By Ryan Maquiñana
Paquiao. No wait, Pacquaio. Pacquiao?
Ever since Manny Pacquiao’s arrival stateside from the Philippines in 2001 progressed to global renown, scribes and fans alike have never quite mastered spelling the boxing superstar’s last name correctly.
The Wall Street Journal, using data collected from the content aggregation website Factiva, determined Wednesday that the Filipino welterweight titleholder ranks seventh out of all sports names misspelled in print and online articles.
In the report, Pacquiao’s name was spelled Pacquaio in 986 of 54,507 articles (1.8 percent), which sandwiched him on the list between a pair of NBA players -- sixth-rated J.J. Redick (“Reddick”) and No. 8 Antawn Jamison (“Antwan”).
Dwyane Wade sat atop the rankings, as 6,480 of 142,599 articles (4.3 percent) involving the basketball star erroneously spelled his first name “Dwayne” on first reference.
As for Pacquiao, the initial signs that his name would become an editor’s nightmare were evident to this writer when longtime boxing announcer Tim Ryan repeatedly pronounced the southpaw’s name “Pa-KAI-ow” during his American debut 13 years ago against Lehlohonolo Ledwaba (try reading that tongue-twister three times fast while you’re at it).
After capturing world titles in eight different weight classes and crossing over to mainstream consciousness, no one has trouble saying it the right way (PACK-ee-ow) anymore.
Now if they could only spell it.
Follow Ryan Maquiñana on Twitter @RMaq28 or email him at rmaquinana@gmail.com.
