Isabeau: IS - uh - BO (like bow as in a hair bow, or "bo" in word bone.)
Why do people screw it up? For a long time, I just took it as a given; the curse of having a weird French name. Then one day, the clouds parted, the sun shone down, and one word explained it all:
Beautiful: BYOO- ti -full
Suddenly, the things I'd been hearing people say for years made a lot more sense. That's why, at school, work, and a million doctor and dentist offices, I've been IS - uh - BYOO, or its cousin, IS - uh - BOO.
The problem here is the English language. English has so many of these little idiosyncrasies that make life difficult. Beau, the word used to refer to a boyfriend, is pronounced like my name. But beautiful, a word far more common, is pronounced so that "beau" rhymes with "pew".
Ultimately, I suppose I'll just have to keep correcting people. I've got a lot of practice at it, and I never really held it against anyone, anyway. At least now, though, I understand better where the rest of the world is coming from.
