Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
|
Post by Mystie on Feb 3, 2016 19:14:06 GMT
So I was watching "Finding Your Roots" on PBS last night and they had the architect Frank Gehry on and were talking about his ancestors from the town of Lodz in Poland. Now I have read a lot of Jewish/Polish/European history so I had come across this name before. But turns out it's pronounced "Wudge!" You could have knocked me over. I knew Polish had odd pronunciation, but apparently it's odder than I thought. Now I'm wondering how many other places I thought I knew but sound totally different than I thought. Anybody else?
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Feb 3, 2016 19:24:42 GMT
So I was watching "Finding Your Roots" on PBS last night and they had the architect Frank Gehry on and were talking about his ancestors from the town of Lodz in Poland. Now I have read a lot of Jewish/Polish/European history so I had come across this name before. But turns out it's pronounced "Wudge!" You could have knocked me over. I knew Polish had odd pronunciation, but apparently it's odder than I thought. Now I'm wondering how many other places I thought I knew but sound totally different than I thought. Anybody else? That's interesting. I always wondered how the Polish L with the line across it was pronounced.
|
|
|
Post by anniefb on Feb 3, 2016 19:30:34 GMT
Not a place name, but my parents had friends whose surname was 'Marshbanks'. When I was a teen I discovered it was actually spelled Marjoribanks.
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Feb 3, 2016 19:34:47 GMT
Anne Boylen. I thought it was Boy Lynn. I have since heard historians pronounce it Bowlin. Who knows?
|
|
smartypants71
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,710
Location: Houston, TX
Jun 25, 2014 22:47:49 GMT
|
Post by smartypants71 on Feb 3, 2016 19:40:59 GMT
Not a place but a word that I had never heard of before. I purchased an Australian brand of sunglasses called Quay. Someone asked me about them, and I pronounced them as "kway". I was then told that the proper pronunciation of that word is "key." Alrighty then!
|
|
|
Post by bc2ca on Feb 3, 2016 19:41:01 GMT
We (general English speaking we) have traditionally anglicized names from non-English speaking countries which is what you did with Lodz. I thought it was pronounced with more of an "wooge" than "wudge" sound. I'm not sure when it became more common to stay with the traditional pronunciation for names & places, but I distinctly remember my shock at discovering the spelling of an employee's name after I had been in discussions with him over a job transfer. I am grateful I knew him as "Vide-uh" before his file reached my desk and I learned his last name was spelled Wajda. In Greece, I thought signs were misspelled in English until I learned the Greek alphabet has some letters that are pronounced differently than the same letters in English. "Taberna" is the first one that comes to mind, but "b" in Greek is pronounced with the English "v" sound. I think different is a better word than odd
|
|
LeaP
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,939
Location: Los Angeles, CA where 405 meets 101
Jun 26, 2014 23:17:22 GMT
|
Post by LeaP on Feb 3, 2016 19:58:59 GMT
How about Gloucester or Leicester? Pronounced Glawster and Lester. Then there is Houston Street in NYC pronounced Howston, it demarks the northern side of SoHo aka South of Houston.
|
|
|
Post by anonrefugee on Feb 3, 2016 19:59:13 GMT
How do you pronounce Moto, as in motojacket?
I always say it with long O, as in motocross. Recently I heard someone say Mott-o.
|
|
|
Post by LuvAgoodPaddle on Feb 3, 2016 20:15:41 GMT
I totally thought I knew how to say Gewurztraminer, but nope. When I did everyone totally laughed! It's a running joke in our family now and no matter how hard I try, I cannot say it. So I just don't buy the stupid wine anymore.
|
|
|
Post by peano on Feb 3, 2016 20:20:23 GMT
How do you pronounce Moto, as in motojacket? I always say it with long O, as in motocross. Recently I heard someone say Mott-o. Since it's short for motorcycle jacket, I would pronounce it like that.
|
|
|
Post by peano on Feb 3, 2016 20:22:43 GMT
Anne Boylen. I thought it was Boy Lynn. I have since heard historians pronounce it Bowlin. Who knows? You're probably mispronouncing it because you're misspelling it: it is Boleyn, with the accent on the first syllable.
|
|
|
Post by myboysnme on Feb 3, 2016 20:33:35 GMT
For me it is always an issue between pronouncing things as the people do who are from that place or using the Americanized version.
Like Germany - Deutschland is what German people say. How did we get 'Germany'? Vienna is spelled Wien and pronounced Vienne in Austria because W's are pronounced like 'V's and V's like W's. Poland is like that too like if a person's name has a W it is pronounced like a V. In Hungarian CS is our CH sound, SZ is a S sound, ZS is SH sound.
In Philadelphia the Schuylkill Expressway is pronounced skoo kul. Norfolk is Nawfuk or Norfuk. No folk to it at all.
