On Oct. 16, at a political rally in Macon, Ga., Sen. David Perdue invoked the name of his colleague, Sen. Kamala Harris. “Ka-ma-la, Ka-ma-la, Kamala-mala-mala,” Mr. Perdue said, before finally giving up: “I don’t know, whatever.”
It wasn’t the first time someone mispronounced the Democratic vice-presidential candidate’s first name. So common is the experience that in her autobiography, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” Ms. Harris offered a helpful explanation: “My name is pronounced ‘comma-la,’ like the punctuation…