We've all heard of Genghis Khan, the Mongol conqueror. But how have we heard it?

Should it be pronounced JIN-gus con? Or GHIN-gus con (with the first syllable matching the -gin in begin)?

Once again, the best answer is... it depends.

When I was a teenager, a popular movie about the man used the GHIN-gus (or GHEEN-gus) version. How much influence the movie had I'm not sure, but everybody I knew used the same pronunciation, with the hard g. It was only a few years ago that I heard the other option—jin-gus—in conversation.

Statistically, then, we'd have good reason to say GHIN-gus, so as not to go agin the majority. But there was another factor involved here. The person who used the jin version was being interviewed on an NPR talk show. Why? Because he'd written a book on Genghis Khan, and was considered an expert on the subject.

Listening to the interview was a little amusing. The radio host kept saying GHIN-gus, and the guest-author kept saying JIN-gus. Finally the host asked him directly, saying something like: “I notice you pronounce that JIN-gus, and I've always heard GHIN-gus. So which is correct?”

Depends on where you are, the expert explained—on which side of a geographical dividing line. The great majority of Easterners (Asians and their neighbors) prefer the soft-g version (JIN-gus), while we of the Western world are much more inclined to say GHIN-gus.

My Webster's New World Dictionary gives both pronunciations as standard, so take your choice. But if you go with the Eastern option, be ready to explain why you “mispronounced” the term.

The moral? Be tolerant, and don't jump to conclusions that different means incorrect, inferior, or substandard.