Remember when I was afraid to say certain celebs’ names out loud? Well, a new fear has taken hold.
In honor of tonight’s 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee (the championship round airs live on ABC from 8-10 p.m.), I’d like everyone to line up against the wall and nominate the celebrity whose name you find hardest to spell. I’ll get the ball rolling with my selection, Scarlett Johansson, whose tricky arrangement of consonants (two Ts! two Ss!) and vowels (sen? son?) sends me scrambling to IMDB to fact-check myself every time. Someday, hopefully, I’ll master her thorny moniker, but until then, I’ll do whatever is necessary to spare you from encountering the dreaded ScarJo abbreviation on the pages of PopWatch.
Now it’s your turn: Ladies and gentlemen, submit your nominees in the comments section below!
Comments (1-30) of 50 Add your comment
Matthew McConaughey… I can never remember how to spell that last name.
Let’s just cut the bullcaca and say what we’re all thinking: A-d-e-w-a-l-e A-k-i-n-n-u-o-y-e A-g-b-a-j-e
I’m seconoding David. It doesn’t get much more difficult than that.
J-o-h-n W-o-o
You can’t bear Agbaje, but Stellan Skaarsgaard is pretty tough too.
Chiwetel Ejiofor
M-a-g-g-i-e-G-y-l-l-e-n-h-a-a-l
Z-i-y-i-Z-h-a-n-g
S. Epatha Merkerson
Q’Orianka Kilcher
also… Shohreh Aghdashloo
We are liveblogging the whole thing with Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes at http://throwingthings.blogspot.com. Join us.
For this, I’ll nominate the deceptively difficult Meredith Vieira.
Writing Djimon Hounsou’s name always messes me up, although the ones everyone else has said are really tough.
Mary Lynne Rajskub (rice-cub)-Chloe from 24. Maybe that one is just hard to pronounce.
MeShell Ndegocello
But really, who cares if you have nothing better to offer than your name…
Ioan Gruffudd – I have a difficult time spelling and saying it correctly.
T-o-m H-a-n-k-s
Thirding David and Finn. Second place goes to Shohreh, ’cause at least the last name is like it sounds.
I’m really upset other people are calling her ScarJo – I was certain I made it up!
Katharine Heigel…is that even right?
Matthew McConnaughaey…it’s hopeless. I can’t remember which letters are doubled in the Gyllennhaall siblings’ name, either.
M. Night Shamalamadingdong
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje all the way or how about Chazz Palminteri or even one as easy as rai phines (Ralph Fiennes)
He’s a sports celebrity, of course, but I still have nightmares trying to spell the name of Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski!
O-T-M S-H-A-N-K
Anyone get that? HAHAHAHA!!
No celebrity name, Michael; I’m just happy to see that you’re coping well in the first few weeks of post AI, 2006. Soul PatroL! oops…..
Mariska Hargitay… wait… actually it sounds just like its spelled! Who knew!
Rebecca Romijn gets my vote.
Adewale A-A is the toughest one! I’ve chosen to give up trying to spell it or SAY it and have decided to forever call him Adebisi!
B-r-a-d P-i-t-t.
Terribly difficult to remember, I find.
M-I-C-H-A-E-L S-L-E-Z-A-K
Carmine Giovinazzo (CSI: NY, for those who don’t know who he is). The sad fact is that I’m not the one who needs to go look it up anymore but most of my friends who are fans do.
I don’t find myself spelling the names of celebrities very often – my current job is pretty much free of any fun. However I do find myself responding to Michael Slezak every so often and damned if I don’t scroll up to the article EVERY time to make sure I am spelling his name right. Other than that, there are some great ones in other people comments.