Pronunciation Puzzle

"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Wiktionary says Nevada comes from Spanish, "snow-covered," so I guess you're right. But there are places a-plenty that we Amurrikins don't pronounce correctly. For example, Ausable Chasm in New York. People pronounce it "ossa-bull" but it comes from the French Au Sable, which means sandy and is pronounced Oh-Sobbla (sort of).

BTW, If you're ever in the area of Pascagoula, MS, and ask for directions to "pass-CAG-yu-la" you stand a good chance of getting beat up. ;-)

(It's pass-kuh-GOO-la.)

Cheers! Rich

My mother said one of the funniest things she ever heard was a northeastern news broadcaster trying to pronounce Nacogdoches.

Skew it: "never-Da". Worse one: Uranus - either pronunciation sounds so..

...how about "our sable"?

=A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

Well, CNN headquarters is based in Atlanta, part of the deep south. So, their political reports would be my guess.

Or see George Bush Sr. (generally, "Saddam") Or see George Bush Jr. (generally, "nuclear", among many others!)

Can any of you pronounce "Canyon de Chelly", a prominent location in Arizona? ...Jim Thompson

Imagine changing the name of a whole freakin' planet because of the fear that a few pubescent boys will giggle.

And, as you note, "Urine-Us" isn't that much better.

Cheers! Rich

in

you're

correctly.

which

I think Chelly is pronounced Shay.

--------------------------------------- Posted through

Yabbut, at least that one's fun to misprouounce! ;-)

Cheers! Rich

You mean the Navajo pronunciation, the Spanish 'translation', or good ole American?

The problem with pronunciations is "The King's English" itself is a mongrel language that's compounded 10 fold in American English by influences from a multitude of Native American tribes and "melting pot" immigration distorting both sound and spelling.

Take a Navajo word translated by the Spanish who, for some unknown reason, decided to spell it 'frenchy', and you're bound to have some confusion since not a single one of those origins conforms to English which, as mentioned, is already riddled with 'exceptions to the rules'.

You should hear the touristas mangle 'Kissimmee'.

How 'bout "Coeur d'Alene"

Thanks pure French, so no problem.

Canyon de Chelly == "Canyon duh Shay" ...Jim Thompson

That is what i said..

I've heard "Curdylene".

I've heard "Boise" pronounced the French way :-)

Well, it is Idaho ;-)

Hauppauge, and Poughkeepsie cause problems for some.

Wow. Lord only knows how you came up with that fantasy.