Mike Evans
Mike Evans
I'll guess the latter is "SinJin."
One of my favorites is Taliaferro, pronounced "Tolliver." And of course, Howard Luxury-Yacht, pronounced "Throat-Warbler Mangrove."
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Linguists out there
- Thread starter MarkS
- Start date
I'll guess the latter is "SinJin."
One of my favorites is Taliaferro, pronounced "Tolliver." And of course, Howard Luxury-Yacht, pronounced "Throat-Warbler Mangrove."
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
1 Brownie point for you.originally posted by Mike Evans:
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
Useless brownie points for people who know the proper pronunciation of Whewell, a 19th century theologian and philosopher. And the pronunciation of the first name of St. John Rivers, from Jane Eyre.
I'll guess the latter is "SinJin."
"
Sharon Bowman
Sharon Bowman
originally posted by kirk wallace:
That one really amazed me when i first encountered it. Being 22, I thought i was having my gullibility tested.originally posted by Cole Kendall:
My [least] favorite such example is "Goethe" Street in Chicago (3 syllables in the local patois).
How does it sound?
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Don't forget the character from Tales of the City: spelled Beauchamp, pronounced Beecham.
Eden Mylunsch
Eden Mylunsch
originally posted by robert ames:
moving along in american. . . .as opposed to the english.
valdez [alaska] is pronouced valdeez (long e) because that is what the locals say it is. linguists are not part of the equation.
more to the point--there are proper nouns that are pronounced a certain way for no other reason than because that is the way they are pronounced.
Even if it's "wrong" I prefer to defer to local usage.
Growing up in central California you could always tell the locals from the tourists by whether they pronounced the nearby town (and nascent wine AVA) "Passo RobLAYS" or "Paso Rowbuls" (the former being the correct Spanish pronunciation while the latter was how us locals called it)
My home town was referred to as "San LuWEEZ OhbisPO" by transients looking for directions to the Madonna Inn, while we opted for a more familiar "San Lewis." Meanwhile, over the past couple of decades even that's been modified to "SLO-Town" by overzealous civic boosters, anxious to differentiate the city from others with multi-syllabic names that would overtax the minds of deep-pocketed, dimwitted tourists.
-Eden (NIMBY)
Cole Kendall
Cole Kendall
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by kirk wallace:
That one really amazed me when i first encountered it. Being 22, I thought i was having my gullibility tested.originally posted by Cole Kendall:
My [least] favorite such example is "Goethe" Street in Chicago (3 syllables in the local patois).
How does it sound?
go-Eee-the
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
originally posted by MLipton:
English English especially is filled with curious elisions. Worcestershire and Cholmondeley come readily to mind as examples.
Mark Lipton
Don't forget Featherstonehaugh
Todd Abrams
Todd Abrams
Chris Coad
Chris Coad
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
Dressner used to pronounce my last name as though it started with the bow of a ship.
Is that wrong?
/reconsiders nautical perspective
Chris Coad
Chris Coad
Agh, of course that's wrong. You're not a man at the bow, you're a bowman, as in Agincourt.
Sometimes it takes awhile for the light to dawn.
Sometimes it takes awhile for the light to dawn.
Sharon Bowman
Sharon Bowman
Yep. If it be a sin to covet honor, I'm pretty offending.
Tristan Welles
Tristan Welles
originally posted by Cole Kendall:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by kirk wallace:
That one really amazed me when i first encountered it. Being 22, I thought i was having my gullibility tested.originally posted by Cole Kendall:
My [least] favorite such example is "Goethe" Street in Chicago (3 syllables in the local patois).
How does it sound?
go-Eee-the
mmmm, this usage seems to be fading. I hear go-tu as frequently the three syllable version these days.
Although it is still De-VON street.
originally posted by Tristan Welles:
originally posted by Cole Kendall:
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
originally posted by kirk wallace:
That one really amazed me when i first encountered it. Being 22, I thought i was having my gullibility tested.originally posted by Cole Kendall:
My [least] favorite such example is "Goethe" Street in Chicago (3 syllables in the local patois).
How does it sound?
go-Eee-the
mmmm, this usage seems to be fading. I hear go-tu as frequently the three syllable version these days.
I give it the full German treatment when I'm there, but only to my wife.
Mark Lipton
Jeff Grossman
Jeff Grossman
Did Goethe drink gueuze in Göttingen?