really tough model name pronunciations --how bad does it get?

One of my best friends is (last) named Robert. Pronounced ro-bear', as he is of genuine French Arcadian good blood. So, don't you go and get some particular on me. He went and done named his dog Phideax. I toll him dat Justin Wilson was a good cook to watch on TV. He asked me what his wife would think of the program. I assured him that Justin added onions to everything, never cursed outside of Cajun, and it was all cool. We eat gator-tail every 1st Wednesday. Taste's better than chicken. Better than snake, too.

M I crooked letter crooked letter I crooked letter crooked letter I humpback humpback I. Name that state!    

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Fresh gator! They gotz it down atz de LeFluers on Frida-y nights! 

Aiyeeeeeeeee!

David

hehehe

I used to live on Ponte Des Mouton Road in Lafayette LA.

You should have seen the variations of mangling they would give that road on my mail and my driver's license with no room to fit it in there!

David

Reminds me of a story....

An older couple from the North of the US of A was trveling in the South of the US of A, through the great state of Georgia. They passed through Cairo, GA. The wife said "Oh, like the city in Egypt!" The husband said "No, they say Kay-roh down here." The went on to Albany, GA. The wife said "Oh, like in New York!" The husband said "No, they say All-benny down here." Next they passed through Berlin, GA. "Oh, like the city in Germany" the wife said. "No", replied the husband, they say BER-lin down here." 

By now, the wife was thoroughly confused.

They stopped at a burger place for lunch. The wife leaned across the counter to the fellow behing the register. "How do you pronounce this place?" she asked.

The guy looked confused, then slowly said "We call it 'BUR-GER KING' ma'am." 

While transporting processed poultry around this great land we call America.  I had the opportunity to pick up a load of said birds in Natchitoches, LA. 

Now I may not be a high school graduate but, I would pronounce this particular town, Natcha-toe-ches.  When I stopped to get a cup of coffee I asked the clerk in the convenience store how much further it was to Natcha-toe-ches.  He informed me that there was no such town in Louisiana that there was a town in Texas by that name.  Now I am a little concerned as to the fact that I am further away than I thought and I am not going to get much sleep before my loading appointment.

I went back out to the truck and got the load information that had been faxed to me and took it in and showed him that it was definiyely in Louisiana.  He looked at my load sheet and replied, "Awww, NAKATUSH!!!"  To which I replied, "Huh?!?  How in God's name do you get NAKATUSH out of Natchitoches?!?!?!?"  He just laughed and informed me that I was only about 30 minutes away.

It's not just Louisiana.  I have another example but, I' typed entirely too long already.

Yeah Im from California so I have a born and bred LA wife that interprets for me. The other name that comes to mind is Tchoupitoulas, Mississippi. 

And to think, I do not work with one single native Lousianian that can pronounce Villaraigosa !

Glad its Friday!

David

I was born and raised in Tulare (too-larry, NOT too-lair as many are proned to say) so I know what you mean about having to learn pronunciations.  We have a few in Oklahoma that can be tricky.

You might try Worcester, Massachusetts.  How do the get Wooster out of that?

Yeah, I'm from Avenal (Not Avi-NAHL) so Im very familiar with To-Lahr!

 ....or Gloster from Glocester... 

David

'Round these parts, people pronounce the town of Dante as "Daint", St. Clair is said as "Sinkler" and we don't care how you said it back home.  Weird thing is, I don't hear these regional pronunciations anymore, but when I go someplace else everybody talks funny.

Living in western Conneticut many of the towns are called by there original Indian names and it makes for some dificult pronuciating. Saugatuck Norwalk Winapauck it must drive tourist crazy. If they are not called Indian names then they are named after English towns New Fairfield New London New York. Not very original.

                                                                    Soulcrusher

Hey Randi,

I went to school in Nacogdoches Tx. We all just refered to it as Nac, even after a few cervase's we still could not say it.

Natchitoches & Nacogdoches were brothers named by their indian chief father.

Thad 

KINGTHAD wrote:

Hey Randi, I went to school in Nacogdoches Tx. We all just refered to it as Nac, even after a few cervase's we still could not say it. Natchitoches & Nacogdoches were brothers named by their indian chief father. Thad

Thanks for the information, Thad. I did not know that.

Another great thing about this site. You learn more than just modeling. 

After almost twenty years, some of the old hands in our club still get a laugh outta one of our previous president's dismal attempt to pronounce the word 'Sioux' during an awards banquet... I still hear it in my nightmares... soo-axe... sooooooo-axe...

Fade to Black... 

Here in Arizona, there is a town about 100 miles north of Phoenix called Prescott. It's not pronounced "Pres-scott," it's "PRES-kit." (You almost don't say the O at all.) My friend Steve in California very briefly was considering buying a house as an investment there and once wanted me to pick up some real estate brochures about Prescott. I told him in a letter that I mailed along with the stuff that if he talks to a real estate agent there, "make sure you pronounce it PRES-kit, otherwise the agent will figure, 'Gee, this dummy from out of state who can't pronounce it right ought to be worth an extra 20,000 bucks!'"

