Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 10:38 am
Octopus Overlords
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Places that are pronounced differently than you think
https://www.octopusoverlords.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=98207
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Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 11:34 am
Regina.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 11:36 am
There is a small town in MI named Pompeii. They pronounce it "pom-pee-eye".
Also had a Berlin until WW2. Now they pronounce it "Marne".
Also had a Berlin until WW2. Now they pronounce it "Marne".
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 1:12 pm
Been trying to come up with an example. In Ontario, we have a town named Etobicoke. The k is silent. That's a weird one as I tend to feel Ks are more definite, especially in the middle of a name, so I don't know where the rule of the K being silent in that name came from.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 1:14 pm
The name "Etobicoke" derives from the Mississauga word wah-do-be-kang (wadoopikaang), meaning "place where the alders grow". This was how they described the area between Etobicoke Creek and the Humber River. The first provincial land surveyor, Augustus Jones, also spelled it as "ato-be-coake."
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 2:19 pm
I had no idea that Pierre was not pronounced like a French word.
We have a small town near here called Delhi which is pronounced as "dell-hi".
We have a small town near here called Delhi which is pronounced as "dell-hi".
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 3:02 pm
That makes a bit more sense, but it still doesn't explain why the K came to be silent.Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 1:14 pmThe name "Etobicoke" derives from the Mississauga word wah-do-be-kang (wadoopikaang), meaning "place where the alders grow". This was how they described the area between Etobicoke Creek and the Humber River. The first provincial land surveyor, Augustus Jones, also spelled it as "ato-be-coake."
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 6:47 pm
The first time I visited Shannon and Neal in Longmont, CO I was informed that Hover St was to be pronounced as HO-ver and not HUV-er as one would expect.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 8:33 pm
One thing we forget is that place names in (to us) foreign languages just mean what they mean in that language.
Ancient Greeks didn't go to "Athens;" they went to "The City of Thought." Our troops are deployed to "Afghanistan," but the native Afghanis understand that they live in "Our Place."
Ancient Greeks didn't go to "Athens;" they went to "The City of Thought." Our troops are deployed to "Afghanistan," but the native Afghanis understand that they live in "Our Place."
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 9:58 pm
And by extension, our planet is "Dirt."Holman wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 8:33 pm One thing we forget is that place names in (to us) foreign languages just mean what they mean in that language.
Ancient Greeks didn't go to "Athens;" they went to "The City of Thought." Our troops are deployed to "Afghanistan," but the native Afghanis understand that they live in "Our Place."
When we bought our house on Azel Road, the realtor and all the various people involved in the closing pronounced it "ah-ZEL." After we moved in neighbors quickly let us know that it's AY-zul.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 10:36 pm
I wonder how true this is. I grew up in a town named Clearfield yet I didn't think about specifically a clear field even if that was literally the name. When I lived in Pittsburgh I certainly never thought about the idea of going to or being from "the town named for William Pitt." I'm sure that at one point the settlers did specifically think about the literal meaning but it was lost after a generation or so as the thing itself became hidden, destroyed, or simply less important. I suspect that the ancient Greeks had the same mental distinction between the proper name and the literal meaning.Holman wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 8:33 pm One thing we forget is that place names in (to us) foreign languages just mean what they mean in that language.
Ancient Greeks didn't go to "Athens;" they went to "The City of Thought." Our troops are deployed to "Afghanistan," but the native Afghanis understand that they live in "Our Place."
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Mon May 03, 2021 10:56 pm
Some definitely are more obvious than others though. For example, a town within our region is called Copper Cliff, and it's where a lot of copper and nickel mining occurs.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 12:17 am
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 9:41 am
True. Proper names do drift away from their etymology, but the the root is always there. I live in Pennsylvania and am linguistically reminded to remember William Penn the guy, like, a lot.Madmarcus wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 10:36 pmI wonder how true this is. I grew up in a town named Clearfield yet I didn't think about specifically a clear field even if that was literally the name. When I lived in Pittsburgh I certainly never thought about the idea of going to or being from "the town named for William Pitt." I'm sure that at one point the settlers did specifically think about the literal meaning but it was lost after a generation or so as the thing itself became hidden, destroyed, or simply less important. I suspect that the ancient Greeks had the same mental distinction between the proper name and the literal meaning.Holman wrote: ↑Mon May 03, 2021 8:33 pm One thing we forget is that place names in (to us) foreign languages just mean what they mean in that language.
