. There are other versions of the name that are spelled Zevan.
I actually played that part a couple times to try to get it ;p
The relevant introduction is just after 04:50, for those wondering. 🙂
/zÉ™’væn/, yes?
To the extent I’ve translated the phonemes correctly, yes, although the schwa is only just there.
I seed what you did there. 😉
Oh, good. I’m glad someone did. 🙂
Hm, thanks. I was pronouncing it as though Dracula were trying to say the word “swan.” (Also I thought Dan Fincke’s E was silent.) The things you learn from audio!
So, totally NOT like the name of a red-skinned alien piloting a giant space robot. Gotcha. 🙂
First name’s Zephanie, right?
How come Greg Lah-den mispronounced his name?
Jason… what’s his surname? Throb-a-lot?
According to Mallorie Nasrallah, Thibi-dibi-doo.
“Thibi-dibi-doo” is actually sort of catchy… you could do a little dance with it.
“Thibi-dibi-doo”…..They wouldve gotten away with it too, if it wasnt for those pesky Free Thought Bloggers
Thanks.
(How does the schwa get in there?)
The schwa is introduced mostly because it’s not comfortable for primarily English-speaking mouths to hold the Z all the way to the V. It’s come by honestly, though, since the name is a “corruption” of le vin. There are other versions of the name that are spelled Zevan.
A bit like Siobhan, perhaps – the schwa is barely there in that name, too.
Apologies for the on-air mispronunciation
No worries, Becky. It really does happen all the time.