I'm still trying to figure out how to pronounce his last name. Seems like it could go either of two ways:
"De Laughter" with the 'laughter' pronounced as the English word, phonically spelled as "laf'-ter".
Or would the phonic spelling be more like "lawter", like in Charles Laughton ?
I'm pretty sure it's the latter (Or is it 'later'?), but I can't help but imagine that at least once or twice, someone has mispronounced his name, in his presence, and it indeed did provoke laughter.
Makes one want to go eat a "toh-mah'-toh", or lacking one of those, an old fashioned American "toh-may'-toh".
I guess it depends on whether or not you're dining at John Kerry's house (or that of his local equivalent) or in a normal household.
De-Law-Ter (First “e” is short, “Law” is the accent syllable and the second “e” should have two dots over it....for all of you phonetics fans....:) )