What's his name?
Come on. He's called Shia LeBeouf and he's currently in more films than James McAvoy (Transformers, Disturbia, Surf's Up, the new Indiana Jones) - but how do you pronounce his exciting name. I'd say, "Sheer LeBurf", but I heard a lady on XFM yesterday pronounce it "Shire LeBoff", which is funnier, but surely incorrect. He is an American, so I don't expect decent foreign pronunciation (they have a city called St Louis, which they pronounce St Lewis, after all), but I'm keen for a definitive answer. (The confusing thing is that it looks like boeuf, the French word for beef, but isn't. That's definitely burf.)
posted by Andrew Collins @ 12:38 PM
15 Comments
Contact
Andrew at
15 Comments:
According to Wikipedia it's 'SHY-uh luh-BUFF'. Personally, I'm none the wiser.
Holidays in Britain can be a mispronunciation mine field. Jedburgh, Leominster, and plenty more in Wales, Have caused locals to cringe their shoulders when I've asked for directions. And if you're unsure and in Scotland, probably best just pointing to it on the map
According to Entertainment Weekly - and I trust them to be right, it's Shya LeBerf.
He was great in Holes.
Chris Driver is correct.
So is that pronounced 'shah'? Or 'shire'? As in Lincolnshire?
Bless him - I bet he wishes he was called Matthew Atkins or something simple.
I have always pronounced St. Louis as it sounds. Not that I have had much opportunity. Maybe when talking about Lindbergh but I haven't done that much.
The first time an actor's name has made me feel hungry, I'm off home for my dinner and now it had better be beef.....
I won't bore you with the technical details, but there is a city in America which shares the same name as my village and, strangely, the Americans pronounce it properly and we don't.
Clearly there are odd pronunciations everywhere, and it's a sign of our weakness in the world that we take such delight in mocking the Americans. But then they did come up with "Fill-ay Oh Fish", didn't they?
[Sheila Boof?]
The correct spelling of the word beef in French is boeuf.
My favourite mispronunciation story: according to one of the Viz creators an Australian asked him if he was on the right platform for the train to 'Loogabarooga'... (Loughborough).
An Australian subeditor at NME was shocked to see a road sign for the English town of Clithero, believing it to be pronounced Clit Hero.
We had an Australian geography teacher who pronounced Welwyn as Well-Win of course the whole class laughed. It was great to know we knew better than a teacher rather than just think we did.
Finding out pronunciation of a name from an American is fraught though. If you asked how how to pronounce even a simple name like mine (John) they would invariably say "jarn" instead of "jon".
Hmm, yes, I know someone who worked with an American called 'Cary' who introduced himself as something that sounded like 'Kerry', giving them the dilemma: 'is his name actually pronounced 'Kerry', or is he just saying 'Cary' (as in Grant) with an American accent and that's how it comes out?' He got called 'erm' a lot, I think.
Then you have the fact that many, but not all, Americans anglicise the pronunciation of non-English names for some reason, so there's always the temptation, when trying to find out how to say their name, of asking, "Do you say it properly, or...?" Because it is really confusing.
Er, anyhow, I thought it was Shee-ah Le Berf. But I think that's because I see his name and my brain scrambles it into 'boeuf' when it isn't. Being American, it could be totally anglicised and something like Lebuff, or totally OTT French (ie Bal-LAY, Mau-REES).
If he was British I'd say it was probably pronounced 'Loughborough'. Or Cholmondeley-Featherstonehaugh.
Andrew
That's a good joke about the Lancashire town; only slightly diminished by the fact that Clitheroe has a terminal 'e'.
I've looked up Monsieur Beefcake again, and it seems that the first syllable of his surname could be 'La', which makes the Wikipedia explanation even more confusing.
Anyway - when do we get onto herbs ('erbs'?) in American again? I can't wait.
Post a Comment
<< Home