'Torino' vs. 'Turin': Anglicized name of Olympic city wins argument here

The Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 02/09/2006 | Ellen Fagg

[ArrogantBustard]

Ever heard of "Russia, Ohio"? Care to guess how the locals promounce it?

[SoothingDave]

I know how they pronounce Lima, Ohio. Russia, I don't know.

SD

[ArrogantBustard]

Roo-shee

Lima, OH is, as you say, not the same as Lima Peru.

I know a young lady who used to work at a French restaurant in Versailles, OH. Apparently, they would answer the phone "Hello, this is The Inn at Vair-SIGH, in Vur-SAYLES ..."

[Celtic Conservative]

Well, here in Dee-troit, that's what we call the po-leece.

Quick Dee-troit test:

Pronounce the next three street names correctly:
Gratiot
schoenherr
Dequindre

Mispronounce any of these incorrectly, and people know instantly that you are not from Dee-troit

[Celtic Conservative]

West of the Rockies....You're on the air..........

Uh, yeah, hi art...

[dangus]

And (if you are referring to New England), let's not forget the Thames River, Burr-lin, Mos-koo, Madge-rid...

What's funny is when placed named after people change depending on where you are. For instance, there's KAHR-niggie Hall in New York, and care-NEG-gie Mellon Univesity in Pittsburg.

Or "Quinzee," MA... House-tin Street, New York... and my favorite, Barthelona, Spain, believe it or not.

[dangus]

>> Lima, OH is, as you say, not the same as Lima Peru. <<

BEANS!

[OkieDokie1000]

I've noticed some people will switch into a Spanish accent to say "NEE-hah-RAGHHHH-waw", instead of just saying "Nicka ra gwa". Why do they do that? Are they putting on airs?

I don't expect a French speaker to switch into an American accent to say "United States" instead of "Etats Unis".

[colorado tanker]

One linguistic puzzle might be how the name of the ancient city, founded by the Roman Emperor Augustus about 2,000 years ago to protect the state's northern borders, was translated into English with the "uhr" sound of Turin from the "o" sound of Torino. One guess, according to Steven Sternfeld, a U. linguistics professor: "Many of the names we have for Italian cities we adopted not from the Italians but from the French."

Close. My understanding is Turin is similar to the name in Piedmontese, which is heavily influenced by French.

[SoothingDave]

And (if you are referring to New England), let's not forget the Thames River, Burr-lin, Mos-koo, Madge-rid... What's funny is when placed named after people change depending on where you are. For instance, there's KAHR-niggie Hall in New York, and care-NEG-gie Mellon Univesity in Pittsburg.

I am actually from Pittsburgh and know very well how New Yorkers don't know the right way to pronounce Carnegie.

SD

[wardaddy]

I always said Allemagne,,what's arong with you guys.


and Angle-Land....

and Xochiquetzal ...I always nail that one!

and Alba


and....Kernow


I could go on and on...

[dangus]

I sure hope the first word doesn't get pronounced, "nice beaver."

Oh, and for the record, I can go so far with regional pronounciations. For instance, if someone's from the West Coast Portland, fine, I'll say Oh-riggin, instead of orrigahn.

But anyone from St. Louis (and please, say it English, -- Saynt Lewis -- or be pretentious and say it French -- Sahnl Wee -- but please, Saynt Looey just sounds stoopid!), if they tell me I've gotta pronounce it "Mizzuhrah," so help me, I'm gonna beat them over the head with the stump of their own arm until they assent to "Nuh Yawk" and "Nuh Joyzee." There's a difference between an accent and a pronunication, and I'm not gonna mimic anyone's accent.

Oh, and it ain't "Kunnecktickutt." It's "Kinnettickitt." Just like "Kinetic" energy. That's not just a blue-blood pronunciation like saying "Wistah" for "Worcestor"; Connecticut is named for the Connetquot. And "Worcestor," without the blue-blood accent is still pronounced like "Worse" plus "stir." Break it apart and it really does make sence.

[mc5cents]

And speaking of Florida, I was born and raised in Miami and I still remember the controversy over wheather it should be prounced Miamee or Miama. Miama was the old native pronounciation. I grew up calling it Miama. Sadly, Miamee won the battle. The old timers still call it Miama though.

[SoothingDave]

Oh, and it ain't "Kunnecktickutt." It's "Kinnettickitt."

That ain't how you pronounce Kentucky.

SD

[dangus]

>> I am actually from Pittsburgh and know very well how New Yorkers don't know the right way to pronounce Carnegie. <<

Actually, I tried seeing if I could find any definitive answer to how the Scots would have pronounded it. I couldn't. But I'll tell you this, not counting "Mc/Mac" as a syllable, the only clan name I could find with an accent on the middle syllable was "Buchanan."

[dangus]

>> That ain't how you pronounce Kentucky. <<

No, apparently it's pronounced, "Luvell." :^D

[muir_redwoods]

Here's a pet peeve of mine. I'm an amateur astronomer and that planet just before Neptune is pronounced "Urine-Us" with the accent on the first syllable. It is not pronounce "Your-anus" no matter how many times schoolboys like to pronounce it that way.

[Denver Ditdat]

Quick Dee-troit test:

Pronounce the next three street names correctly:
Gratiot
schoenherr
Dequindre

I grew up in Port Huron, so I'll take a shot at those:

Gratiot - GRASH-it
Schoenherr - SHAYN-ur
Dequindre - duh-KWIN-der

How'd I do?

BTW, though I didn't realize it while living there, when I visit Port Huron today it's very easy to hear the locals pronounce their city "Port Urine" ;-)

[Denver Ditdat]

It is not pronounce "Your-anus" no matter how many times schoolboys like to pronounce it that way.

Ah, jeez, then that ruins the punchline of this joke:

Q - Why don't observatories like to hire gay astronomers?
A - Because all they want to look at is Uranus.