Author Topic: Pronunciation Poll  (Read 29664 times)

Offline MaineWriter

  • Bettermost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,042
  • Stay the course...
    • Bristlecone Pine Press
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #40 on: April 24, 2008, 07:59:40 am »
Funny you mention "Sean."  That reminds me that a few years ago there was a meterologist on MSNBC named Sean McLaughlin and I kept thinking his colleagues were mispronouncing his name because they kept introducing him as "Seen" and I couldn't understand why no one was correcting them - until I heard him pronounce his own name one day and, sure enough, he said "Seen."  I just looked him up on Wikipedia and was amused to find these items listed under "Trivia" (I know it's not the most reliable of sources, but ....)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_McLaughlin

Sean's name is pronounced Seen rather than the traditional pronunciation of "shawn"

Sean has a brother named Shawn.

Sean has a brother named Shea.


I wonder if Shea's name is pronounced "SHE-ah."  LOL!

Marie

You really have to wonder what their parents were thinking!

Back in the day, when I was working in OB, I talked a woman out of naming her baby "Placenta." She had heard the word in the delivery room and thought it was pretty. Oh my. And I did have a patient whose baby was named Female (she pronounced Fe-MAH-lee). She explained, "They named her for me at the hospital. That was the name they put on the card on her crib."

ai yi yi
Taming Groomzilla<-- support equality for same-sex marriage in Maine by clicking this link!

Offline MaineWriter

  • Bettermost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,042
  • Stay the course...
    • Bristlecone Pine Press
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #41 on: April 24, 2008, 08:01:38 am »
Cool Leslie, my Tattoo artist's name is Siobhan.  I Had never heard it before until now.  She pronounces Sha-bon.

I think I read a story with a Siobahn character and read it as sigh-oh-bahn. When I finally met a real Siobhan (pronounced like you said, Sha-bon) it took me awhile to figure out what her name was and how she spelled it.

L
Taming Groomzilla<-- support equality for same-sex marriage in Maine by clicking this link!

Offline Brokeback_Dev

  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *******
  • Posts: 5,985
  • Love is a force of nature
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #42 on: April 24, 2008, 08:05:31 am »
I think I read a story with a Siobahn character and read it as sigh-oh-bahn. When I finally met a real Siobhan (pronounced like you said, Sha-bon) it took me awhile to figure out what her name was and how she spelled it.

L

Yes i can see how reading it first without ever hearing it could cause problems with mispronounciation.

Offline Jeff Wrangler

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 31,165
  • "He somebody you cowboy'd with?"
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #43 on: April 24, 2008, 08:48:09 am »
I think I read a story with a Siobahn character and read it as sigh-oh-bahn. When I finally met a real Siobhan (pronounced like you said, Sha-bon) it took me awhile to figure out what her name was and how she spelled it.

L

Here's an Irish name for you: Seosaimhin. That's the given name of a woman who works part time where I work. Any takers on the pronunciation?

It's SOSH-a-min, with a long "o." They call her "Sosh" for short.

Back in the day, when I was working in OB, I talked a woman out of naming her baby "Placenta." She had heard the word in the delivery room and thought it was pretty. Oh my. And I did have a patient whose baby was named Female (she pronounced Fe-MAH-lee). She explained, "They named her for me at the hospital. That was the name they put on the card on her crib."

Now, if those stories came from anyone else, I would think you were pulling our legs.  ;D  The mother of an old friend of mine grew up in Tennessee. She used to tell a story about a neighbor back home who named her daughter Vagina because she thought it sounded pretty.  ::)

Funny you mention "Sean."  That reminds me that a few years ago there was a meterologist on MSNBC named Sean McLaughlin and I kept thinking his colleagues were mispronouncing his name because they kept introducing him as "Seen" and I couldn't understand why no one was correcting them - until I heard him pronounce his own name one day and, sure enough, he said "Seen."

He's still around. I "seen" him on the Today show within the past year.  ;D  And I thought the same thing about his name until I heard him pronounce it himself!  ;D
"It is required of every man that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellow-men, and travel far and wide."--Charles Dickens.