Ancient Greeks didn't go to "Athens;" they went to "The City of Thought." Our troops are deployed to "Afghanistan," but the native Afghanis understand that they live in "Our Place."
And of course this kind of reminder/memorial is the whole point of naming cities in your own language. Pittsburgh residents probably don't think of William Pitt all the time, but I'll bet they do it thousands of times more often than the average American.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 12:02 pm
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 12:05 pm
The origin of the name is obscure. Braintree was also called 'Brantry' and 'Branchetreu' in the Domesday Book. Another variation can be seen in various Medieval Latin legal records, where it appears as "Branktre".[6] In many early American Colonial documents, it is referred to as Branktry.
One theory is that Braintree was originally Branoc's tree, Branoc apparently being an ancient name. Another theory is that the name is derived from that of Rayne, which was actually the more important settlement in Norman times. A third theory is that the name means "settlement by the river Bran or Braint". The name "Braint" is well attested as a river name in Britain; there is a river of that name in Anglesey, and it may be conjectured that it was the name of the Blackwater in pre-Saxon times, although the Celtic name "Bran" is also used widely for rivers (derived from the British word for a crow and thought to refer to the dark or crow-black appearance of such a river, making it a good fit for a river now called "Blackwater"). The suffix to either Braint or Bran is the Common Brittonic word tre widely found in Wales and Cornwall, but also noted in other town names such as Daventry, with the meaning, initially, of a farm or settlement and later a town.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 1:05 pm
Ever heard of the the Boston Celtics? Why do some people pronounce the word Kell-tic instead of Sell-tic?
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 2:13 pm
Half of California (actually probably much more than that) uses Spanish or Indian names. It would be interesting to know the actual meanings and origins of many of those.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 2:39 pm
[Cliff Claven] Because the Celts (nationality) didn't have the sense to use a "K" instead of a "C". So the team name doesn't actually pay homage to ancient people from France, Italy, and the British Isles, but instead a drunkard named Shelton, who after a legendary binge answered in a slurred "celt" when the cops asked his name after a brawl broke out in a Boston sandlot basketball court. The cops beat him senseless, but since he wasn't black, he won quite the handsome settlement after suing the city, which he used to found an NBA team. Since as we know, all Boston cops back then were Irish, he used the drunken Irishman as a symbol for his team, a last poke at the cops who made it possible. [/Cliff Claven]
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 2:39 pm
I have the reverse reaction of wondering why Boston calls them Sell-tic since I've always come to pronounce Celtic with a hard K. Before hearing people pronounce it with a soft C, I'd never heard it pronounced it that way.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 2:58 pm
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 4:39 pm
"Celt" is a Greek and then a Latin word, and IIRC neither language has a soft "c" sound. (This also means that our pronunciation of "Caesar" is very wrong.)
English loves a soft "c", though (probably because French does), so we alter pronunciation for the fun of it.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 4:43 pm
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 4:47 pm
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 5:09 pm
But not Tzar.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 6:08 pm
Lived 6 years in WOO-binKraken wrote: ↑Sun May 02, 2021 6:47 pm Mass. is full of such places. Worcester is WOOS-tah. Medford is MEHfud. Scituate is -- well, not whatever you're thinking -- SIT-yoo-ut. Quincy is KWINzee. Even Boston has different pronunciations depending on where you live (e.g., BAHS-tun, BOSS-tun, BAWS-tun).
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 6:41 pm
And in some parts of the world, it's actually spelled with a K rather than a C. I've seen it spelled both ways over the years.Holman wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 4:39 pm"Celt" is a Greek and then a Latin word, and IIRC neither language has a soft "c" sound. (This also means that our pronunciation of "Caesar" is very wrong.)
English loves a soft "c", though (probably because French does), so we alter pronunciation for the fun of it.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 9:05 pm
Keep going, you're on a roll
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 10:54 pm
Yes, a Kaiser roll.
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 10:58 pm
Ceyser Soze doesn't quite have the same ring to it. 
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 11:00 pm
Re: Places that are pronounced differently than you think
Posted: Tue May 04, 2021 11:02 pm