Dear List and Keith,

 

AHD and Webster are both wrong in their “not oaky,” awkward (pun intended) pronunciation of the middle syllable of Nabokov. That middle “o” is pronounced similarly to the infamous “o” in: “I’ll huff and I’ll puff // And I’ll BLOW you’re house down!” Thus, “Nah—bO—cuff”.

 

As to “spoke of” being a “better” rhyme with Nabokov, I would propose “spoke off” (it gets rid of the inaccurate final “v” sound). For example, “Nabokov, wearing his signature butterfly blue bow tie, spoke off the cuff about the difficulties of pronouncing his family name.”

 

Jerry Katsell