Since Walter A. Brown first founded the Celtics in 1946, we’ve always referred to them as the “Sel-tics,” following a similar script as another sports franchise in Celtic F.C. in Glasgow. The avenue of pronunciation has been ingrained in Bostonians since the days of Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, and Tommy Heinsohn.

While we say the Boston “Celtics” with the C sounding like an S, when one talks about “Celtic” language or anything that refers to Celtic culture, the C sounds like a K. But if we talk about “the Celts” to describe the ancient people of that name, the C sounds like an S.