Rank these tickets... in what's most phonetically pleasing (Obama/Sebelius=yuck)

[Lunar]

I think with a weird, three syllable last name, Obama sure could use a VP that doesn't ruin bumper stickers and general mentions of the ticket.  Like, Obama/Napolitano sounds like a type of pasta. 

I think Obama/Bayh, although it will be easy to rhyme with insults, sounds the best.

I'm genuinely interested in what y'all think since it's not something one person can know.  I know this is far down the list of qualities to pick a VP on, no need to remind me.

Here's my thoughts, feel free to include ones not on the list:
1. Obama/Bayh
2. Obama/Clinton
3. Obama/Kaine
4. Obama/Biden
5. Obama/Nunn
6. Obama/Schweitzer
7. Obama/Sebelius

1. McCain/Sanford
2. McCain/Cantor
3. McCain/Crist
4. McCain/Portman
5. McCain/Romney
6. McCain/Thune
7. McCain/Pawlenty

[defe07]

Maybe Obama/Kaine because if there's an undecided voter out there and a pollster asks who that person's voting for, it could say "Obama/Kaine", leaving the pollster thinking that the voter is split between Obama and McCain (Obamakaine sounds the same as ObaMcCain).

[Bacon King]

I like the sound of Obama/Biden the best; McCain/Sanford and McCain/Portman both sound good.

[DownWithTheLeft]

I think McCain needs a two-syllabled running mate.  I think Obama/Sebelius is the worst because I'm not even sure how to pronounce it, so I'm sure many Americans will get confused too.  The way I say it its 4 syllables.  A 7 syllabled ticket?  Not a good idea

[MarkWarner08]

McCain/Portman is phonetically pleasing. Obama/Schweitzer sounds good, too.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     For McCain, I find that McCain/Cantor is by far the most appealing sounding.

     For Obama, it has to Obama/Biden. No other even comes close.

[angus]

I think with a weird, three syllable last name, Obama sure could use a VP that doesn't ruin bumper stickers and general mentions of the ticket.  Like, Obama/Napolitano sounds like a type of pasta. 

I think Obama/Bayh, although it will be easy to rhyme with insults, sounds the best.

I'm genuinely interested in what y'all think since it's not something one person can know.  I know this is far down the list of qualities to pick a VP on, no need to remind me.

Here's my thoughts, feel free to include ones not on the list:
1. Obama/Bayh
2. Obama/Clinton
3. Obama/Kaine
4. Obama/Biden
5. Obama/Nunn
6. Obama/Schweitzer
7. Obama/Sebelius

1. McCain/Sanford
2. McCain/Cantor
3. McCain/Crist
4. McCain/Portman
5. McCain/Romney
6. McCain/Thune
7. McCain/Pawlenty

Funny.  I never thought of it.  Reaganbush, Clintongore, Nixonlodge.  They roll off the tongue.  But Mondaleferraro sounds like one of those dessert pizzas.  Like the one with karo syrup instead of marinara sauce.  And peaches instead of italian sausage.  But otherwise it's a pizza.  Mozarella cheese.  Round crust.  There's a place in Pittsburgh that used to sell just such a pizza. 

I guess Obamabayh is much more euphonic than the others on that list.  Obamanunn isn't bad either.  But Obamanunn and Obamabayh both sound more islamofascist than Obama does. In a Parthian Shots sort of way.   McCain is so cacophonic it's hard to find any elision.  McCainpawlenty is especially hard.  Getting from the N at the end of McCain to the P at the beginning of Pawlenty nearly requires a pause.   McCainalito isn't bad.  McCainalito even sounds a little bit like an endearing Spanish diminuitive.  Like Pablito or Miguelito.  It could play well with the Mexican/Dominican/Puertorican voters, I suppose.  "Orale, homes, gana mas con McCainalito.  ¡Vote para él!."  I'd go with McCainalito.  Have the commercial with McCain wearing a black sombrero and a big mustache while driving a '67 pontiac bonnevile tricked out,  top cut off, way low to the ground, with fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror and a chain-link steering wheel.  War's "Low Rider" blasting from the stereo.  Alito in the passenger seat, burning a fat joint and holding a longneck bottle of Tecate.  And, of course, a JesuCristo bumper sticker on one side of the chrome bumper and McCainalito on the other. 

[Associate Justice PiT]

I think with a weird, three syllable last name, Obama sure could use a VP that doesn't ruin bumper stickers and general mentions of the ticket.  Like, Obama/Napolitano sounds like a type of pasta. 

I think Obama/Bayh, although it will be easy to rhyme with insults, sounds the best.

I'm genuinely interested in what y'all think since it's not something one person can know.  I know this is far down the list of qualities to pick a VP on, no need to remind me.

Here's my thoughts, feel free to include ones not on the list:
1. Obama/Bayh
2. Obama/Clinton
3. Obama/Kaine
4. Obama/Biden
5. Obama/Nunn
6. Obama/Schweitzer
7. Obama/Sebelius

1. McCain/Sanford
2. McCain/Cantor
3. McCain/Crist
4. McCain/Portman
5. McCain/Romney
6. McCain/Thune
7. McCain/Pawlenty

Funny.  I never thought of it.  Reaganbush, Clintongore, Nixonlodge.  They roll off the tongue.  But Mondaleferraro sounds like one of those dessert pizzas.  Like the one with karo syrup instead of marinara sauce.  And peaches instead of italian sausage.  But otherwise it's a pizza.  Mozarella cheese.  Round crust.  There's a place in Pittsburgh called Gatsby's Pizza that sold just such a pizza. 

