Now you know
I grew up calling a long knife a bowie knife, pronounced like David Bowie (bo-wee), but at some point switched over to calling it a bowie knife, pronounced like Bowie, Maryland (boo-ee). At no point was I under the misimpression that David Bowie had invented the bowie knife, or that it had been invented in Maryland either; but I did not hear of Jim Bowie (who DID invent the knife) till long after I'd heard of the knife.
Although he died long before audio recording was invented, Jim Bowie was generally known to have pronounced his surname boo-ee. David Bowie, it turns out, chose his own surname because he thought Jim Bowie was cool. He just had no idea that Jim Bowie didn't pronounce his name bo-wee. And thus was the ouroboros of history satisfied.
(I have a strong memory of making fun of my kindergarten teacher, who was From Away, for the way she said roof. She said it to rhyme with woof, whereas we all said it to rhyme with goof; and with the righteousness of kindergarteners we noted her deviance furiously. Anyway, I moved Away, and realized at some point in my adolescence that I had switched over to the woof pronunciation without noticing. If not for the strength of that memory, our shibboleth of Down East localism, I probably would never have noticed.)
I have moved mostly over to Dreamwidth. Please comment there if you can.
Although he died long before audio recording was invented, Jim Bowie was generally known to have pronounced his surname boo-ee. David Bowie, it turns out, chose his own surname because he thought Jim Bowie was cool. He just had no idea that Jim Bowie didn't pronounce his name bo-wee. And thus was the ouroboros of history satisfied.
(I have a strong memory of making fun of my kindergarten teacher, who was From Away, for the way she said roof. She said it to rhyme with woof, whereas we all said it to rhyme with goof; and with the righteousness of kindergarteners we noted her deviance furiously. Anyway, I moved Away, and realized at some point in my adolescence that I had switched over to the woof pronunciation without noticing. If not for the strength of that memory, our shibboleth of Down East localism, I probably would never have noticed.)
I have moved mostly over to Dreamwidth. Please comment there if you can.