I will say that Henry Louis Gates Jr does mispronounce many things - some people are not very good at pronouncing names and he is one of them. I catch him all the time on that show.
|
|
|
Post by katlady on Feb 3, 2016 20:52:17 GMT
They were talking on the radio yesterday about a place in Georgia called Martinez and it is pronounced as "Mar-tin-ez", as in the name Martin. I am in So. Cal., so if I see that name I pronounce it "Mar-TI-nez" (emphasis on the the TI).
|
|
|
Post by Zee on Feb 3, 2016 20:55:07 GMT
While we're at it, it's IlliNOY, not IlliNOISE! Dez plaines, IL De Moyn, IA The Midwest is great for mispronounced place names named after other, older places, such as KAY-ro (Cairo), MY-lan (Milan), etc etc etc etc etc. Terre Haute IN is much different than Terre Haute IL. We could do this for days, haha.
|
|
|
Post by katlady on Feb 3, 2016 20:57:30 GMT
While we're at it, it's IlliNOY, not IlliNOISE! Dez plaines, IL De Moyn, IA The Midwest is great for mispronounced place names named after other, older places, such as KAY-ro (Cairo), MY-lan (Milan), etc etc etc etc etc. Terre Haute IN is much different than Terre Haute IL. We could do this for days, haha. This had me laughing!! KAY-ro!
|
|
|
Post by 950nancy on Feb 3, 2016 21:14:50 GMT
Anne Boylen. I thought it was Boy Lynn. I have since heard historians pronounce it Bowlin. Who knows? You're probably mispronouncing it because you're misspelling it: it is Boleyn, with the accent on the first syllable. And the fact that I have read four or five books on her makes that even worse that my eyes made it change in my head!
|
|
|
Post by Merge on Feb 3, 2016 21:30:25 GMT
They were talking on the radio yesterday about a place in Georgia called Martinez and it is pronounced as "Mar-tin-ez", as in the name Martin. I am in So. Cal., so if I see that name I pronounce it "Mar-TI-nez" (emphasis on the the TI). You should hear how Texans mispronounce San Felipe and San Jacinto, among others. You would think with the Spanish speaking population we have here, it wouldn't be so bad. But we hear San FILL-up-pee for the street and there's a community college pronounced San Juh-sin-toe, commonly abbreviated as San Jack.
|
|
caangel
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,462
Location: So Cal
Jun 26, 2014 16:42:12 GMT
|
Post by caangel on Feb 3, 2016 21:41:58 GMT
My in laws travel a lot. When they went to South Africa they came home telling my kids about zeb-ras (zeb rhyming with the end of celeb). I had to put a stop to it when they referred to a black person as a colored person. I know that is how they are referred to in South Africa but that is not going to go over well here!
|
|
anniebygaslight
Drama Llama
I'd love a cup of tea. #1966
Posts: 7,394
Location: Third Rock from the sun.
Jun 28, 2014 14:08:19 GMT
|
Post by anniebygaslight on Feb 3, 2016 21:45:06 GMT
We say zebra not zeebra in the UK.
|
|
valleyview
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,816
Jun 27, 2014 18:41:26 GMT
|
Post by valleyview on Feb 3, 2016 21:52:40 GMT
This reminds me of the time my son returned from study abroad in London. He visited me at school, and my students asked him to "Speak English" to them. He had them at "al-u-min-e-um. "
|
|
anniebygaslight
Drama Llama
I'd love a cup of tea. #1966
Posts: 7,394
Location: Third Rock from the sun.
Jun 28, 2014 14:08:19 GMT
|
Post by anniebygaslight on Feb 3, 2016 21:55:21 GMT
Yep. That's right. Aluminium. :-)
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 19, 2024 9:40:47 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2016 22:02:42 GMT
Anne Boylen. I thought it was Boy Lynn. I have since heard historians pronounce it Bowlin. Who knows? It's Anne Boleyn not Boylen and usually pronounced as Bo-lynn although I agree it does sound like Bow-lynn when it's said with an upper class British accent!
|
|
iowgirl
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,135
Jun 25, 2014 22:52:46 GMT
|
Post by iowgirl on Feb 3, 2016 22:05:05 GMT
The Midwest is great for mispronounced place names named after other, older places, such as KAY-ro (Cairo), MY-lan (Milan), etc etc etc etc etc. You can always tell when you have someone from out of state on the TV/Radio in Iowa when they pronounce the Iowa town Nevada as the state pronunciation. The town in Iowa is pronouned "Knee-VAY-duh" The Iowa town of Tripoli is Tri-pole-uh, and Madrid is MAD-rid. People in Kansas also call the river that runs through their state the AR-Kansas... it is not the Arkansawwww Fun topic!
|
|
|
Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Feb 3, 2016 22:05:18 GMT
Our state capitol has a street named Huger which should be pronounced the French way... "eu - gee."
