Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

[ QUOTE ]
They also insist on pronouncing the "s" in Louisville.

[/ QUOTE ]

I correct people who say Louisville wrong.

Its not "Lou-wee-ville" it is Lou-a-vull"

Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
You get to pick how to pronounce your name. You don't have to make sense at all. It's your name.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just don't get all annoyed when everyone pronounces it the "wrong" way.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless you tell them how to ponounce it and they keep doing it wrong.
me: Otis
them: Otease
me: Otis
them: Otease, hahahaha! Otease!

Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

Hey, I live in Rhode Island, where some things just don't make sense. Like why is East Greenwich pronounced (GREEN-witch) but West Greenwich is pronounced (GREN-nich).

Also I used to live in Mass, and have no idea why it's FramingHAM, WareHAM, WalthAM, and WilbraHAM, but Hingham is prounounced HINGum.

And I grew up in New Jersey where Newark is basically pronounced "Nurk" but in Delaware it's pronounced like it's a two word description of what Noah replaced the old ark with?

And while we're at it, to all Spanish speakers, why are all the other "New" states, "Nueva" in Spanish, but New Hampshire isn't?

Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

Is there any state name that gets mispronounced as much as Oregon? It's or-a-gin not or-a-gon, even though the dictionary for some reason lists both. I guess I'm just a local nit. The only other state I can think of that might be close is Illinois.

Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

Or a State Capital name that get's mispronounced as often as Pierre, SD

Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

Things involving peoples' names are amongst my biggest pet peeves:

1) When a person has a foreign-sounding or otherwise odd name and someone who is reading the name out loud makes a big production of how he/she "has no idea how to pronounce this <hahahaha>" -- basically treating the person who has the different name like he/she's a freak. It's much more polite to make an honest effort at pronouncing the name, and then asking "Is that how it's pronounced?" without acting like their name is the weirdest thing you've ever seen.

2) People who have a weird name and then get upset when someone mispronounces it. It's fine to correct them, but don't act like they're ignorant for not knowing how to pronounce a name they've never sene before -- unless they act like the people described in #1 above while doing so.

3) Parents who give their kids weird names, so that their kids will have to spend the rest of their lives dealing with #1 and #2.

Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Things involving peoples' names are amongst my biggest pet peeves:

1) When a person has a foreign-sounding or otherwise odd name and someone who is reading the name out loud makes a big production of how he/she "has no idea how to pronounce this <hahahaha>" -- basically treating the person who has the different name like he/she's a freak. It's much more polite to make an honest effort at pronouncing the name, and then asking "Is that how it's pronounced?" without acting like their name is the weirdest thing you've ever seen.

2) People who have a weird name and then get upset when someone mispronounces it. It's fine to correct them, but don't act like they're ignorant for not knowing how to pronounce a name they've never sene before -- unless they act like the people described in #1 above while doing so.

3) Parents who give their kids weird names, so that their kids will have to spend the rest of their lives dealing with #1 and #2.

[/ QUOTE ]
I was with you until #3. Any name a parent gives their kid probably isn't so weird to them.

Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Or a State Capital name that get's mispronounced as often as Pierre, SD

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, I don't know this one. I'm guessing it must be pear, since the French man's name would be instinctive? What about Montpelier, VT? Is that pronounced frenchy or non?

Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Or a State Capital name that get's mispronounced as often as Pierre, SD

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, I don't know this one. I'm guessing it must be pear, since the French man's name would be instinctive? What about Montpelier, VT? Is that pronounced frenchy or non?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm pretty sure Pierre should be pronounced the french way - "Pee-yair".

I've always heard Montpelier pronounced in the anglicized fashion "Maunt Pee-lee-er". However, I'm sure at its founding, it was pronounced "Mohn Pell-ee-ay"

Re: how much say do you have in pronouncing your name or town?
 

I have a weird name, and so have thought about it a little...

My name begins with a "Hey" ...which looks like hay (which is for horses) But it comes from the German "Hei" so it's pronounced Hi (how ya doin?)...SO really, I say it wrong. It has a Y so it should be pronounced more normally. Really it's actually spelled wrong, but again that's my Dutch-Jewish ancestor's fault for trying to be different...

I hear Hay a lot. My policy:

1. Phone solicitors, tellers, clerks, my boss: I don't correct. Let em be "wrong"...it don't matter

2. Teachers, co-workers, bartenders, other acquaintances: ONE correction. If they persist, let it go. Not their problem.

3. Friends, chicks, hookers: correct once…more if necessary, get slightly annoyed if chronic…

In conclusion, names, like all words, have only suggested pronunciations. The standard is determined by the culture at large, NOT by the individuals or groups closest to the words. This can change, and be odd.
Sorry: JAPAN, FARVRUH, PARIS (TX), KANT, NUKELEER, DAYCARTE, oDISSe-us, PRINCE…

Good Work: Beijing, Missourah, Dem-EE, Conan O’Brien, Vagner, Socrates…

And if Steely Dan says: OragON, then so do I! [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]


Personal Greetings in this Holiday Time

--GA