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Comment by mcpackieh | Hacker News Reader

You pronounce Riza the same way you pronounce any other name; whichever way feels most natural to you the speaker. If the person with that name wants you to pronounce it another way, they'll tell you (and if they aren't in earshot, then it doesn't matter.) Pronunciations are clarified using this simple social protocol.

About half the people I encounter pronounce my last name "wrong", I correct them if I'm in the mood to care, and that's it.

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How's that any different from the RZA example then?

I'm answering the question "How do I pronounce ...?" The procedure is the same for any name or technical term. You pronounce it however you feel is best (which will mean different people pronounce it in different ways.) Then if anybody feels strongly about it, a simple social protocol is used to negotiate a different pronunciation. It's not any different, it works the same for any pronunciation ambiguity.

My post was in response to

> If you wanna be called Riza, call yourself Riza, don't make me fill in the blanks or extrapolate, that's not how reading works.

Your post is "technically correct - the best kind of correct". Unfortunately, it doesn't add anything at all to the discussion. Thanks for the effort but at least in my case, it only served to increase confusion a little.

Much of your point is how an artist chooses to spell their name is wrong and how you'd like to read it as correct.

I get it, it's a bit annoying but nothing worth the effort of squeezing.

That was the point of the parent of my original comment. My point was exactly the one you're making.

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