From Edward Tufte’s Graphic of the Day, the brilliant Princeton University Acceptance Letter.
Does anyone know how to pronounce Tufte’s last name? I’ve been calling him “tuft”, but I’ve recentely been told that it’s actualy “tuftee” (with the emphasis the second sylable pronounced as a long ‘e’). If so, I’ll add this to the long list of names I’ve long been mispronouncing (appologies to Derek Powazek, Dave Winer, Jason Kottke, and Matt Haughey). Such is the danger of a text-based medium.
The pronunciation question is answered on his website. He says “tuftee”.
And for those of you who are unsure, Steven “Garrity” is pronounced Steven “Gäritee”
Just pretend you’re pronouncing it like a pirate as in: “Steven Garrity found the hidden booty”
That’s right. I am not, as far as I know, heir to the Garrity Flashlight fortune.
Very true about text medium. I’ve always pronounced Edward’s last name as “Tuff-tee”, but I’ve embarrassed myself serveral times by mis-pronoucing other names I have only read.
I am lucky to have both my first name and last name belong to products. Ugh.
Are we *sure* it’s “Tuft-y?” What language would pronounce that spelling that way? In my mind I would say: English, it should be “Tuft,” silent “e.” In German, it would be “Tuft-uh” or “Tuft’-eh.” French? Well, I’ll cede to our Canadian friends who would know more than I, but I would guess the same as English. I simply can’t think of a language who would spell like this, and pronounce it “Tuft-y.” Perhaps it was a nickname-type of thing “Hey,there’s my buddy! What’s up Tuft-y?”
Seeing as Edward Tufte himself suggests the pronunciation as “tuff-tee” that would seem to be the correct one no matter what the root language might be…