To say that Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is having a moment is a gross understatement. Just last week I had no idea who he was and now I’m retweeting him on the reg and defending his honor in comment sections across the internet. His compassion and candor are arguably the best things to happen to the Democratic party since Obama, but does that mean I’m going to learn how to pronounce that alphabet soup of a last name just yet? No. Because it looks really hard. And I still have two more episodes of Russian Doll left to watch.
Hear me out. The guy’s impressive, I KNOW. He’s a Harvard grad and Rhodes Scholar who speaks eight languages. Eight! That’s seven and a half more than our current president. I’m a huge fan of Mayor Pete. I am. But how do I know this flavor of the week is going to last? Thanks to Beyonce, I spent a whole afternoon perfecting the Spanish pronunciation of Beto and what did that get me? Nada. Our country’s a fickle bitch.
For an entire generation of millennials who read the news via bits and blurbs on social media, it’s irrational to expect us to know how to pronounce “Buttigieg” on our own. Butt-ig-gag? Boot-ig-ig? Boot Boot something? I deserve an afternoon of self-care just for trying. And no, spelling it phonetically doesn’t help. His name is too far gone. Sure, I could play a ten-second video on YouTube to learn, but I’d have to sit through a thirty-second commercial and I don’t feel like doing that right now.
The world is buzzing Buttigieg and I’m right there with them. Just not with words that come out of my mouth. At least not yet. For now, I’m reserving my Buttigieg boasts to text messages and comment threads for at least another week or two to see if he sticks. And if he does, I’ll get up early, grind some fair trade coffee beans and make myself a nice pour-over while I commit that train wreck of a last name to memory.
Until then, Pete 2020!