Offline Kerry

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,076
  • ^ In pursuit of Captain Moonlite - 5 Sept 2009
    • Google Profile
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #44 on: April 24, 2008, 10:45:30 am »
Come on Kerry tell us all how you pronounce the number 6???? ;)

....runs and ducks for cover......

Well you should run and duck for cover, young man!  ;)   ;)  Tut!  ::)

In Oz, we pronounce six as SIX; whereas, in New Zealand, it is pronounced SUX.   :-\

<Now Kerry runs and ducks for cover haha>   :laugh:
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Offline Kerry

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost Moderator
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,076
  • ^ In pursuit of Captain Moonlite - 5 Sept 2009
    • Google Profile
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #45 on: April 24, 2008, 10:52:36 am »
You really have to wonder what their parents were thinking!

Back in the day, when I was working in OB, I talked a woman out of naming her baby "Placenta." She had heard the word in the delivery room and thought it was pretty. Oh my. And I did have a patient whose baby was named Female (she pronounced Fe-MAH-lee). She explained, "They named her for me at the hospital. That was the name they put on the card on her crib."

ai yi yi

 :laugh:     :laugh:     :laugh:     :laugh:
γνῶθι σεαυτόν

Offline Ellemeno

  • The BetterMost 10,000 Post Club
  • ********
  • Posts: 15,367
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #46 on: June 15, 2008, 03:14:54 am »
I say New OR-lins.

And many in Mississippi say Mi-SIH-pee.

My mom, from California pronounces the state next door Nuh-VAD-uh.  I say Nuh-VAH-duh.

I say Gloss-ter, Wuss-ter, Patch-ogg, and Kwog.

Here's one that gets me - I've never eaten them, but there's these little sausages that come in a can called Vienna sausages.  I remember once hearing a guy call them Vye-EEN-uh sausages.

I pronounce the word tarpaulin TAR-puh-lun, but I've heard people say tar-POE-lee-un.

I had a friend named Siobhan in 8th grade, and she pronounced it Shuh-VON.

I remember my stepfather saying once that he didn't see why Americans called the city in Italy Mi-LAHN, because in Italian, it's Milano.  Why not pronounce it Mi-LAN.

I thought Ypres is pronounced EE-pruh

And where I grew up, the names Sara and Sarah were pronounced the same, like SAIR-uh.  But when I was living in Mi-SIP-pee, I remember someone explaining to me that one is SAIR-uh, but one is SAY-ruh.  I don't remember which is which.

I had never heard the name Seosaimhin, but it reminds me of Shannyn Sossamon, who starred with Heath in A Knight's Tale (and who, BTW, when I just looked her up on IMDb to spell her name right, I see named her child Audio Science Clayton, not a tricky name to pronounce).

Great poll, I hadn't seen it til now!

Offline Shasta542

  • BetterMost Supporter!
  • BetterMost 5000+ Posts Club
  • *****
  • Posts: 7,999
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #47 on: June 15, 2008, 08:33:56 am »
I was corrected once for saying for-MID-able.

It was supposed to be FOR-midable I was told.

So I looked it up. Webster's has both pronunciations.
"Gettin' tired of your dumbass missin'!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Offline optom3

  • BetterMost 1000+ Posts Club
  • ******
  • Posts: 4,638
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #48 on: June 15, 2008, 09:25:31 am »
My maiden name is Scottish and no one could ever pronounce it except when we were on holiday in Scotland,
It is spelled COLQUHOUN . Have a guess at how that mouthful is pronounced. A clue, there are several silent letters. So it is pronounced CAHOON !!!!!
Another Scottish one which i nearly always misspronounced is MENZIES which is pronounced MINGIS I kid you not and EWAN is YOU AN.

It was just my bad luck that COLQUHOUN/ CA HOON rhymed so beautifully with Baboon. Kids can be pretty cruel.I'll let your imagination run with that.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2008, 12:06:10 pm by optom3 »

injest

  • Guest
Re: Pronunciation Poll
« Reply #49 on: June 15, 2008, 10:42:46 am »
I have a couple of uncles...when the first one was born they named him "Man"....when the second one was born they named him "Boy".  ::) ::) ::)

Can you imagine being fifty with kids of your own having people still call you 'Uncle Boy'??

I guess now that he is up in his seventies we should call him "Grandpa Boy"??