Perceived Pronunciation

[Bluenose]

Some Assie example towns:

Canowindra    pronounced  Kann-oun-dra    first syllablle short, second rhymes with noun & short run into first syllable, last syllable as in Sandra.    emphasis on second syllable

Wollongong    pronounced  woollen-gong     emphasis on first syllable

Merimbula    pronounced    Meh-rimb-you-lah   emphasis on the second syllable  third syllable very short and a glide


We also have our name of dubious or unexpected origin for example the annual festival in Melbourne is called "Moomba".  Allegedly the originators of this extravaganza asked the local aboriginals for a word that meant "let's get together and have fun".  This was back in the fifties.  Apparently these worthies did not appreciate the aboriginal sense of humour, which in my experience is well developed, and the word supplied meant let's get together and have an altogether different and more biological form of fun than the festival planner ever intended.  BTW, since this has come out in the last few years, the name has been kept - what ever that means.


And just for the fun of it some place names that may entertain you:

Nar Nar Goon

Koo Wee Rup

Woolloomoolloo

Nunawading

[Opsa]

Fun. I would have a blast there, just reading the highway signs.

Come to think of it, I have a blast reading highway signs, anywhere. I am one strange duck.

This is making me think of what a friend said to me recently. She is a great actress and a real theater and film buff and I made a reference to "A Thousand Clowns"- which is a classic movie. She had never heard of it, which mystified her, as she is around 50 years old. But she remarked (and this is the interesting part) that we should always beware of considering ourselves to be experts on any topic because there are always gaps in our knowledge, and sometimes they are weirdly consistant gaps, almost as if every time anyone ever mentioned "A Thousand Clowns" she had been out of the room, or had been thinking of something else and didn't hear it, or had somehow missed it every time it ever played on TV.

I know I've been surprised many times at things I didn't know. And pronounciation is particularly hard, because I can read a word for the longest time and not know it when I hear it, because I've imagined it said completely differently, over and over again.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

As for words that are spelled different than they are pronounced, I took to reading very well, and rapidly exceeded my age-related reading material, and moved on to higher age stuff.  Very quickly.  I outstripped my spoken experience, and thus encountered words that I'd read, but never heard...

...and thus for years, thought there were two distinct deserts:

The "Mo-ha-bee" desert

And the "Moh-jaave" desert

Not until well into adulthood did I come to realize these were one and the same:  the Mojave, just a (to me) weird pronouncation effect.

So, too, I was convinced that there were two distinct rivers in London:  the Thames (pronounced by me as "th" as in "the" and "ames" rhymes with James) and the Tims.   Again, when I finally tried to pronounce the "Thames" (long-A) out loud, and incorrectly, I was corrected of this misinformation.

*sigh*

I remember having an argument with one of my chums about the US auto maker's name:  Chevrolet.  I insisted it *ought* to be called "chev-rho-let"  (short "e", as in "Chet" pronounce the "T" at the end).  Then someone pointed out that it was a silly French name of an actual person, and was pronounced "Chev-rho-lay" (long -A, no "T" at the end, but "ay" instead).  My opinion of the French language took a severe dive (I was roughly 8 or 9 at the time) and has not significantly recovered since... 

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Bob, the Mojave is south of me by about 125 miles and I've heard locals around HERE say it Mo-jāv-eh in utter seriousness. They can say Ba-hā (Baja), no problem, but Mo-hāv-he escapes them.
Weird, since most everything in the state has a Spanish name; our county, most of the little towns around here, the Sierra Nevadas, San Francisco, LA, etc. There's exceptions like Bakersfield, but not too many (everyone else in the state tries to avoid Bakersfield completely) and certainly not enough to excuse that.

[Pachyderm]

There are some irregular English surnames that always delight me.

"It's spelled 'Raymond Luxury-Yacht, but it's pronounced 'Throatwobbler Mangrove'!"

You are a very silly man, and I am not going to interview you anymore.

[Sibling Chatty]

Texas has more than enough weird pronunciations, THEN we have to deal with the bastardized Spanish.

Bastrop---BASS trop? No, Bass DROP.

Elgin---EL gin (as in the alcohol, with a j sound)?? No, El GIN with a G sound.

Manchaca--MAN shack, not the proper(ish) man SHA ka. (Spanish/Native American word)

Refugio--In Spanish, re FHYOO ee oh. In South Texas re FYURY oh

And my favorite Native American one Tehuacana (Tee WALK an ee, according to the language manglers) which is near Mexia (which, for some reason is mu HAY uh, the proper Spanish pronunciation).

[Sibling Lambicus the Toluous]

Elgin---EL gin (as in the alcohol, with a j sound)?? No, El GIN with a G sound.

There's a road north of Toronto called Elgin Mills... most people pronounce that with a G sound, too.

[anthrobabe]

Sometimes things just get out of hand
like "moomba" in Australia

Naturally the Amish settlers/town namers are simply the best
with out intention and shame on we dirty minded bastards anyway

Blue Ball, PA
Intercourse, PA
both via
Paradise, PA

[Aggie]

Don't forget Dildo, Newfoundland.

[Bruder Cuzzen]

I live a street named Glebemount , I have to spell it out for everyone except those people that have lived on Glebemount or Glebeholme Avenues .

I have noticed that the majority of native Torontians pronounce Tor-on-to incorrectly.
The first nations' word that  translates in (to ?) English as " the place of two rivers " (something like that anyway ) is usually uttered as Ta-ron-no or Ta-ran-na .

Also , I usually hear our capital city of Ottawa (awt -taw- wah ) as aw-duh-wah .

The worst offenders are TV news people , I can't remember the last time I heard it correctly pronounced , but I'll wager it was from a tourist !

[beagle]

The worst offenders are TV news people , I can't remember the last time I heard it correctly pronounced , but I'll wager it was from a tourist !

I once had to tell the U.S. company I was working for that they'd got the spelling of the word "Massachusetts" wrong on the Help/About page of their flagship product. They weren't as grateful as I felt was appropriate .

[Griffin NoName]

By the way, you all do know I am Griffin pronounced Most-Wonderful ?

[beagle]

...the "Most modest" syllables being silent.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

By the way, you all do know I am Griffin pronounced Most-Wonderful ?

Hiya, you!

Good to see you posting again.

Some people were starting to get worried...     

[beagle]

Those who'd bought into her investment scheme, mainly.