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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
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I posted in another thread recently a brief synopsis of abortive attempts in New Zealand to revert to Maori placenames, even where these were rarely, if ever, used prior to the arrival of the Europeans.
A prime (and fairly visible) example was Taranaki (a large, singular volcanic cone in the westernmost area of the North Island). It started as Taranaki, was renamed Mt Egmont, reverted to Taranaki, but is, I notice, again being called Mt Egmont.
Official place name reversion is one thing; public acceptance of the status of the old (new) names is another entirely.
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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veteran
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veteran
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Versailles and Toledo
And then there's Cairo, Illinois, which the locals pronounce in syrupy fashion "Karo". You could amass quite a collection of these alternative pronunciation places.
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addict
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addict
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One of my favorites is the name Bourgeois (name of a street, a bookstore, and a family name in the area) in Cincinnati - which is pronounce burr-joyce.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
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directly to the north of Harpers Ferry, WV there's the town of Bolivar, named after the SA general, but pronounced BAHL -i-ver.
TEd
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A hundred miles or so south of BAHL-i-ver, WV, is Buena Vista, VA, pronounced, charmingly, BYOO-na VEE-sta.
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newbie
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newbie
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In reply to:
Man is an old English word meaning human being. Person is an old Etruscan word meaning mask. People is also an old Etruscan word but the AHD doesn't say what it meant.
Person "is" an old Etruscan word meaning mask? My dictionary has the following: "[L. persona, a player's mask, perh. from Etruscan phersu, masked figures." It seems to me that person "is" an English word, one whose origin can be traced back to Etruscan.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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No one complains: It seems to me that person "is" an English word, one whose origin can be traced back to Etruscan.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In Wellington, we have a Marjoribanks Street, pronounced "Mah-jory-banks". Whoa!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 163
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> Would you call it cultural arrogance or just cultural stupidity if a town uses a foreign city name but mispronounces it?
Well, once this town is your town its name it’s no longer “a foreign city name” but your city name so, I think, you are entitled to pronounce it as you wish.
There are people, as is my case, who cannot pronounce some foreign syllables properly or have to make a considerable effort for doing it. I have always thought that if you cannot pronounce a foreign word in an acceptable way you had better pronouncing it as if it was written in your native language. It surely will be better than inventing a new pronunciation.
I don’t know who started it, but a couple of years ago almost everybody in my city started pronouncing CD-ROM as ceh deh room. It was too much for me, I think that the “o” in ROM is one of the few vocals that English an Spanish pronounce similarly and some snob made this room pronunciation up and everybody found it fashionable. I think I had never imposed a way of pronouncing anything in my company before but, after getting fed-up with hearing it, I banned this way of pronouncing this word.
Maybe I’ve got a dictator inside me struggling to get out.
Juan Maria.
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enthusiast
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enthusiast
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No-one should be expected to pronounce foreign names correctly. It is of course odd to hear someone mangle a French name: you'd think everyone would have picked up enough French to know the basics.
If you do know how to pronounce a language, I don't think it's necessary to drop into an exact foreign accent: just use the closest equivalent sounds in your own language, so that the name flows smoothly with the rest of the sentence.
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