Talk:Menzies
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Is Charles Mingus somehow connected with the Menzies clan?
- Sounds plausible, though you would have to look into his ancestry to be sure. The disparity between spelling and pronunciation in these Scottish yogh-names is problematic for people outside Scotland who aren't familiar with the tradition, which is understandable. This leads to two phenomena: one is the spelling-pronunciation with /z/, which is extremely irritating to anyone who knows the correct pronunciation, and the other is a change of spelling to suppress <z>, which is a self-defence mechanism by people sick of having their name pronounced wrongly. That's why Dalziel is also spelled Dalyell. This often happens when families move to America. Andre Previn's surname was originally spelled Prewin, as you would expect, given that he was German. He changed the spelling because he hated Americans calling him "prune". --Doric Loon 06:29, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
