Mac Calhoun's speech pattern

[Captain Dax]

When you read New Frontier after hearing the audiobooks by Joe Morton, did you really read Calhoun's voice that way? It was always so very odd to me the slow overly pronounced words and almost spit-dripping way he voiced Mac. I can't find an example of it on youtube but it was a wild listen.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I sort of imagined Calhoun with a pronounced accent and a not exactly fluid delivery, as he's not a native English speaker.

I don't really know how well the Universal Translator works on the bridge, so I don't imagine he's speaking Xenexian to the crew.

 

[T'Ressa Dax]

Been a long time since I listened to my set so I really don't remember, sorry.

 

[somebuddyX]

I don't know how I read him but I remember initially reading M'k'n'zy as Makanazy, like adding an A instead of the apostrophe, like the Z in Z'ha'dum.
God, everybody was hot for everyone else in that fucking series. Did Calhoun have ANY flaws?

 

[Christopher]

I don't know how I read him but I remember initially reading M'k'n'zy as Makanazy, like adding an A instead of the apostrophe, like the Z in Z'ha'dum.

I figured it was supposed to sound more or less like "Mackenzie" without the first two vowel sounds, to explain why he took that Anglicized name. Although I found it an odd choice to give an alien captain a human-sounding character name in the first place, whatever the in-story justification.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

I've always pictured Adrian Paul (Highlander) in the role of Calhoun with an English/Scottish accent of some kind.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I don't know how I read him but I remember initially reading M'k'n'zy as Makanazy, like adding an A instead of the apostrophe, like the Z in Z'ha'dum.
God, everybody was hot for everyone else in that fucking series. Did Calhoun have ANY flaws?

1. I took it as Mackenzie IN SPACE.

2. Yes, part of why I love it. More horny Trek Lit.

3. Calhoun is different genre savvy than the rest of Star Trek and a lot more bloodthirsty than most Starfleet captains. However, usually the narrative backs him up. Still, you could make an argument that his general acceptance of his crew in all their quirky wonderfulness actually did them no favors as Peter David's general love of tragedy results in a lot of them meeting unfortunate ends that might have been averted if Mac had put his foot down earlier.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I don't know how I read him but I remember initially reading M'k'n'zy as Makanazy, like adding an A instead of the apostrophe, like the Z in Z'ha'dum.

I read M'k'n'zy as "MUH-kuh-un-zy," with "Mackenzie" as a Anglicization that he accepted in a "go along to get along" sense." Like Feivel becoming Philly in An American Tail.

 

[Christopher]

I read M'k'n'zy as "MUH-kuh-un-zy," with "Mackenzie" as a Anglicization that he accepted in a "go along to get along" sense." Like Feivel becoming Philly in An American Tail.

Except, why would an inclusive, cosmopolitan society like the Federation demand that kind of Anglicization of alien names? That kind of thing is outmoded even in present-day America. (Well, somewhat, but increasingly. Our mayor here in Cincinnati, Aftab Pureval, was told he had to Anglicize his first name if he hoped to have a career in politics, but he proved them wrong.)

Although I guess I could see it if whatever pronunciation "M'k'n'zy" has is difficult for English speakers to pull off, in which case it might be more convenient to adopt an Anglicized name, the way Chinese people tend to adopt Western names for use in Anglophone contexts. It might even be preferable for him than listening to people trying to pronounce his real name and mangling it.

 

[David cgc]

It might even be preferable for him than listening to people trying to pronounce his real name and mangling it.

I think that was almost word-for-word the explanation Calhoun himself gives for changing it.