sih-neck-do-key, right?

si-neck-duh-key (no sure how you were pronouncing the "do" syllable.

But past experience tells me that a very many people will think it is pronounced "sigh-neck-doe(sh)." At the post-screening press conference at Cannes yesterday, Kaufman had to explain to an audience of writers how to pronounce the title of the movie.

And I'm sure viewers will then launch into a discussion of the fine distinction between synecdoche and metonymy.


The dangers of trying to discuss the movie by name remind me of the pitfall of reading Hamlet out loud in my high school English class. I knew perfectly well the meaning of "melancholy" (both the modern meaning and the slightly different meaning 400 years ago). But I had never heard the word said out loud. Sadly for my easily embarrassed (back then) ego, the proper pronunciation was not the first that came to mind.

On the last point, by playing off "Schenectady", people have a better chance of pronouncing it right.

And I knew at one point what it meant, but couldn't dredge up the definition so I had to look it up.

I wonder though. If you don't already know how the word is pronounced then the play on Schenectady is not so obvious.

Plus, I suspect a decent number of people also don't know how to pronounce Schenectady.

I'm just being nitpicky though. It's a Charlie Kaufman movie, so regardless of title not many people will be seeing it (I love his movies, but they aren't really commercial). I just think it is an overly artsy title, even from an artsy director/writer.

I totally agree. Awful title. (only because I don't know the word, couldn't pronounce it, and the link to Skin-Necked-Lady, NY didn't occur to me)

WTF? Why is he referencing Schenectady?

BTW it's Ska-NECK-ta-dee

I have this sense that he came up with the title and built a movie around it. I'll probably see it, but I think his ideas run out of steam long before the movies end. "Eternal Sunshine" was my favorite because it had a strong emotional core amidst the high concept.

Well, Schenectady is. But synecdoche isn't.

I actually think the title's pretty funny because it sneaks up on you.

Lies I tell you lies!

In the theater, waiting for Indy, they were showing those movie trivia/advertising slides. Two of them grabbed my attention:

1. In Silence of the Lambs - Anthony Hopkins never blinks.
It happened to be on today. They lie. He blinked at a more or less normal rate.

2. The loudest movie ever made is: Close Encounters Of the Third Kind?
WTF? Did these people never see Tommy? Terminator-2? I have trouble accepting this one.

I remember those "facts", too Moony. There was another one that was a total lie, but I can't remember it right now.