Making Peace With ‘Puslinch’ And The Pronunciation Police
It is 4 a.m. on a week day morning and I am driving to my full-time gig. I work at a local radio station The Grand 101.1 FM in Centre Wellington and I am part of the team that brings you your morning show and daily news. Now say Nassagaweya, Melanchthon, Balinafad, Garafraxa, Woolwich, Al Alls, and my old nemesis … Puslinch.
I was told by a good friend who has been in broadcasting for most of his adult life, that if you are not sure how to pronounce something and YouTube doesn’t have it, say it really fast. So, on occasion I have had to resort to this tactic. I thought I was fooling everyone until this email, addressed to the station manager, was forwarded to me.
“Good evening, I just wanted to bring to attention that the woman who does the news in the morning always pronounces “Puslinch” (‘Pus-linch) as “Push-lints”. I know it sounds trivial, but it’s incorrect each time, and it’s just frustrating to me as a listener. Thank you so much for your time.”
The most feared thing to broadcasters – the grammar and pronunciation police…
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