Jassik? Jasik? Jashek? Jasheck? Yaschek?
Q. How do you pronounce "Jaschek?"
A. Well, much of my family here in the U.S., including parents, pronounces the "s-c-h" combination as an "s" sound, like ja-sic, with a short "a" sound, as if to rhyme with "classic."
Q. But you do not pronounce it that way?
A. No.
Q. Why is that?
A. Well, during college, I started to embrace that odd consonant combination as a "shhhhh" sound, like the "sch" in Schwab or Dr. Scholls or Anheuser Busch, makers of Busch Light, thinking that this would actually help pronunciation, not hinder.
Q. So did it help, then?
A. Not at all.
Q. Is it true that your high school gym teacher would call you "JAZZ-check" in a high-pitched nasal, and that you felt that "JAZZ-check" was some alternate version of yourself that ran laps in a jock?
A. That is true. How did you get that information?
Q. We hear things.
A. Hmmm.
Q. You know, in its original, Germanc language, the "j" would be pronounced like a "y."
A. True.
Q. So you do it that way?
A. I can't really yustify that. I mean, justify that.
Q. So, in that case: how DO you pronounce "Jaschek"?
A. Me?
Q. Yes.
A. I have no idea.
Q. [Sigh.]
A. I was hoping you knew.
Don't forget that you have a son that also CORRECTLY pronounces Jaschek with the CORRECT "sch" sound. You don't go to Ssssssnucks & Curt Sssssssilling doesn't pitch for the Red Sox.
Posted by: Adam | Friday, October 22, 2004 at 03:41 PM