Re: Zooey v/s Joey
Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Sun, 27 Jul 1997 23:11:50 -0400 (EDT)
> Here's my 2 cents: I think it's pronounced to rhyme with "Go - Pee". If
> you look up the word zoo in the dictionary you will see that it is
> pronounced with a long double O (like sue, too, pooh). But, if you look
> up zoological you'll see that it is pronounced with a long single O
> (like toe, so, flow, etc). I think the Zoo-ey that Sonny is talking
> about is the zoological pronounciation.
>
> BUT, I did hear Maureen Corrigan the book reviewer on NPR's Fresh Air
> pronounce it to rhyme with two - ee.
I've always pronounced it "zooooooooo-eeeeeeee." I have a dog named
Zoe, and I pronounce that "zow-eeeeeee." I've known some people who act
very strange if they sense an opportunity for highbrow pronounciation,
and so they pronounce the field of zoology "zow-ol-o-gee" and therefore
conclude that "Zooey" should be pronounced in line with that.
Sometimes people on the street ask me my dog's name, and I say "Zoe,"
and they say, "Oh, like Franny and Zoe?" So ... there's a lot of
resistance out there we need to overcome. 8-)
One amusing thing: This weekend I made a text document on a Mac, and
asked the application to speak the words "Franny and Zooey." It got
most of the title correct, although "Zooey" came out as "zoooo-ay."
Not that that's definitive, but I guess you know you're bored when you
resort to that on a Sunday morning!
--tim o'connor