It’s one of those pet peeves that rub me the wrong way, and they all seem to do it, whether it’s anywhere around The Ringer network, or the Earwolf network, or the Blank Check podcast to name a few, they always say “Ray” instead of “Ralph”.
The man’s real full name is Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, quite a fancy mouthful, but not even a hint of “Ray” or “Raymond” in there. Did everyone in the podcasting world decide to pronounce his name wrong on purpose?
Fiennes does seem to come from a posh background, doesn’t he?
Then maybe a commoner trained in Shakespeare can and does develop that poshness, the ability to deliver it effortlessly.
Was, for example, Peter O’Toole a noble or a hoodlum? Because there seems to be a bit of both in him at the same time.
But then I take a look at the full Fiennes family name and oof… there’s some olde stubbornly blue roots in there, in plain sight. The kind of thing you would spy on the guestlist for the weekly Saxe-Coburg canasta evening.
So is Rafe like the black sheep of his family, because he went prancing off to theater school and the bohemian lifestyle instead of a sturdy and dignified profession, like banking?
For the aristocracy, the people who work “real jobs” are the black sheep. A gentleman is supposed to live off the land (rents) and to otherwise be a mere amateur.