Michael van Gerwen is undisputedly one of the greatest darts players of all time, so it's a little ridiculous that no one (in the UK at least) can pronounce his name properly.
Us Brits tend to struggle with foreign dialects, not least because, rather conveniently, almost everybody in the world speaks – or at the very least understands – a little bit of English.
But listening to a young, noticeably chrome-domeless Van Gerwen enunciate his surname during an interview with Sky Sports in 2007, it really puts our anglicised version to shame.
MVG explained we shouldn't call him 'van ger-win', but rather 'van hyeh-hu-vun' (check the clip out for yourself by clicking here).
READ MORE: Champion Michael van Gerwen dumped out in first round of World Matchplay Darts
"I love my fans … but nobody can say my name right," he told Sky Sports, and although 16 years have passed since then, the 34-year-old is still called 'van ger-win' on these shores, by everyone from supporters to pundits and MCs.
He didn't seem to mind much back then, and here's hoping he feels the same way now.
Oddly enough, it emerged darts fans have been making a similar pronunciation gaffe with another famous 'ger-win' when Welsh superstar Gerwyn Price revealed everyone had been getting his name wrong too.
Will you be pronouncing Michael van Gerwen's name properly moving forward? Let us know in the comments section below.
"I always explain it like this but it’s probably not the best way," the Iceman said during an appearance on JaackMaate's Happy Hour podcast back in March.
"If you say heroin, but with a G, so like heroin, but geroin. But it’s probably not a very good way to say it. That’s the easiest way for me to explain it."
Source: Read Full Article
