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We've all been pronouncing 'Roald Dahl' wrong for years and everything is a lie

It’s Roo-al. ROO-AL.

SO MANY OF US have grown up with the works of author Roald Dahl, which include Matilda, James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Roald Dahl (1982) Wikimedia Wikimedia

You’ve probably been going through your whole life saying ‘Row-ald’ or ‘Rolled’ Dahl, haven’t you? And why not. You’ve never known any different.

But you, and all the rest of us, are wrong.

A clip recently emerged of a horror/science fiction TV show Dahl presented in 1961, called Way Out. The author is introduced, quite clearly, as:

Roo-al Dahl.

Way Out / YouTube

Dahl was born in Wales to Norwegian parents in 1916 – ‘Roo-al’ is the correct pronunciation of his Norwegian name, but somewhere along the way someone made a muck of it, and it stuck.

The Mail Online reports that neither his daughter Lucy nor his wife Felicity has ever corrected it in interviews – but that’s probably because the damage was already done.

Roald_Dahl Wikimedia Wikimedia

Well don’t we feel silly now.

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