Fakir

FAKIR

I've run across unusual names I've pronounced on-air over my career as a news anchor.. Fortunately none of these names sound like a swear word from comedian George Carlin's list of The Seven Words You Can Never Say On Television. The bosses at the radio station where I work are set against us using Carlin like language, warning us of possible termination should we use any of Carlin's list of words. Of course, I agree.....I won't even read a story describing a body part that's not someone's arm, leg, head or torso. I received faxed information on a local guy that had caused a fatal crash. This was indeed a serious story and worth a mention. Yet immediately the red flags went up in my brain, since the man's first name is F-a-k-i-r. Has to be someone named F-A-K-I-R. Probably a fairly common name in some parts of the world, though, in this part of the world, my bosses are unlikely aware of anyone with such a name. My first newscast was scheduled as normal at 5:30am and I had the man's first and last name and I read the story second in the newscast and after reading the name F-a-k-i-r, all I could do was think of how I said his name as I read the words of the third, fourth, and fifth stories, so completely lost in the copy, that I had no idea what I was saying through the very end of the newscast with my name and station as the last few words. All I could think of was whether I said his name in such a way it didn't sound like a swear word. I had practiced this word, F-a-k-i-r, several times, before the 5:30am cast....and I came upon what I believed the best way for me to stay out of trouble...pronouncing his name as fay-kir rather than f-a-h---k-e-e-r...I could give you a second to digest this....but I won't...heck, I won't even say the name. Before the next newscast, 6am, I made a management type decision, one based on being safe, and determined not to use his first name...instead I'd go for his second or middle name and last name....and the middle name was clearly a safe name to pronounce......and that's how I'd pursue this through the rest of the morning. He'd no longer be known as F-a-k-i-r.....but by his middle name. So it's not 100 percent accurate, I can't have the image of kids sitting around the kitchen table preparing for school, asking for cereal from mom and a glass of milk,.....then hearing me tell of a guy that was in a fatal crash ....and then pronounce his first name as though I were swearing at him....saying he's a bad guy using one of the most derogatory terms.....a word that George Carlin would find offensive.

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