the buzz log

When President Barack Obama announced that he was nominating Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, searches immediately spiked on her biography, past decisions, and personal history. But judging from the blogs and talk show chatter, folks should have been searching on another query — how to pronounce her name.

Not since Blagojevich has a surname inspired so much stuttering and sputtering. Both Jon Stewart and David Letterman dedicated segments to summarizing all the ways in which experts mangled the moniker. There is everything from "so-toe-my-YORE" (the correct pronunciation with the emphasis on the last syllable) to "SO-toe-mayer" (one of a dozen or so wrong ways to say it).

Several political blogs have also noticed the difficulty folks are having with the handle. Slate helpfully offers a clip of the nominee pronouncing her own name, which should clear up any confusion. The Nation summarized much of the hubbub surrounding the pronunciation of "Sotomayor's seditious syllables." Meanwhile, a blogger from the National Review, who may or may not have been possessed by the ghost of Archie Bunker, wrote that "putting the emphasis on the final syllable of Sotomayor is unnatural in English ... and insisting on unnatural pronunciation is something we shouldn't be giving in to." Huh?

Regardless of whether or not the speaker can successfully sound out the surname, the confusion has given guys like Jon Stewart plenty to joke about. Below is a clip of "The Daily Show" host summing up some of the more creative pronunciations. EN-joi the MAD-ness.