Hi - embarrassing question

[BroncosFan2010]

reminds me of an old joke.................

 

A man and his wife were driving their rv across florida and were nearing a town called kissimmee. They noted the strange spelling and tried to figure how to pronounce it -- kiss-a-me; kis-a-me; kis-a-me?

 

They grew more perplexed as they drove into the town. Since they were hungry, they pulled into a restaurant to get something to eat. At the counter, the man said to the waitress, "my wife and i can't seem to be able to figure out how to pronounce this place. Will you tell me where we are and say it very slowly so that i can understand?"

 

 

 

the woman looked at him and said; "buuurrrgerrr kiiiinnnng."

 

:)

 

lol

[BroncosFan2010]

I've always heard that pronounced as St Croy.

 

Now I go to the Car-i-bee-an on Royal Car-rib-be-an.

 

Can we discuss the word "pecan"? I really hate it when I hear "pee-can" as that denotes the can kept under the bed at night before indoor plumbing.

 

LOL I Know! I grew up in KS, and when I moved to Michigan everyone pronounced it Pee-Can.... I HATE IT! It should be said "Pecon"

[zekekelso]

Pronunciation changes. Thames Street in Newport, Rhode Island was named after the Thames River in England. For a brief period of time, it was pronounced the same as the English River: /temz/

 

Rhode Islanders - being a practical bunch - quickly realized this was stupid :) and have called it /thaymz/ street for the past 300 years or so.

[MrPete]

Edinburgh :eek:

[madforcruising]

How about: Worcestershiresauce

[MrPete]

Leicester Square

[EVALUATOR]

How about: Worcestershiresauce

 

You mean fermented fish guts, uniquely flavored with garlic, onions, molasses, sugar, salt, cloves, and other various items, to transform the original flavor of the fermented fish guts, into an alleged condiment.:eek:

[Badlands99]

Can we discuss the word "pecan"? I really hate it when I hear "pee-can" as that denotes the can kept under the bed at night before indoor plumbing.

 

Actually, the correct (southern) way to say it is to use 1.5 syllables, dropping the last vowel. It's PEE-kn. It's almost indistinguishable from "peeking," as in "That squirrel was peekin' in the window. He was carrying a peekn in his mouth."

 

What's far more important, however, is to make the rest of the world understand the correct way to say "dog." The only acceptable pronunciation is "dawg." The same pronunciation is used for similar words: lawg, frawg, hawg, etc. Repeat after me:

 

"That boar hawg jumped over that lawg and startled a frawg, then ran off into the morning fawg."

[sandravb79]

Whenever I buy French perfume or cosmetics (for some reason it's cheaper in the US) in the US and asking for it with the name pronounced the way it should be, the sales people always look at me as if I sprouted a thrid eye. I'm getting pretty good at pronouncing it with an English accent.

 

What's the correct way of pronouncing "cay"?

[sandravb79]

Oh, at some point, I also learned that going to a rodeo is pronounced different from going to Rodeo Drive. :)

[CPT Trips]

That's not the way a French person would say it, but I have no idea how to share that wisdom with you, so croy it shall remain!

 

Yup.

 

It's pronounced in French like "trois" (the number 3) but in English, French words ending in -oix are usually pronounced "-oy"

 

I want someone from Denmark to show up and settle this!

 

Actually, the correct (southern) way to say it is to use 1.5 syllables, dropping the last vowel. It's PEE-kn. It's almost indistinguishable from "peeking," as in "That squirrel was peekin' in the window. He was carrying a peekn in his mouth."

 

What's far more important, however, is to make the rest of the world understand the correct way to say "dog." The only acceptable pronunciation is "dawg." The same pronunciation is used for similar words: lawg, frawg, hawg, etc. Repeat after me:

 

"That boar hawg jumped over that lawg and startled a frawg, then ran off into the morning fawg."

 

How about fire, wire, or lawn . . . how many syllables?

Beaufort, NC vs. Beaufort, SC

[EVALUATOR]

I want someone from Denmark to show up and settle this!

 

 

 

How about fire, wire, or lawn . . . how many syllables?

Beaufort, NC vs. Beaufort, SC

 

Throwing stones up there in Jersey?:cool:

 

Ask someone from Northeast Delaware how to pronounce Newark.:rolleyes:

[Mark_K]

How about: Worcestershiresauce

Years ago a Big Cajun went into a Louisiana restaurant, ate a meal, and said "What's this here sauce". They were afraid to correct him and it's been pronounced that way since.

