r/mildyinteresting • u/waiha • May 01 '26

humankind hiccups 😅 Well this aged like milk.

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Stumbled upon this while clearing out the attic.

She visited my primary school in Edinburgh shortly after releasing TPS. The girl in front of me (my friend and train-to-school comrade) was Southeast Asian and has an incredibly elaborate sounding name. When Joanne screwed up her face when my friend gave her her name for the signature, I laughed. This is how she decided to sign my copy.

I was laughing at you, JK.

EDIT: It’s on EBay.

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u/RhetoricalOrator May 02 '26

I've always said it so that "Row-" rhymes with "wow."

41

u/Purple-Delivery2885 May 02 '26

Musta been your first rowdy-o

8

u/pussywitasideofranch May 02 '26

This is so funny to me 🤣

2

u/DrTeeeevil May 02 '26

Your username is funny to me

2

u/Appropriate-Race-763 May 02 '26

I always get in an argument when I use the oars in my boat. ;-)

6

u/HomieeJo May 02 '26

I will now pronounce her name like Owen Wilson pronounces his wow.

6

u/RdCrestdBreegull May 02 '26

yea it’s ‘Row-‘ like ‘crow’

5

u/[deleted] May 02 '26

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u/John_cCmndhd May 02 '26

Theme from the TV show Rawhide! Thank you!

2

u/sabretoothian May 04 '26

I pronounce it as row, but never row. If that's unclear, the way I say it rhymes with bow, but not bow.

Glad that's cleared up.

3

u/angelofmusic997 May 02 '26

I think a lot of folks have. Strangely, I have memories of people around me being rather inconsistent with how her name was pronounced. Sometimes it would be Rowling-rhymes-with-bowling, other times it would be Rowling-rhymes-with-howling. (I seem to recall even the media not having a settled pronuncation, but I could be misremembering. I don't remember particular show segments, so I'm not exactly able to fact-check, especially given how popular JK is, and has been over the years.)

1

u/Je_in_BC May 02 '26

I genuinely thought you meant you were pronouncing "rolling pin" as "row-ling pin".

1

u/[deleted] May 02 '26

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2

u/RhetoricalOrator May 02 '26

It's embarrassing. I'm American and a voracious reader, but have never actually heard her say her own name for me to pick up on it.

As a matter of fact, I have a distinct problem with mispronunciations because I read a lot but don't watch it listen to a lot of content related to details like that.

Other notable names I butcher are: St. Augustine and John Chrysostom.

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u/MogwaiAJ May 03 '26

Then you have to also get into regional pronunciations and such. 'Tis a slippery slope and "correct" for one region (even within the same country) will be "incorrect" for another.

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u/TantalusComputes2 May 02 '26

And you pronounce bowling “boweling”?

8

u/Fair_Wishbone7558 May 02 '26

Do you pronounce howling like bowling?

5

u/_420_DaBbeR_ May 02 '26

Who doesn’t love a good boweling

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u/nineandaquarter May 02 '26

I don't know whether to scowl or scold.