J.K. Rowling: You’ve All Been Pronouncing ‘Voldemort’ Wrong

By Jason Owen 1 min read

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling responded to a Twitter comment Wednesday where she said she’s “the only person who pronounces” the series’ villain’s name correctly.

In a response to Twitter user Michael Lucero, who sent this message to followers:

https://twitter.com/mhenrylucero/status/641722211661955072

Rowling responded to Lucero:

… but I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who pronounces it that way. https://t.co/HxhJ5XY5HP

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) September 9, 2015

So, it seems we’ll all been saying it wrong this entire time. “Voldemort” has more of a French pronunciation. Hmm, seems less menacing that way. And what did the French ever do to her? (Fun fact: “Voldemort,” translated into French, roughly means, “flight of death.”)

So it seems “He Who Cannot Be Named” hasn’t been named (incorrectly) this whole time.