William Safire Agreed With Donald Watson Vegan Pronunciation
Written by Vegetarian Star on September 27th, 2009 in Authors, Food & Drink.
William Safire, New York Times and presidential speech writer, has died at the age of 79.
Safire once devoted a column in the New York Times on vegetarianism and veganism, citing woodworker and originator of the word “vegan” Donald Watson.
Safire himself, took the time to elaborate on the pronunciation of the word “vegan.”
“My problem with vegan, now affirmatively used as self-description by roughly two million Americans, is its pronunciation. Does the first syllable sound like the vedge in vegetable, with the soft g? Or is it pronounced like the name sci-fi writers have given the blue-skinned aliens from far-off Vega: VEE-gans or VAY-gans?”
“For this we turn to the word’s coiner: ”The pronunciation is VEE-gan,” Watson told Vegetarians in Paradise, a Los Angeles-based Web site, last year, ”not vay-gan, veggan or veejan.” He chooses the ee sound followed by a hard g. That’s decisive but not definitive; some lexicographers differ, and pronunciation will ultimately be determined by the majority of users.”
“I’ll go along with the coiner’s pronunciation of VEE-gan. He’s a charmingly crotchety geezer who began as a vegetarian. ”When my older brother and younger sister joined me as vegetarians, nonsmokers, teetotalers and conscientious objectors,” Watson says, ”my mother said she felt like a hen that had hatched a clutch of duck eggs.” He obviously inherited her feel for language. I’m a carnivore myself — an animal that delights in eating other animals — but won’t treat this guy like a fad-diet freak: Watson has a major coinage under his belt, and he’s a spry 94.”
Always nice to see a non veg appreciate someone who follows the lifestyle.
Our thoughts are with Safire’s friends and family.
via nytimes.com
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September 28th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
LOL! Out of all the questions I’ve gotten about being vegan, how to pronounce the vegan has never been one of them or a topic discussed in so much depth.