Annoyance at incorrect pronunciation of Asperger

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I'm half Austrian so, sometimes, pronounce English words incorrectly - however, I do always welcome correction. But over the last x years I've heard so many people who simply don't seem to understand what a hard G is and they continue to say 'As-purger' instead of the correct 'As-perger' (like burger). I've become accustomed to correcting people regarding my surname, but I'm never entirely sure how to correct a doctor or other professional.

Professionals involved with my mental health care, who should know better, continue to have problems with pronunciation. I corrected one, once. They said I was incorrect - I then spent nearly an hour explaining why I was not incorrect, I called my parents to also help explain. This didn't go well.

Is this matter universal?

Wait...you mean it's not a hard G??? Everyone I know says it with a hard G. I do too. I went to an autism conference this summer and they did too! I've never heard it said with a soft G.

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5XHRVhOHdA
That is how I say it and how I'm used to hearing it. Is that the pronunciation you object to?

I'm really curious because I never considered that it was wrong...

I have never said it with a hard G, no one I know has either, I also pronounce the P as a P and not a B

I had a counselor once who pronounced it Ausburgers. I don't know why he added the U. I have heard a lot of people change the P to a B. I knew a lady once (NT) who said the word refute as reFlute and refused to say it correctly even though her error had been directly pointed out to her many times.

It drives me nuts. I have come to the point of telling myself that there are many people who are uneducated. I can understand a different accent but the pronunciation should be the same in my opinion.

I don't really think it is an issue of ignorance, just that even when pronounced correctly with the p rather than with a b, it still sounds very, very similar to the b pronunciation because of how the mouth forms the letters.

I'm not in any way a linguist, but basically because b and p are very similar letters, the major difference is that b kind of has an uh sound at the end, while p does not. Except that in Aspergers, that first er can sound more or less like uhr, especially depending upon your accent. Which means that when it combines with the p, it can make the p sound very like a b.

I myself have a difficult time making Aspergers and 'Asperger's' sound different even when I'm trying, and pretty much can't when I'm just using it in casual conversation. It might be easier for someone with an accent that differentiates more between vowels (i.e. they differentiate more between e and u)

Sorry, I've edited my post to reflect what I actually meant.

OP, would you like to explain how to pronounce it correctly? You can probably use the IPA. The pronunciation of Asperger was discussed a few times here but it always seemed to be inconclusive. I'd really like to know how to say it.

Doctors and other "professionals" are too proud and stubborn to be corrected. You had better leave them alone.

Always assumed it was the hard G (like granite) not the soft G (J sound).

But apparently the Brits say it with J sound half of the time and think it a correct alternate pronunciation.

To me that seems horribly wrong.

BUT...

It all hinges on one thing: how did Dr. Asperger's family get their name?

If he is named after an ancestor who came from the town of Asperg (in South Germany) than it can only be pronounced with the hard G ( in either English, or in the doctor's native Austrian German).

BUT..he could be named after an ancestor who sprinkled holy water in a Catholic Church. The name of that task is "asperging". The person who does it is an "asperger". The job title is pronounced with a hard G in the doctor's native German. But in English it is pronounced with the J sound. The job is pronounced "asperJer", thus the family named after the job title (like Schmidt/Smith) would also be Anglified to asperjer, and thus so would the name of the condition named after the doctor with that family name. So it could be argued that in English it would HAVE to be pronounced "asperjers".

Thats the rub.

I have only heard it with a soft g once and that was on a youtube video by a British girl. It did not bother me at all. I found it rather soothing actually. What if Dr. Asperger came from a family that grew Asparagus?

Sorry my initial post was not clear, the correct pronunciation of Asperger is Ass-per-gur. Pretty much how some people find it funny that it sounds like 'Assburger' <- replace the 'b' with a 'p' and it's nearly there.

Anyone who says it differently is incorrect, no matter where they're from or whichever version of English they speak, my original post should have certainly been clearer.

Thanks, Piers. This is the first time that anyone gave us the real pronunciation of Asperger. I have always pronounced it in that way.

I've never thought the sound of "p" and "b" are similar. So it's really strange to me that some people say "Assburger" and laugh. It sounds like something completely different.

When people pronounce it like "ass-burgers", it annoys the hell out of me. It's named after a German physician, not a type of ground meat made from an animal's posterior.

No one down here uses the soft G. I've only heard the soft G from British documentaries. Just because people are from England, that doesn't mean they speak English properly. Even the Queen mispronounces certain words regularly. As Henry Higgins would say "why can't the English learn to speak?"

Piers, do you mean to say you've got asperger's and your name is Asperger? That is so meta