I Took French in High School, and Dammit I’m Going to Use It
A Canadian study indicates that people pay more for wine with difficult-to-pronounce names. As reported in the New York Post:
Three groups of between 41 to 48 participants were asked to rate the same Niagara Chardonnay. The first group was told the wine came from a fictional winery called Titakis; the second group was told it came from an even more disfluently named winery named Tselepou, and the third served as a control group which was given no name.
The most highly valued wine turned out to be the hardest-to-pronounce, as Tselepou was valued at $16 a bottle in the blind tastings.
According to my estimates, “Tselepou” is pronounced “to sell a poo,” which I would not buy at any price.
The average increase in value of a difficult-to-pronounce wine is $2. Difficult-to-pronounce cheese also seemed to be valued more highly.
I suspect this is why my blog is unsuccessful. “Tom Johnson” is too easy to pronounce. Yeah, that’s it.
March 1st, 2012 at 10:22 AM
How about Thom Jhonson?
March 1st, 2012 at 9:59 PM
Or Tsom Jonsin? And hey, are there any successful blogs?!
March 12th, 2012 at 1:25 PM
Try using the Spanish pronunciation of Albert Pujols. Ewww.