My friend Karen has posted some thoughts on Russ Germain’s passing.

I didn’t work as a news reader, so Russ never called me. We did have an e-mail exchange, though, and you won’t be surprised to learn that it was about “pronouncers”, which is CBC jargon for the proper way to pronounce a word.

It was 2001 or so, and the Peary caribou herd was in the news. I don’t remember the details. I do remember that the people who hunt this particular type of caribou pronounce the name “Perry”.

Russ sent us a helpful e-mail, pointing out that the herd was named after Robert Peary, an Arctic explorer. Therefore, it should be pronounced the same way Mr. Peary’s name was pronounced. Russ wrote it as “PEE-ree”.

This did not go over well in our newsroom. The host of my show, a well-travelled Inuvialuk named Roy, could barely hold back his laughter. He shook his head dismissively and went back to his work. I should probably note that Roy, like many people, had personal photos around his desk. The difference between his photos and the ones on your desk was that Roy’s photos were of the polar bears he’d shot with a bow and arrow. (I’m pretty sure you only get one shot when you’re using arrows.)

I wrote back to Russ, explaining that we had concerns about the pronouncer and felt that people wouldn’t understand which herd we were talking about, or, even worse, would think we were so out of touch that we didn’t even know how to pronounce the name.

Russ was polite, but firm. He suggested that perhaps Inuvik had a local dialect. PEE-ree it must be. Local dialects, you see, do not override the requirement to follow CBC pronouncers.

I responded:

Dear Russ,
I have discussed this with my colleague Roy Goose, who is fluent in English as well as eleven dialects of Inuktitut and has hunted Peary caribou. He tells me he has never heard anyone pronounce it PEE-ree in the western, central or eastern Arctic.

I think I won.

I’m not sure, though: can anyone actually “win” against the people at CBC Toronto?

Rest in peace, Russ.