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[RKB]

Now what has this old Lynyrd Skynyrd album to do with puzzles you may wonder...

Well, in fact, nothing at all. But I got an email earlier today from Peter Hajek and I suddenly realised that I'm not sure about how to pronounce his name.

I remember my professor of social psychology who had a very good test to find out whether someone attended his classes or not... I did not, as could read his book much faster than he did (or were his classes just too early in the morning  ). Lucky for me I had been warned and knew how to properly pronounce 'Robert Zajonc' and 'Iv?n B?sz?rm?nyi-Nagy' 

But all this started me wondering how my puzzle friends in the USA and Japan would pronounce my very own name. I see two possibilities for the 'KINT' part, but then I simply can't imagine what a tongue twister the 'BRUYNSEELS' must be to most of you.

Enlighten me! 

[Johan Heyns]

Well, for an Afrikaans speaking bloke I just pronounce it as it is: "Bruin - se?ls"

I'm not in America or Japan, but I can just imagine at a puzzle party that it can be a tongue twisting experience.

[Scott Peterson]

I think it is pronounced the same as Johan replied, and I suppose you probably roll the "r" too...

I had a few years of German in high school - and with enough practice I can usually make my tongue get close to the right pronunciation!  Well - for some of the European languages at least.  I don't even attempt the Asian or Japanese languages!

I have actually been wondering how your friends pronounce "Ry"  Is it more like "Ree" or "Rye"

[Canuck]

I always thought there would be a lot of emphasis on the -Y- so Brewin-seals?
 
My last name is almost always mispronounced, no matter how many times I say my last name Devo (like the rock band)they'll always reply making the 'ST' sound and then asking me how it's pronounced?  I always find that strange when I just told them...I even had some question my pronunciation!  Strangely my wife gets quite frustrated by that and same with my mother as well when I was younger, which I find funny because it wasn't their last name until they married

[Kerry Verne]

My wife traded L'Homme (good old French Canadian roots) for Verne. She escaped her childhood nicknames, but gained little improvement on pronouncability. At least Verne only has one capital letter and no confusing apostrophe.

Here in NC, the population that can pronounce a simple name like Verne turns out to be slightly larger than those who knew who the author was. If they read it, it's Vern-ee. If they try to write it, it's Vern. Over the phone it's even worse. I always seem to end up Mr. Burns.

And I don't even have umlauts..

[RKB]

I have actually been wondering how your friends pronounce "Ry"  Is it more like "Ree" or "Rye"

It's exclusively used in writing. I started using this as an abbreviation of 'Ronny' (that's how my friends address me). I'm always very suspicious when people call me Ronald... they're probably tax collectors or other 'officials' I'd rather not meet 

Now for the correct pronunciation of my name:

The 'i' in 'Kint' is pronounced as in 'hint'.

Well, 'Bruyn' is probably the most difficicult part because that uses a diphthong which is unknown (?) in English. Even in modern Dutch the "uy" combination has become obsolete. The 'y' was only an indication of a prolongation of the preceding sound, in this case the 'u' as in 'hunter'. Originaly that was pronounced as 'uu' a bit as in 'Van Buren', but still a bit prolonged. Later it became the diphthong 'ui', pronounced (approxiamately) as 'u' (hunter) followed by 'i' (hint). If you learn to pronounce both these sounds in a quick succession, then you come very close.
Note that this is the same sound as in Nicholas de Bruijn's name as 'y' or 'ij' were used for the same purpose.

Finally the 'seels' part. Here the 'ee' sounds not at all as in 'seals' or 'wheels', but rather like 'sails'.

[Eric Fuller]

I speak Dutch, so I knew how to say it all along.  But I just call you "That Belgian who's not quite right in the head" whenever me and the other guys talk behind your back.  Which is all the time by the way.

[RKB]

I speak Dutch, so I knew how to say it all along.  But I just call you "That Belgian who's not quite right in the head" whenever me and the other guys talk behind your back.  Which is all the time by the way.

I can't remember me telling you my middle name.

[Robert Yarger]

Eric I thought we all agreed that we were not going to tell him that we talked about him behind his back.

[RKB]

Eric I thought we all agreed that we were not going to tell him that we talked about him behind his back.

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