[Don W]

Just for your edification (and so “a” certain poster is less likely to look the fool):

The S.E. Asians I know, without exception pronounce the “ph” as a “Y”, not the letter you (and I) thought of at first.

Then again, “Yuc” isn’t much better, though far less directly offensive.

[aruanan]

The S.E. Asians I know, without exception pronounce the “ph” as a “Y”, not the letter you (and I) thought of at first.

Actually, I've known a lot of Vietnamese for many years and I've heard the 'ph' pronounced as 'f'. Regardless, it was the appearance, based on our phonology, of his last name combined with his charitable avocation that made for the irony. Anyone, we hope, would know that in Vietnamese there wouldn't have even been a possibility of such a pun. But, then, we're not speaking Vietnamese.