The way it's said

A slightly silly Clerihew I penned some years ago:

Aleister Crowley
Thought his magick was progressing slowly
So he made a memorandum
To try Per Vas Nefandum

(If you don't know what Per Vas Nefandum is, google it, then go off and do it)

For this to work, 'Crowley' has to rhyme with 'slowly', and that is indeed the way his name was pronounced. In one of his own poems he rhymed his name with 'unholy' and I've seen interviews with people who met him - they always pronounced his name in that way. The evidence is irrefutable.

So why the hell, after knowing this for years, do I still say it as if the 'Crow' part of his name rhymed with 'cow' or 'now'?

I have to make a mental effort to pronounce it the right way. Usually I don't succeed.

I'm sure there's some deep psychological/magickal truth to be divined here, but I'm damned if I can figure out what it is.