Teh-a-ti-meh was French/Quirmian?

[=Tamar]

On r/discworld, marvinthebluecorner posted that he had "Just seen a French dude called Theotime." The man is cycling around Africa.

 

[RathDarkblade]

Can't be. Theotime is a French violinist. Anyway, the French name Theotime simply means "To Honor God".

Less seriously, Teatime can't be French or Quirmian, because French people don't drink tea and therefore have no word for teatime.

 

[Quatermass]

I personally think Teatime was protesting too much. I think Terry Pratchett was echoing an old joke, like the one I heard about from Young Frankenstein, where the titular character and Igor protest the pronunciations of their names. There's a similar running gag in the Youtube series Helluva Boss, where the main character, Blitzo, insists that the 'O' is silent. For added points, he's also an assassin.

Also, on a mostly-unrelated note, 'Theodore' means 'God's gift'. Which explains any egotistical Theodore...

 

[Penfold]

I think Q is right about echoing an old joke. Keeping Up Appearances was a popular TV series here in the 90's with the running joke of the pronunciation of Hyacinth Bucket's name throughout. Terry would definitely have known about this.

 

[Molokov]

... and of course, with a character named "Bucket" in Maskerade, Stephen Briggs did the opposite of this in his playscript, where Walter mispronounces it as "Bouquet" in several scenes. (And that does usually get an audience laugh, as they also too know the "Keeping Up Appearances" reference)