Comment by RicoElectrico
3 years ago
I was very confused when Ben Krasnow pronounced McMaster with a "mick" at the beginning. For 10+ years of my English education nobody bothered to explain that Mc is "mack", but sometimes it's pronounced "mick".
I was aware something is going on when Tyler McVicker introduced himself with "mick".
English teachers usually have a typical repertoire of their pet details like schwa and so on, but seems there's a blind spot here.
I expect pronunciation largely boils down to regional and personal preferences.
The "Mac" prefix means "son of" and "Mc" is an abbreviation of that. The "a" is schwa and where I grew up, is pronounced with a short I, as "mick". But I have heard others pronounce it "mack". The McDonalds ads on TV and radio seem to try to split the difference by pronouncing it "meck".
It's also possible that some people go out of their way to say "mack" in an attempt to acknowledge and avoid the "mick" slur that was sometimes used in England and in the US against Irish and Scottish immigrants.
Hmm isn't McMaster pronounced just like McDonald's?
Apparently this varies. Adam Savage does not pronounce it with "mick".