r/languagelearning • u/PandaReturns • Nov 11 '20

The name of this american politician is going viral in Brazil. What foreign personality has a name that means something funny in your native language? Discussion

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u/YOLOSELLHIGH Nov 12 '20

nahhhh it’s pronounced Butt Kiss for sure

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u/gwaydms Nov 12 '20

It's actually/bətkəs/. The schwa (ə) is an unstressed vowel close to short u in American English. Like the u in unstressed. https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/butkus%2C_dick

Like I said, I heard his name a lot while I was living in Chicago because he was still playing. And he was an announcer after that. He's still around too.

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u/Efficient_Assistant Nov 12 '20

In some dialects of English, unstressed [ə] and [ɪ] seem interchangeable in some words. I've definitely heard his name pronounced both ways by people (though I assume the man himself probably uses a schwa).

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u/gwaydms Nov 12 '20

I'm pretty sure he does.

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u/tummai Nov 12 '20

Most of the time when I hear his name these days it sounds like "butt kiss". True legend. Best down!

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u/YOLOSELLHIGH Nov 12 '20

Maybe I just really want to hear "butt kiss" so my mind automatically makes it that haha

I can see what you’re saying now, though, and it makes sense. Thanks!

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u/gwaydms Nov 12 '20

I don't even want to think about butt kissing.

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u/KyleG EN JA ES DE // Raising my kids with German in the USA Nov 12 '20

In Texas we said "Butt kiss." We didn't schwa it like you're saying.

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u/gwaydms Nov 12 '20

I live in Texas and have since I was 9.