I've Been Pronouncing His Name Wrong All These Years

Odds are, you've been saying this children's book author's name wrong since you (or your children) were young. No, it doesn't rhyme with "Zeus." Instead, it rhymes with "voice," making the pronunciation "Soice."

Alexander Liang, a friend of Dr. Seuss, wrote a brief poem to remind people of the correct pronunciation:

You’re wrong as the deuce

And you shouldn’t rejoice

If you’re calling him Seuss.

He pronounces it Soice (or Zoice).

Oo or Wuh? Disparity When Trying to Teach Letter Names

Today in a workshop, I was told not to teach the letter W as /wuh/, but as /oo/, like I'm puckering up my lips to blow air through them.

For many years, I've had to battle UN-teaching children how not to pronounce certain letter names, and to replace those sounds with correct ones. For instance, the letter P is not /puh/, and G is not /guh/. Otherwise, when a student faces the word PIG, they're pronouncing it Puh-ih-guh, and can't figure out the word from that blend.

To be honest, I can't remember what my original reading teacher did when I was in elementary school, back in the Dark Ages. However, I do recall the horror I felt when I was taking reading classes in college, and my professor, with her thick Southern drawl, proceeded to make us repeat the number Four as "fow-ah".

Every year at least a goodly handful of my class have been taught to pronounce certain letters the wrong way. But B is not /buh/, C is not /cuh/, and D is not /duh/, as much as L is not /luh/, M is not /muh/, and so forth.

I wish there was an easy solution. Otherwise, I wouldn't have to worry about spending precious time correcting reading mistakes.  Which makes me wonder...is /oo/ the new W? Or have I somehow missed the memo?