Pointless Poll of the Week

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OK. So this is the thing I have had it and I want to know the answer to a very pressing question.

How is Aspergers pronunced?

I have heard it said two ways and I am none the wiser.

So is it with a hard or soft "g"

Does it rhyme with "burgers" small roung patties of meat traditionally served in a bun, or does it rhyme with "mergers" (plural noun) the action of joining together most often used in the world of commerce.

So in the first of (I hope) weekly "pointless polls" I ask you.

Meat or Business?

I first heard it pronounced with a hard g, which makes sense because its Austrian discoverer, Dr Hans Asperger, had a German name.

Didn't give it any thought until somebody I wrote to about it pronounced it to rhyme with 'merger'.

So I still stay it rhymes with 'burger' because of the language the name comes from.

(Unlike the longstanding custom in English of changing the pronunciation of French words it adopts.)

Ass-per-jers

That's how I say it.

I'm grateful to Dr A but still sometimes I cringe at the kiddie name-calling possibilities in his name just because it has the sound 'ass' in it: 'Ass-burger'.

Why couldn't we have had a cool name in English like ('Simpsons' reference to the power of names) 'Max Power syndrome'? LOL.

Young_fogey is correct. The "hard" g is appropriate.

Uh-oh.... I feel a pedantic discussion about pronunciations of foreign names in English coming on..... must.... fight.... evil...... nggggggg!! !!

Last edited by TAFKASH on 05 Feb 2005, 5:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I always thought it had a "j" sound. Voted Mergers.

LOL. JUST French, young fogey? i think the English can marmalise ANY foreign-sounding words...

i am reminded of Edward Heath's famous Euro speech... cringe.

anyway, hard "g" it is. otherwise, it's a bit like the Latin "aspergus", which always makes me giggle - a syndrome which involves sprinkling people with water.