But bless the little pea-picking hearts of many South Carolinans. I hear it pronounced "hugger" with great regularity. When we had all the catastrophic flooding here back in October, a national newscaster even pronounced it "hue - gare."
|
|
tiffanytwisted
Pearl Clutcher
you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
Posts: 4,538
Jun 26, 2014 15:57:39 GMT
|
Post by tiffanytwisted on Feb 3, 2016 22:24:45 GMT
For me it is always an issue between pronouncing things as the people do who are from that place or using the Americanized version. Like Germany - Deutschland is what German people say. How did we get 'Germany'? Vienna is spelled Wien and pronounced Vienne in Austria because W's are pronounced like 'V's and V's like W's. Poland is like that too like if a person's name has a W it is pronounced like a V. In Hungarian CS is our CH sound, SZ is a S sound, ZS is SH sound. In Philadelphia the Schuylkill Expressway is pronounced skoo kul. Norfolk is Nawfuk or Norfuk. No folk to it at all. I will say that Henry Louis Gates Jr does mispronounce many things - some people are not very good at pronouncing names and he is one of them. I catch him all the time on that show. I wonder about this all the time! I mean I get it for words that we have our own version of (we say book, in Spanish it's libro) or first names (John/Juan), but the name of the country is Deutschland (or Espana, for that matter). Why did we basically make up our own word? It's not the same for us - united & states are both words in their own right. But I don't get why we aren't calling countries by the names that the people who live there call them. As for the OP, for the longest time, I thought 'disciple' was pronounced 'dis-i-qual'. Don't ask me why. For years, I sat in church and that's how it sounded to me. Not a word that I use often, so I didn't get corrected until I was in college!
|
|
|
Post by hop2 on Feb 3, 2016 22:39:50 GMT
Anne Boylen. I thought it was Boy Lynn. I have since heard historians pronounce it Bowlin. Who knows? It's Anne Boleyn not Boylen and usually pronounced as Bo-lynn although I agree it does sound like Bow-lynn when it's said with an upper class British accent! A few books had the lower classes calling her Nan Bullen. How many ways can you say a name lol.
|
|
|
Post by Zee on Feb 3, 2016 22:49:30 GMT
The Midwest is great for mispronounced place names named after other, older places, such as KAY-ro (Cairo), MY-lan (Milan), etc etc etc etc etc. You can always tell when you have someone from out of state on the TV/Radio in Iowa when they pronounce the Iowa town Nevada as the state pronunciation. The town in Iowa is pronouned "Knee-VAY-duh" The Iowa town of Tripoli is Tri-pole-uh, and Madrid is MAD-rid. People in Kansas also call the river that runs through their state the AR-Kansas... it is not the Arkansawwww Fun topic! haha, I knew about Nevada but not Tripoli. That one annoys me more than the rest to be honest. It's like all the town founders just WILLFULLY mispronounced it all, on purpose, for no reason other than to be annoying and confusing. Some of it sounds so uneducated. I'd get my back up if anyone else said that, but it's true.
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 19, 2024 9:40:47 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2016 22:57:52 GMT
For me it is always an issue between pronouncing things as the people do who are from that place or using the Americanized version. Like Germany - Deutschland is what German people say. How did we get 'Germany'? Vienna is spelled Wien and pronounced Vienne in Austria because W's are pronounced like 'V's and V's like W's. Poland is like that too like if a person's name has a W it is pronounced like a V. In Hungarian CS is our CH sound, SZ is a S sound, ZS is SH sound. In Philadelphia the Schuylkill Expressway is pronounced skoo kul. Norfolk is Nawfuk or Norfuk. No folk to it at all. I will say that Henry Louis Gates Jr does mispronounce many things - some people are not very good at pronouncing names and he is one of them. I catch him all the time on that show. I wonder about this all the time! I mean I get it for words that we have our own version of (we say book, in Spanish it's libro) or first names (John/Juan), but the name of the country is Deutschland (or Espana, for that matter). Why did we basically make up our own word? It's not the same for us - united & states are both words in their own right. But I don't get why we aren't calling countries by the names that the people who live there call them.As for the OP, for the longest time, I thought 'disciple' was pronounced 'dis-i-qual'. Don't ask me why. For years, I sat in church and that's how it sounded to me. Not a word that I use often, so I didn't get corrected until I was in college! We call them by the English translation. No different to the Spanish calling the United States ...Estados Unidos or Inglaterra for England.
|
|
|
Post by Zee on Feb 3, 2016 22:59:48 GMT
If that was the case, Deutschland would make more sense in English than Germany. It's a Land, after all, like England, Ireland, Scotland, Finland...
I've wondered about that too. Not about Spain in particular, mainly Germany. How did it get to be Germany? Does that spring from an old French-based Norman name that was carried to England? I think I smell an intense Google session coming on!
|
|
Deleted
Posts: 0
May 19, 2024 9:40:47 GMT
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2016 23:03:05 GMT
My dad liked to call a gazebo a "gaze-bo", but that was just to make me laugh.
|
|