Saturday, January 17, 2009

Montalban Remembered

Reader Dan Fendel writes:

I suppose you know, but maybe not. Montalban told the story about making those commercials that when he originally read the script in rehearsal he pronounced the name of the car, "Cordoba" the way it is properly said in Spanish—i.e. "COR-dobah" with accent on the FIRST syllable. The producers/sponsors stopped him and asked him to say "CorDOOOOH-bah" instead. He told them it was incorrect and other Spanish-speakers would laugh at him. They explained that they'd focus-grouped the name and that they found the average American would both mispronounce it that way AND remember the name better if it was said "CorDOHbah" with accent on the second syllable, so that's the way he did the commercial...and got endless grief from other Latinos about it ever since.

01/17 07:47 AM