Tuesday, December 03, 2024

The pronunciation of Salvador Dalí’s name and Taylor Swift’s “the last great american dynasty"

As I have learned from Spanish, the last name of painter Salvador Dalí is stressed on the second syllable, not the first as it usually is in American English. He comes up in Taylor Swift's "the last great american dynasty" ("folklore", 2020), which is about his friend Rebekah Harkness, who married into money, became a socialite, composer, and philanthropist, and lost "on card game bets with Dalí." But Swift pronounces his name the American way, so when I mentioned Dalí and the song today to my Spanish teacher (a fellow Swiftie), she knew the song, but had never understood that Swift was referring to the painter and not someone named "Dolly." (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 3 December 2024)

No comments: