GALLAGHER-L Archives

Archiver > GALLAGHER > 1998-12 > 0913774782


From: theOGollaher <>
Subject: Can't Say/Spell it right...
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1998 19:19:42 -0700


To all a chairde (my dear friends),

Many of you have been e-mailing either myself or the list in response to my
"poll" of the pronunciation of the surname in its various forms. I'm getting
some good responses, and I really appreciate them all.

I would like to share the following dialogue, as some here may relate to it;
cousin Susan Miller of the "Kentucky Gollahers" wrote me saying:

> Michael,

> When I was growing up people were always calling us Gallagher, Gollagher
> - always wanting to put that "g" in there. It seems like very few
> people could actually look at the spelling and pronouce it like it was
> spelled....

Boy, could I relate to that! Here is my reply, cause for a grin or two I
hope ;>

------------------
Hello again, Susan!

Seems like you had the same experience in Kentucky growing up as we did
growing up in Salt Lake City and Boise! Everyone wanting to put the "g" in
the middle of the name and pronounce the "o" like the "a" in 'apple.'

When reading from a list of names people, even teachers, would stop when they
got to our surname, pause, and then proceed to utter something almost
unintelligible. Then they'd look look up and ask, sheepishly, "Is that even
close?"

I guess the thing that irked me just a little was how they could breeze right
by those Spanish and Hungarian names with ease, but seen to be confounded by
mine, which we pronounced exactly the way it was spelled according to the
rules of phonetics.

"Well," I would reply tactfully, "try just pronouncing it PHONETICALLY."

Didn't help. They still couldn't say it.

Sometimes I would loose my patience just a little, and blurt out, "Good
heavens! It's pronounced _exactly_ as it's spelled! 'GOLL-a-her!"

"'Gaw-lag-er," they would repeat, slowly, as if trying to get it right this
time.

"No, no. Just ONE 'G.' Only one," I would remind them, trying to hide the
exasperation in my voice.

"Oh! I see," they'd respond back. "GA-la .... her."

But I can't count the times that the very next occasion they had to call on
me they would still subconsciously revert back to 'GAL-AG-ER."

Nowadays, of course, an appeal to phonetics would be utterly hopeless, as I
don't think they've been teaching phonics since I was a child .... :/
-----------------------

SO... to all my dear GALLAGHER cousins (especially Patrick "the second 'g'
working as hard as the first" Gallagher) I would say. You win.

GALLAGHER (but NOT 'Gollaher,' et al...) shall be pronounced 'GAL-AG-ER" and
be considered as the "King's English" -- literally. Even though our dear ol'
departed Bishop Redmond O'Gallagher (may his soul rest in peace) and all the
clan seanachies and poets may be rolling in their graves at every banal
utterance of the name now-a-days -- this is, after all, a democracy, and the
American (and their Canadian & Australian cousins) descendants of the
original Ghallchobhar have voted with their tongues. Americans can't stand
laziness and inefficiency, and another 'g' just hanging out and taking up
room smack in the middle of our beloved surname _best_ pull his weight along
with all the other consonants! <ROFLOL :D>

But seriously, folks, I have enjoyed the responses I have received so far,
and would appreciate even more personal stories, if you have 'em. Patrick
McFadden (or "PO-drage MAC FHA-jeen" in County Donegal...) reminded me that
there is no "correct" or "proper" way to pronounce the surname. After all,
it is YOUR name (and his and hers and mine...) and whoever owns it can darn
well pronounce it anyway they please. So there. And he's right. As I've
written here before, my studies of our ancient Gaelic culture indicates that
while our ancestors never worried much about how a word was spelled (still
don't, apparently), they _did_ love the sound of the words they spoke. We're
a culture of story tellers. So we ought to feel comfortable with however we
choose to pronounce the surname.

For those interested, I have posted the responses so far to our OGolly Clan
Forum at Delphi.com. The URL is:
http://forums.delphi.com/m/main.asp?sigdir=OGOLLAHER

If you are not registered with Delphi, they'll want you to register, but it
is free and painless. I'll continue to post all responses and I'll report
back in a day or two with the results.

Hope everybody here has a most joyful holiday season, or:
Nollaig shona duit (Happy Christmas to you)!

--
A síorraidh...
_____________________________________
Michael Monroe Gollaher, aka
Mícheál Mac an Rothaich ÓGhallchobhar
"the.O'Gollaher"
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