Subject
Hear NNABOKOV pronounced
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Dear List and Keith,
AHD and Webster are both wrong in their "not oaky," awkward (pun
intended) pronunciation of the middle syllable of Nabokov. That middle
"o" is pronounced similarly to the infamous "o" in: "I'll huff and I'll
puff // And I'll BLOW you're house down!" Thus, "Nah-bO-cuff".
As to "spoke of" being a "better" rhyme with Nabokov, I would propose
"spoke off" (it gets rid of the inaccurate final "v" sound). For
example, "Nabokov, wearing his signature butterfly blue bow tie, spoke
off the cuff about the difficulties of pronouncing his family name."
Jerry Katsell
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