Dr. Seuss - Pen Names and Pronunciations

Pen Names and Pronunciations

Geisel's pen name is regularly pronounced /ˈsjuːs/ SEWSS, an anglicized pronunciation inconsistent with his German surname. He himself noted that it rhymed with "voice" (his own pronunciation being /ˈsɔɪs/ SOYSS) and Alexander Liang (his collaborator on the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern) wrote of him:

You’re wrong as the deuce
And you shouldn’t rejoice
If you’re calling him Seuss.
He pronounces it Soice (or Zoice)

Geisel switched to the anglicized pronunciation because it "evoked a figure advantageous for an author of children’s books to be associated with—Mother Goose" and because most people used this pronunciation.

For books that Geisel wrote and others illustrated, he used the pen name "Theo LeSieg" ("LeSieg" is "Geisel" spelled backward).

Read more about this topic:  Dr. Seuss

Famous quotes containing the words pen and/or names:

    This is no rune nor symbol,
    what I mean is it is so simple
    yet no trick of the pen or brush
    could capture that impression;
    what I wanted to indicate was
    a new phase, a new distinction of colour.
    Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)

    At night thousands of names and slogans are outlined in neon, and searchlight beams often pierce the sky, perhaps announcing a motion picture premiere, perhaps the opening of a new hamburger stand.
    —For the State of California, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)