HARTSHORN-L Archives

Archiver > HARTSHORN > 2007-11 > 1194459654


From: "Wally Hartshorn" <>
Subject: Re: [HARTSHORN] Hartshorn pronunciation
Date: Wed, 7 Nov 2007 12:20:54 -0600
References: <d55.18e03e13.3462abb7@aol.com><32306.213.38.79.117.1194423434.VEUUQm9QSEt7RA==.squirrel@213.38.79.117><7.0.1.0.2.20071107084815.03a73b10@charter.net>
In-Reply-To: <7.0.1.0.2.20071107084815.03a73b10@charter.net>


The ones I always find amusing are those who stumble over the name and try
to pronounce it like "Hawthorne". (Thank you, Nathaniel!) I think they see
the "Ha" at the start, the "orn" at the end, and a bunch of consonants in
the middle, so they just jump to "Hawthorne" -- except that while they're
trying to say that, their eyes are quietly whispering to them, "Where's the
'w'? I don't see a 'w' in there. And why is there an 's'? Something is
wrong!" The result is a fair amount of stammering as their brain tries to
catch up with their lips.

On 11/7/07, Derick Hartshorn <> wrote:
>
> My grandfather, the son of Newton Timothy who spent two years in
> England researching the family name, had much to say about the
> pronunciation of the family name.
> He was more than willing to correct anyone who pronounced it any way
> other than HARTS-HORN. In his patient instruction, he would pronounce
> the name 'HARTS' separated by a space of three seconds and continue
> with 'HORN.' Then again, we have a cousin from Connecticut who has
> always pronounced his name as HART-SHORN. I can only picture a deer
> who has had his fleece harvested.
>
> I have always experienced a problem with strangers who try to use
> three incomprehensible syllables. Some seem to have great difficulty
> breaking down the name into two simple syllables, whichever they
> might be. It also might be interesting to note that some New
> Englanders, in an apparent attempt to economize on speech, shortened
> the spelling to Hartson, often pronouncing the corrupted spelling as
> Hart'sn.
>
> --Derick S. Harts' horn
>
>
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