I guess Obamabayh is much more euphonic than the others on that list.  Obamanunn isn't bad either.  But Obamanunn and Obamabayh both sound more islamofascist than Obama does. In a Parthian Shots sort of way.   McCain is so cacophonic it's hard to find any elision.  McCainpawlenty is especially hard.  Getting from the N at the end of McCain to the P at the beginning of Pawlenty nearly requires a pause.   McCainalito isn't bad.  McCainalito even sounds a little bit like an endearing Spanish diminuitive.  Like Pablito or Miguelito.  It could play well with the Mexican/Dominican/Puertorican voters, I suppose.  "Orale, homes, gana mas con McCainalito.  ¡Vote para él!."  I'd go with McCainalito.

     The thing about Reagan/Bush, Clinton/Gore, & Nixon/Lodge is that they all have strong-weak-strong stressing. That's why they roll off the tounge so well. Same goes for Obama/Bayh, Obama/Nunn, & McCain/Alito. Good stressing is an important point of anything sounding euphonic.

[angus]

Good stressing is an important point of anything sounding euphonic.

It's absolutely essential for reading Shakespeare in the original Klingon. 


Yeah, I guess McCain is what english teachers call iambic.  If he had a trochaic name he could go with a one-syllable running mate.  With an iambic name, you need another iambic name to go with it.  McCain/Duquesne, for example.  And it rhymes.  Not many iambic names among GOP bigwigs I think.  And I still like the sound of McCainalito better.  And the images it conjures up.

[Lunar]

See, this is why I can't see an Obama/Sebelius ticket.  The "Sebelius" (which even I, a political news junkie, am not 100% certain how to pronounce, I think it ironically rhymes with nebulous) totally takes over any consecutive pronunciation of the names.

Bayh is only a bit odd because I think most people want to say "Bay," but that's not really a problem.

Image is important in today's America and is probably what a good chunk of swing voters base their votes on.  Just like it's important to have a VP who looks good next to yours, it probably helps to have a VP who sounds good and has a friendly name for yard signs and bumper stickers.

[Kushahontas]

obama/carter jk

[angus]

Bayh is only a bit odd because I think most people want to say "Bay," but that's not really a problem.

I thought it was more like "rhymes with rye"  Or like the bye in "good bye."  At least that's the way I have been saying his name.

How is Bayh prononced anyway?  Does the H do anything?

[Хahar 🤔]

Bayh is only a bit odd because I think most people want to say "Bay," but that's not really a problem.

I thought it was more like "rhymes with rye"  Or like the bye in "good bye."  At least that's the way I have been saying his name.

How is Bayh prononced anyway?  Does the H do anything?

It is pronounced "bye" as in "good bye". But it can be easily mispronounced.

[Joe Republic]

Bayh is only a bit odd because I think most people want to say "Bay," but that's not really a problem.

The current VP seems to have survived such mass-scale confusion over the pronunciation of his name. 

[angus]

Bayh is only a bit odd because I think most people want to say "Bay," but that's not really a problem.

The current VP seems to have survived such mass-scale confusion over the pronunciation of his name. 

Cheney?  Well, that's another one that I didn't know was in dispute.  Just as I've never heard Bayh pronounced anything other than "bye" I've never heard Cheney pronounced any other way than Cheney.  As in, rhymes with Rainy.  Now, there do seem to be some slight regional differences on the first consonant, with New Englanders pronouncing the Ch as in Chick and the Southerners, especially in the Mobile-Lake Charles-Beaumont coastal corridor, pronouncing the Ch as in Chardonnay.  But elsewhere I've only heard it pronounced with the Ch like the Cz in Czech and Eney like the Ainy in rainy. 

Or are you making a "dick" joke that just went way over my head.  That happens sometimes. 

[bgwah]

Cheney is supposed to rhyme with meanie and beanie. The fact that you've never heard it pronounced correctly just goes to show how confused people are about it...

[angus]

much obliged.  I guess we all pronounce it incorrectly after all.  Though I have to say, I watch an inordinate amount of television--everything from Family Guy to Bill O'Reilly to cable porn--and I've yet to hear anyone pronounce it in a way that rhymes with beanie.  Though it does happen that everyone in the world mispronounces a name wrong.  Take Neil Peart of Rush, for example.  When I was in high school Neil and I were the only two people who pronounced his name right.  Even now, I hear everything but the correct pronunciation.  It's Peart, by the way, as in, starts with P and rhymes with, well, I can't think of a word rhyming with Peart, but it is like the word tear, like there are tears in my eyes when I cry--except I don't cry--but it starts with a P and has a T sound on the end.

Maybe Cheney is like that.  Cheney and You and Joe are the only three who pronounce it right.  Well, there will be four of us now.  Unless you're fuçking with me.  That's pretty easy, by the way.  That's okay, because I won't know you're fuçking with me, since I'll think I'm cool for pronouncing Cheney as though it rhymes with beanie, like it's a little secret that only four of us know.  Well, us four and any one else reading this thread who buys into what you're saying.  I know I do.

 

[Joe Republic]

Actually, I've always pronounced it "chur-NAR-ee".  Is that... wrong?