[scottie99]

There is a village outside Glasgow, Scotland called Milngavie. I would place a bet no one outside Scotland would know how it is pronounced.

[Rellyrooly]

 

What's the correct way of pronouncing "cay"?

 

Cay is supposed to be pronounced "key". Looks weird I know, but that is the proper way. Many still say "cay" however. The dictionary has it both ways:

Pronunciation: \ˈkē, ˈkā\

[Bookish Angel]

There is a village outside Glasgow, Scotland called Milngavie. I would place a bet no one outside Scotland would know how it is pronounced.

 

Mill guy?

[jmf123]

Cay is supposed to be pronounced "key". Looks weird I know, but that is the proper way. Many still say "cay" however. The dictionary has it both ways:

Pronunciation: \ˈkē, ˈkā\

 

The dictionary is correct. It depends on the location of the Cay, as stated previously by imsulin. Some Cays are pronounced 'key'...while others, such as the private island of Princess Cruise Line- is pronounced as it reads: Princess Cays, Bahamas. As in 'kays'. (I was wondering how the question that began this thread resulted in so many posts!). :)

[Rellyrooly]

It's funny because Disney's Island, Castaway Cay, is pronounced Castaway Key. That is also part of the Bahamian Islands. I think the reason it depends on geography is not so much geography itself, but what has been accepted by who owns the land and the people who in habit it. Just like with other words, after so long a pronunciation becomes adopted whether it is correct or not in it's origin.

[MrPete]

Mill guy?

 

Yup. Knew a lassie named Mhairi from there. Wanna have a go at that one?

[negc]

There is a lake in the Northeast United States.

It is South of the city of Worcester, Massachusetts.

It is Northeast of the city of Quinebaug, Connecticut.

It is Northwest of the city of Pascoag, Rhode Island.

 

Now some pronunciations of each of these cities and states are extremely varying.

 

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg

 

Of course, someone from Boston, Massachusetts will now chime in that its shortcut name is Webstuh Lake.

Sorry, Maureen already gave the answer I was going to post. Need to read all the posts before posting a response.

[kicker]

Reminds me of an old joke.................

 

A man and his wife were driving their RV across Florida and were nearing a town called Kissimmee. They noted the strange spelling and tried to figure how to pronounce it -- KISS-a-me; kis-A-me; kis-a-ME?

 

They grew more perplexed as they drove into the town. Since they were hungry, they pulled into a restaurant to get something to eat. At the counter, the man said to the waitress, "My wife and I can't seem to be able to figure out how to pronounce this place. Will you tell me where we are and say it very slowly so that I can understand?"

 

 

 

The woman looked at him and said; "Buuurrrgerrr Kiiiinnnng."

 

:)

 

John Henry, i enjoy so many of your posts, so what the heck, i'll add to the hijacking of this thread:

 

First a true story: Kissimmee was (maybe still is) a farm team of the Houston Astros, but instead of calling them Astros they changed the name; Kissimmee Astros didn't sound right.

 

Not true, but funny:

 

Girl #1: I'm really looking forward to meeting peopole at the Gran Prix!

 

Girl#2: I hate to tell you, but its not what you think, and its not pronounced that way

[scottie99]

Mill guy?

 

You MUST be Scottish!

[Bookish Angel]

You MUST be Scottish!

 

Also, I work for public radio and I run across unusual words and pronunciations all the time, so I have built up a pretty good basic pronouncer for a lot of languages, though I can only speak American English and conversational Spanish.

[Mark_K]

The dictionary is correct. It depends on the location of the Cay, as stated previously by imsulin. Some Cays are pronounced 'key'...while others, such as the private island of Princess Cruise Line- is pronounced as it reads: Princess Cays, Bahamas. As in 'kays'. (I was wondering how the question that began this thread resulted in so many posts!). :)

The traditional way to pronounce cay is like key, however, if enough people mispronounce a word long enough it will eventually end up in the dictionary.

 

The correct way to pronounce any proper name is the way the namer wants it pronounced, regardless of whether the word would be pronounced that way it it weren't in a name.

[stxman]

How do you pronounce St Croix?:o

As many have said it is "croy" but someone mentioned that they had always said cruise. that is understandable because it was originally named by Christopher columbus in 1493. he named the island Santa Cruz. pronouncesd "saunta cruise". it slowly evolved over the years to be known now as St. Croix. "Saint Croy"

 

By the way, not an embarassing question at all....just most people dont ask. we would rather have you ask and tell you before you get here, than laugh and correct you when you are here!