Another pronunciation stumbling block for non-Arizonans is the big cactus plants in the desert called "saguaro." (These are the kinds of cactus that you see on Road Runner cartoons.) The correct pronunciation is "suh-WAR-row," pronouncing the G like a W. Of course, many visitors to Arizona call them "sagwaros" or even "cigaros." When I run into these people visiting the nursery I work at, I gently tell them that it's pronounced "suh-WAR-row" and jokingly tell them to make sure they use the correct pronunciation, otherwise they might as well have a flashing sign on their forehead blinking, "TOURIST! TOURIST! TOURIST!"   

"I went to school in Nacogdoches Tx. We all just refered to it as Nac, even after a few cervase's we still could not say it."

 My daughter is a SFA graduate and she and her buddies pronounced it NAC-Uh-No-Where!

For the unenlightened:  SFA is Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches.  They have a fine forestry department--my daughter majored in lumberjacks!

I have an aunt who lives in Lompoc California. She would use to get mad at us kids if we called it Lom-pock and not so gently tell us it was called Lom-poke. Everytime I watch the movie XXX  I cringe when he calls it Lom-pock. I can still hear her screaming.

Speaking of triplex, how about them Sukhois towards the end? I think thats the first time a Su-22M has appeared in a Western film isn't it?

J-Hulk wrote:

You guys think all those local place names are tough? Try this one: 西都原 It's a little historical area near my wife's hometown of 宮崎市. OK, who's got it? Anybody? Either of 'em?

Hey, isn't it 崎 before 市 except after 宮?

Saito (Say-toe) Field and Miyazaki (meye-oh-za-key) City?

Bgrigg wrote:

J-Hulk wrote: You guys think all those local place names are tough? Try this one: 西都原 It's a little historical area near my wife's hometown of 宮崎市. OK, who's got it? Anybody? Either of 'em?   Hey, isn't it 崎 before 市 except after 宮? Saito (Say-toe) Field and Miyazaki (meye-oh-za-key) City?

I was Louisiana Born n' raised till I moved to California when I was 24. My wife (from Ca.) gets flustered every time we go back home and I challenge her to pronounce the names of places, rivers, etc. There are alot of French and Native American names where I used to live. My family will be talking to her and she sits there with that blank stare and says "I'm very sorry but I didn't understand a word you said". She was afraid my folks would be upset but they would jus laugh and laugh. My mama said we was gonna hafta teach her how to speak coonass.

SST

J-Hulk wrote:

Bgrigg wrote:  J-Hulk wrote: You guys think all those local place names are tough? Try this one: 西都原 It's a little historical area near my wife's hometown of 宮崎市. OK, who's got it? Anybody? Either of 'em?   Hey, isn't it 崎 before 市 except after 宮? Saito (Say-toe) Field and Miyazaki (meye-oh-za-key) City? Congrats! You got Miyazaki (Mee-yah-zah-kee) City (beautiful place, by the way!), but not quite there on the other one! Saito (Sah-ee-toh) is right, but the last kanji is a tricky local reading...

can it be saitobaru?  i only know saitoshi so i might as well confess that i cheated...

shapooky wrote:

you want mangling ? how about when people pronounce the great state of idaho as IOWA ?

Or ask us Iowans if we grow taters? 

archangel571 wrote:

J-Hulk wrote:  Bgrigg wrote:  J-Hulk wrote: You guys think all those local place names are tough? Try this one: 西都原 It's a little historical area near my wife's hometown of 宮崎市. OK, who's got it? Anybody? Either of 'em?   Hey, isn't it 崎 before 市 except after 宮? Saito (Say-toe) Field and Miyazaki (meye-oh-za-key) City? Congrats! You got Miyazaki (Mee-yah-zah-kee) City (beautiful place, by the way!), but not quite there on the other one! Saito (Sah-ee-toh) is right, but the last kanji is a tricky local reading... can it be saitobaru?  i only know saitoshi so i might as well confess that i cheated...

My name I respond to it in about 6 different ways, as long as its close!

Waikong 

A few years ago my wife (who is from the N-E of England) and I were visiting friends in Southampton.  They were showing us the local sights, and we drove near one of the bigger local tourist spots, a place called Beaulieu Castle.  I grew up in Montreal, and was educated in English and French, so I thought it was really neat to see a French name in the heart of southern England.  I said something like, "hey look, Beaulieu Castle", pronouncing the way it is supposed to be pronounced, the French way, Bo-lee-uh.  By the reaction I got, you'd think I had pulled down my pants and dropped anchor in the teapot!  I was told in no uncertain terms that it was not Bo-lee-uh or whatever fool thing I said, it was Bew-lee Castle.  I've travelled a fair bit through England, and I've always found it odd that the people who invented the language certainly have some funny ideas on using it.