Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 2 1 2
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 2
B
stranger
OP Offline
stranger
B
Joined: Dec 2013
Posts: 2
Hey everybody!

One of my friends released a game a while ago but has only recently decided to change its name. The new name he picked, 'Ainion', didn't sit well with myself as I found it difficult to pronounce, so I thought I would run a test and ask a group of random people during the day how they would say it. Interestingly, all but two people pronounced it differently!

So I thought I would look a little more into this (as my friend is sure it's a suitable name) and decided I'd turn to you guys! My question is quite simple; Why can't people from the same English-speaking region pronounce Ainion consistently?

Thanks to you all! smile

Last edited by Bablakeluke; 12/08/13 11:27 PM.
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
For one thing you have a conflict between onion and ion. Also the Ai could be pronounced like a long A or like eye. That's four pronunciations right there. You might also get the inion part pronounced like the bump on the back of the skull, IN-ee-un, giving you Ay-IN-ee-un. I'd be interested in know what all pronunciations you got from your random people. BTW, I googled "ainion" and got 14 billion hits. Might not be a real good name.

Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
>14 billion hits

what's up with that?! they all seem to be false hits (okay, I didn't look at all of them).

Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Originally Posted By: tsuwm
>14 billion hits

what's up with that?! they all seem to be false hits (okay, I didn't look at all of them).


Really. I didn't see ainion in any of them. Nor anion neither, which is what Google seemed to think I wanted. It didn't even offer me the option of showing results for ainion instead.

Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
My first thought was to pronounce it like onion but with a long A at the beginning: ayn-yun. The spelling is confusing.

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
I didn't see ainion in any of them

Type in 'Ainion meaning"
there are references to elves and angels.

Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,909
Likes: 2
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,909
Likes: 2
Orson Scott Card, author of current movie "Ender's Game",
uses a form ainu, to mean an inner part of an individual
even deeper than a soul.


----please, draw me a sheep----
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Originally Posted By: olly
I didn't see ainion in any of them

Type in 'Ainion meaning"
there are references to elves and angels.


Anything saying how to pronounce it?

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956
old hand
Offline
old hand
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 956


Ainion. (Eye-nee-on)

i woulda said ehnion

Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290
Just to be contrary I would pronounce it /'injən/ or in curious eye-dialect, unreproducible form "EEN-yun. Goign for a sort of British approximation of Oedipus even though it's probably not from Greek αινος (ainos) 'tale, fable' or αινος (ainos) 'dread, terrible'.

[Fixed typo.]


Ceci n'est pas un seing.
Page 1 of 2 1 2

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,910
Posts229,096
Members9,175
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Standy, Teytonon, jgronk71, gronk1964, MiscPractice
9,175 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 203 guests, and 2 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,366
LukeJavan8 9,909
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2023 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5