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[Opinions] Re: This name is oddly English....
I love it, but not this phonetic spelling. Most phonetic spellings feel vaguely insulting to me -- as if I can't be expected to retain information once told how it is to be pronounced. Sure, St. John at first blush does look like it would be pronounced "saint John." But once told it was really "SIN-jin" then I can be trusted to remember that. (But that's the chip on my shoulder talking.)
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I first read "Jane Eyre" at the age of about ten, and I thought that the character of St John's name was, you know, Saint John. I considered it a strange, unwieldy name. It wasn't for quite some time, until I saw a television adaptation, that I realized that it was pronounced Sinjin. I just don't think that it would occur to an American.
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I thought the same thing about that character as a child. I didn't know differently until high school.
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It wouldn't occur to me. I never pronounce St or Saint /sin/, or John /jin/. That's just against all rules of pronunciation and spelling I've ever learned.
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