Truth in Advertising?

There’s a Christian music festival that sponsors festivals that I want to give special recognition today. The group is called “Lifest.” The award I’d like to give them is “Worst Named Group Ever.”

Let’s muddle through this one, shall we? I don’t know much about the group. I’m sure they’re nice people. But that name is just wrong. I don’t know how they pronounce it. But when I encountered that name in print, the thought process in my mind went like this: “Lifest. What is that? Well, it has ‘fest’ at the end, so the remainder must be a stand-alone syllable. I guess it’s ‘Li-Fest,’ sounds like ‘Lie-Fest.’ ::pause:: Uhm. No. I don’t think they call themselves ‘Lie-Fest.’ ‘Life-St?’ ‘Life-est?’ ‘Life-Fest?’ ‘Lee-Fest?’”

It was all too confusing, so I decided to run with “Lie-Fest.” Hence my award for “Worst Named Group Ever.” I admit that my choice isn’t exactly nice, but really, they made that the path of least resistance. I guarantee I am not alone in my choice of pronunciation.