Barbra Streisand spoke to the New York Times this weekend, and while the whole piece is magic, it includes this important factoid:

“It’s Streisand, as in ‘sand on the beach,’ not ‘Strize-and,’ a mispronunciation that has plagued her at least since she first appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in the early 1960s.”

WHAT? Oh God. I’ve been saying it wrong my entire life. So let’s take stock of some other Jewish celebrities, and see how we should pronounce their names:

Idina Menzel: Menzel actually changed the spelling of her last name (from Mentzel) so that people would pronounce it correctly (MenZEL), but the tricky part is her first name: EYE-deena? UH-deena? Well, in a clip with her ex-husband Taye Diggs, he seems to address her as “ID-deena,” backing up all of the intense fan message boards I found while researching this piece (and they say “UH-deena” is fine too).

(Also, insert Adele Dazeem joke here.)

Jeff Goldblum: I recall this clip:

But, for real, it’s pronounced “Goldbloom.”

Ralph Lauren: Sure, his birth name is actually Ralph Lifshitz, but all the same, it’s LOR-en. Not Lor-EN.

Jake (and Maggie!) Gyllenhaal: Dude, just give up with this one:

But really, the G is said softly, like a J.

Elie Wiesel: Elie is said “EL-ee.” Wiesel is said “Vee-ZEL” (But hey, if you want to pronounce the W the American way, just call it a transliteration. It’s a minor sin.)

Leonard Bernstein: The last syllable is said “Stine” (like Jewish horror-writer R. L.). Ditto for Oscar Hammerstein (I or II).

Gal Gadot: She’s not French, for HaShem’s sake, and even Wikipedia will tell you: the vowels in “Gal” and “Gad” are like the A in “father.” The O is in between an English short and long O: Listen to her say her own name here.

Most of all, pronounce the T. DO IT FOR WONDER WOMAN.

Noam Chomsky: Most Jews would say that Noam is two syllables: No-OM (second syllable rhymes with calm). Others (like Wikipedia) say it’s one, like “Gnome.” Chomsky himself says it thusly. Is it one syllable or two? Let’s try another example.

The jury may be out on this one. But he doesn’t seem to be correcting people either way.

(Finally, I’m no celebrity, but let me use this opportunity to publish online that the first A in Gabriela is like the A in “father,” and that Geselowitz is said like there’s an animal in it: “Gazelle-o-witz.”)

And now, go forth and be a pedant when someone mispronounces any of these names!

Image via Flickr

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AdWeek interviewed Dylan Lauren, daughter of Ralph Lauren and namesake of Dylan’s Candy Bar, and in addition to learning that she reads her horoscope out of her neighbor’s copy of the New York Post and is a Chelsea Handler devotee, we discover that the 39-year-old is so hooked on her BlackBerry, she wrote her entire book on it. While using something called a StairMill:

I love the BlackBerry. I’m on it all the time. I literally wrote my whole book, Unwrap Your Sweet Life, on the BlackBerry while I was working out on the StairMill. So many people tease me about having a BlackBerry, but I meet a lot of people who still use one. Obama has a BlackBerry!

Obama may have a BlackBerry, but does he have a StairMill? Should we have a StairMill?

(Photo credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for Glamour)

The post Ralph Lauren’s Daughter Wrote Her Book on a BlackBerry While at the Gym appeared first on Jewcy.

• At The Jewish Star: The truth about the ban on the Jewish news aggregator Vos Iz Neias.

• At Newsy Jewsy: Top ten ways you know you’re a true Jewish ‘Twit.’

• At The Frisky: Ralph Lauren has his priorities straight.

• At The Wrap: A “Mr. Show” reunion?  Not really, but David Cross will be starring in Bob Odenkirk’s upcoming film, Annie Jenkins: A Not Very Romantic Comedy.

The post Daily Jewce: Why Voz Iz Neias Was Banned, Jewish Twits, Not A Mr. Show Reunion And More appeared first on Jewcy.