Doctor Who: 10 More Things You Never Knew About Peter Capaldi

2. It's Pronounced CaPALdi Not CaPALDi

Once Peter Capaldi was announced as the Doctor his name was suddenly everywhere and, naturally for a fairly uncommon name, different pronunciations of his surname were everywhere as well. But what is the right way to say it? Well, fret no more, as here is the answer. People seem to be split on how to pronounce the middle syllable of Capaldi, using either a short A or a long A. In fact, if you want to be pernickety about it, the correct one to use is the short A. The reason for this is that in Scottish pronunciation there aren't any long As so it should be pronounced CaPALdi and not CaPALDi. Of course, the name isn't actually Scottish but Italian (Peter's paternal grandfather migrated from Italy to Scotland). Still, the correct Italian pronunciation also has the emphasis on the short A. And if you still don't believe us, here's fellow Scot Steven Moffat to explain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-jlW_0naEU