Is "Aspergers" Said with a Hard G or a Soft G?

Post Reply New Topic

I think I've heard it mostly said with a hard g, but my family have always said it with a soft g, so I've grown up doing the same.

German name = Hard G but I only ever hear it pronounced with a soft G

It seems like the Brits use a soft G and the Americans use a hard G.

The soft "G" pronunciation drives me nuts. It's a hard "G" and everyone always used to pronounce it that way when I was diagnosed as a child. For some reason, it's one of those things that caught on, like the new nonsensical version of "You can talk" where people replace the "can" with "can't" and it defeats the point of the sentence.

Most autistics I know say it with a hard G, most NTs with a soft G. That may be regional, but I think it's because technically it's hard G via German, but the NTs can't handle that it sounds like Ass-Burgers.

The hard G is G as in "good", and the soft G is the J sound (as in "general").

Americans almost always use the hard G on aspergers, Brits seemed to be divided 50-50 between "asperGers" and saying "asperJers".

However the word "Asperger" predated any word for anything to do with the autism spectrum in the English language by Centuries.

To "asperge" means to "sprinkle holy water on the congregation" during certain masses in a Catholic church. And the person (a young boy often) who is given the task of doing said sprinkling is the "Asperger". And in that context the word is pronounced with soft G, or jay sound.

So going by that precedent for the word you would go with the "soft" j sound.

In fact it makes me wonder if the word "Asperg" is related to the word "purge" (which means "to clean"). But I digress.

However in German the Catholic ritual "Asperger" is spelled the same way as in English, but pronounced with the hard G.

I know Americans and maybe Canadians usually say it with a hard G, but I pronounce it with a soft G so it doesn't sound like we have hamburgers for a butt.

The way of pronouncing it so that it does not sound like Ass-burgers is preferable imo.

So for those who use a soft 'G' , how do you pronounce 'Sperg' - sperj ?

I've always used a hard G.

Spurge is a plant. Soft G could sound like we have "asp urges" which implies strange doings with snakes.

I've always said it with a hard G. I've also corrected people in rl who have said it with a soft G. Most likely they went on saying it that way and not listened to me.