Facepalm Series #1: Disrespecting dead guys
See this guy?
He was a famed English astronomer, mathematician, geologist, and physicist, among several other job titles. His name is Edmond Halley and he accurately predicted the period of that famous comet named after him, called 1P/Halley but most people just call it Halley’s Comet. It’ll be back in 2061, do you expect to see it?
See these guys?
They’re a wildly popular rock band who call themselves Shinedown. They currently have a track that’s receiving heavy airplay. I have a problem with this track. The problem? They mispronounce that first guy’s name. (It’s pronounced like valley, and each of those three words are different links to places that agree with me.) Has anyone else caught this, confronted the band about it, and/or wondered why people like this get carte blanche to butcher the English language anytime they want?
Before you say that’s the way the Americans say it, know that I never have. Not even when I was six years old.
April 7th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I agree with you that they are pronouncing the name incorrectly, but a word of caution. Halley has been historically mispronounced, and it perhaps isn’t TRULY his fault for mispronouncing it on record. Things like that happen. All in all, it’s actually a great song.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:38 am
All I can say is that when we instinctively pronounce “hallelujah” as HAIL-i-lu-yuh I will give Brent a free pass. Until then, no dice.