Different Name Pronounciations

[Reachthetop]

Hi,

Wondering if anyone could help me understand some pronounciations of a name. I used to work as an teaching assistant in a school with majority muslim students and a mix of English and Muslim teachers.

There was an instance that I still think about and feel awful for, and hoping someone could shed a bit of light on it (this was 3 years ago!):

There was a student who the English teacher called, "Mab-ab-or" (spelt phonetically, because I can't remember the exact spelling). However, the Muslim teacher used to call him, "Mach-boo" (the "ch" sound was from the throat). I assumed the English teacher was mispronouncing his name, so I tried calling him the same as the Muslim teacher. When I did, he looked mortified, put his head down and ignored me. I obviously immediately switched to calling him, "Mab-ab-oor" and he was fine with this.

What did I do wrong?? These are my best guesses:

1. Mispronounced "Mach-boo"
2. The Musllim teacher was maybe a family friend, who had a nick name for him but he didn't want anyone else calling him that.

Any ideas? Thanks x

Mah-boo sounds like the word for 'my darling' so maybe the teacher was a family friend. However, Ma-ba-bor sounds like it is meant to be Mah-boo-bur, short for Mahbubur Rahman, which means Beloved of God. Was the student Bengali by any chance?

But if you say Makhbu with too much of a throat clearing sound it means 'hidden'.

Either way, you didn't say anything with a rude meaning so try to forget about it 😄

Were the Muslim teachers not English too? Did they have a different first language?

Ah, thanks for the response - a lot of that makes sense! Yes, he was Bengali herritage, so that fits. And yes, sorry not sure how I should have said that: most teachers were Muslim English (although a couple had moved from Bangladesh), whereas the other teacher was non-Muslim English. With regards to their first language, they were completely bilingual and could switch almost mid-sentence, as could the kids (some of whom had never been to Bangladesh) - very impressive!

I'm now slightly mortified that I might have called him "my darling"! 😬

The only thing that's quite strange is she was very professional (and very strict) and wouldn't that be a bit weird to call just one student, "my darling"? Or maybe not, it was a primary so he was only 9/10 and it could have been she knew him outside of school...

Hmm... anyway, thanks again!

Also, please could you tell me the proper spelling for "my darling"/"mah-boo" - I'm curious to google it to hear the pronunciation! I've definitely over thought this 😁

It's difficult to convey it exactly in Latin script. Mehboob/Mahboob but you must pronounce the H separately from the Ma.

I think its unlikely he thought you were calling him darling, since that is pretty much what his name means.

From your original post I had pictured an older teenager! That might have been a bit embarrassing ... but nah, you're overthinking!