The pronunciation of Aspergers

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That's how I say it, too. Where do people get the 'b' from?

I cried for days when I realized my disorder sounded like "ass burgers" LOL Now I just pronounce it "Ozburgers" (like Heather from America's Next Top Model)

Sometimes when I go off on some crazy OCD cycle or get too heated in debate, my boyfriend calmly points out my "ass burger flare up" - I respond with a supersarcastic "Would you like fries with that?!?! BIIIITCH!! !" It's hilarious for us

Lol, i didnt cry, but i wasn't too happy about it

Good point Keith.

P is just a quiet B. Even with the P emphasized, I can still see how people are hearing it that way.

Ah! That's very interesting. Thank you.

That sounds good to me, too. Distancing it from the "burgers" mishearing seems like it would help people take it more seriously as a concept, and as a viable way of being. I've known one person who flat-out told my wife that he thought I could overcome it if I wanted to, probably meaning that he thought I was being lazy. To her credit, she didn't listen to him. I got that same foolishness from the military when I was in uniform, too. I don't know about them now, but back then, fifteen years or so ago, before Aspegers became a recognized syndrome in American psychiatric practice, the American uniformed services believed that everyone could "communicate" with everyone else. If communication wasn't happening, then their usual viewpoint was that someone was being deliberately negligent and deserved to be treated like a minor criminal until he changed his ways. I much prefer a more current viewpoint, which says that it's not only a real difference, but that it can be useful in its own right. Anything that reduces the amount of ridicule that people with AS run into, just for being different, is a good thing.

Thanks. Can be funny hearing people trying to use English for foreign words believing they have the same principal. French was a b***h, German was too complicated. At least until, I started to learn on my own, it became apparent that I should choose another language where no-one has corrupted the learning cycle for me.

Ass- Burgers - lol.... I just call it "autism/autistic" depending on sentence and who I talk to

A lot of people seem to say the 'p' as a 'b'. I'm not sure why. I probably say it 'Asperger's' sometimes but I confuse 'p's and 'b's all the time so it makes a little more sense for me to say it that way.

When I first heard an American say it (on a video on YouTube), I thought it was hilarious. It really does sound like assburgers. And it's funnier coming from an American, because over here an 'ass' is a donkey, but in the US an 'ass' is a butt.
But, yeah, it gets old. Especially now my dad's made that joke loads of times.

I'm not sure why so many people are talking about the original Austrian pronunciation - we're not speaking German, so why pronounce it like that? Most foreign words are not pronounced as they are in their original language.

I pronounce it something like ass-ber-zhers or ass-per-zhuhs

here, here. i usually just emphasise the 'p' sound when i say it, and use a softer 's' sound (like the way you would usually say 'as') - as-per-jers.

My name in non native form is pronounced close to Kate... A girls name

Hi there,

The implication is more important then it's pronunciation. We, almost all here, know what it is. OK, not all. But that's what matters, whatever arbitrary shrinks or NT's think about it. F**k 'm, I say.

Proving again to be a nuisance, by saying; I believe this is the right way to pronounce it:

~As, like in ASbestos,
~per, like in PERson,
~ger, like in burGER (s).

Beft ti owl uf ya,
Ceesjan

P.S. I'm curious how you, English-speaking folks, would pronounce my name? And did you know that 'yankee' is a derivative from Jan & Kees; very common names in Holland, even a couple of centuries back. Names of dutch sailing folks who went to the States and, of course later, a nickname in the US civil war. Southerners gave the northern people.

[quote]
Solum certum nihil esse certi, et homine nihil miserius aut superbius.

Case-yan? Keys-yan? I'm not sure, I've never seen that name before.

The Straight Dope seems to back up your Yankee story though it does note there are other theories. Since I've never been called a yankee, I've not put much thought into it.

I pronounce it:

As (as in "asparagus") per (as in "percentage") jurs (as in "jury")

I find it amusing (and stressful) when in conversation with someone who pronounces it "ass-burgers" because it becomes a silent battle to see who will adopt the other person's pronunciation before the conversation begins to get awkward. There are plenty of things that English people technically mispronounce, so to a certain extent, whatever the theoretically correct way to pronounce "Aspergers" might be, I feel it is unnecessary to pronounce it in a way which, in reality, will add to the potential for ridicule. I generally avoid the issue by using the term "autistic-spectrum" instead.

Hi Mage,

Nice to meet you.
Your first quess was spot on. Chapeau!

The Yankee story isn't important at all for me. A bit of a light note, or something, and I didn't know there were other theories.

Best of luck to you,
Ceesjan

I don't understand, sorry.

I have a friend called 'Nikyta' - in India this a girl's name, but in Russia it is a boy's name. And I knew a boy called Nikola. It was pronounced like 'Nicola'. He was from Bulgaria.

Ceesjan - I'd say it 'Seez-yan'. How is your name pronounced?