Mispronounciations

[davidlevine]

I just learned the other day that I have been mispronouncing another brand name. The marketing departments at the phone companies Verizon (which I persistently pronounce verry-ZAHN rather than ve-RYE-zon) and Quest (queue-WEST vs. QUEST) and PalmOne, makers of the low-end Palm handheld the Zire (ZEE-ray vs. ZEYER) put a lot of effort and money into creating names with specific meaning and resonance... which completely bounce off me for some reason. I don't have this problem with real words. I wonder why?