The Big Lead

Sorry Netflix, We're Not Going to Pronounce 'Emily in Paris' Like That

By Stephen Douglas

A Wile E. Coyote illustration which is germane to this conversation.
A Wile E. Coyote illustration which is germane to this conversation. / Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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How do you pronounce things? It's a complicated matter with a rich history of confusion going back to at least 1937 when Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers debated the correct way to say "tomato." Just last week we learned how we're supposed to pronounce Nevada.

Earlier this week, I was having a discussion with some friends about polecats. Eventually, we shared a laugh at the way some people might say coyote. The official pronunciation is kai-ow-tee, but you may have heard people on television or even in real life (specifically, Colorado) say kai-oat or kai-yote. So my follow-up question for these people is whether they call the infamously ineffective Warner Brothers character Wile E. Coyte something along the lines of Why-lee Kai-oat. It would be utterly insane for someone to verbalize the Road Runner's nemesis that way. The auditory equivalent of running into a tunnel you painted on the side of your head.

I tweeted my question and no one responded and was ready to walk away never thinking about it again, but then I saw this from Netflix today.

What are we doing here? Now, I've never seen this show, but I damn sure am not pronouncing it's title when I tell people I have never see it. Even Fancy Nancy doesn't say it that way and she is très magnifique. If you wanted it said that way, you should have fixed the title, but you didn't. You called it Emily in Paris so it's Emily in Paris.

And while we're here, I'd like to have a word with Dell Curry for naming his son Stephen, a perfectly wonderful name and great spelling, but calling him Stefen. Would Steve Curry have been able to make capture the hearts of basketball fans in March Madness? No. Would Steve Curry have made the NBA and won titles and become one of the faces of the league? Would you take Stefen A. Smith seriously as a talking head?

We need unity right now. Telling people they've been pronouncing television shows the wrong way will just divide us. We need unity right now. Let's start with Emily in Paris and then move on to people who say kai-oat.