Say it right

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Juan, how's your Greek? I've always been told that "gyro" is pronounced "YEE-ro" but little waitresses in Greek restaurants don't seem to have heard that. Thanks for the tip on "bruschetta;" despite my Italian last name (it's my husband's, not my maiden name) I was guilty of saying "bru-SHET-a. "

And you can imagine how much trouble we have with the silent "g" in our last name!

Salut!

[Michael Georges]

Leslie: I just happened to work at a Greek Restaurant during High School.

It's "YEE-ro". If you were greek, you might put a bit of an H in there as in "YEAH-RO"

[Anthony Emmolo]

While we're on the topic of French names, can anyone guess how to pronouncethe name of tthe French illustrator Guy Billout? Back in my School of Visual Arts days I learned it, and never forgot. I'll give you a couple of days on it.

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Ghee Bee-yo? (Hard "g')

[Anthony Emmolo]

Leslie,

I haven't been in grammar school for quite awhile, so I can't remember which is a hard and soft "G". However, the way I learned his name was when he entered my classroom and introduced himself as Gee (as in GET) Bee (as in our bumbling insect) and You (as in not me).

[Cynthia Daniel]

Getting a little more exact on the Greek sandwich, it's actually yee-ros.

[William Whitaker]

Mari,

Stein - key.

Bettina never gave us any trouble when we said it that way.

Bill

[Linda Ciallelo]

Seventeen years ago I married an Italian by the name of Frank Ciallelo. The good thing is that I can use my name without worrying that someone else will have it. The bad thing is that no one can pronounce it. The correct pronounciation is Chill-lello. The Ci sounds like Ch in English, Like the word "ciao", as in "ciao baby".

Pronounced "chow" in English. I still get tongue tied when someone asks me what my name is, Chill-lello is hard for me to say correctly. And sometimes people say Linder instead of Linda.

But, before I was a Ciallelo, I was a Vredenburgh for 18 years, before I was a Vredenburgh, I was a Rockwell for 18 years. Life is strange.

[Leslie Ficcaglia]

Linda, having gone from Pastor to Ficcaglia you have my sympathies! Try pronouncing that one (it's Fi-KAL-ya). I tried to keep my maiden name after I married but my new boss didn't approve and insisted on introducing me to everyone as Mrs. Ficcaglia, so I gave up. Back then keeping one's maiden name was unusual, but even now, a friend who retained her name after marriage was forced to bring her marriage certificate to prove the relationship during some sort of legal contract they were embarking on as a couple!

[Linda Ciallelo]

Leslie, my daughter tried to hyphenate her maiden name with her husbands name, but had so many problems that she gave up. Changing traditions can be tricky.