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Epignosis View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 08:31
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

Originally posted by Formentera Lady Formentera Lady wrote:

How do you pronounce
- Arkansas
- Torpenhow (area in Cumbria, England)
...
Wacko

I can't get it. English is way too complicated.



Arkansas - Ar Ken Saw, though why Kansas isn't pronounced Kensaw beats me



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Many place names in [Arkansas], including Arkansas, are French pronunciations of Indian words.

At the time of the early French exploration, a tribe of Indians, the Quapaws, lived West of the Mississippi and north of the Arkansas River. The Quapaws, or OO-GAQ-PA, were also known as the downstream people, or UGAKHOPAG. The Algonkian-speaking Indians of the Ohio Valley called them the Arkansas, or "south wind."

The state's name has been spelled several ways throughout history. In Marquette and Joliet's "Journal of 1673", the Indian name is spelled AKANSEA. In LaSalle's map a few years later, it's spelled ACANSA. A map based on the journey of La Harpe in 1718-1722 refers to the river as the ARKANSAS and to the Indians as LES AKANSAS. In about 1811, Captain Zebulon Pike, a noted explorer, spelled it ARKANSAW.

During the early days of statehood, Arkansas' two U.S. Senators were divided on the spelling and pronunciation. One was always introduced as the senator from "ARkanSAW" and the other as the senator from "Ar-KANSAS." In 1881, the state's General Assembly passed a resolution declaring that the state's name should be spelled "Arkansas" but pronounced "Arkansaw."

The pronunciation preserves the memory of the Indians who were the original inhabitants of our state, while the spelling clearly dictates the nationality of the French adventurers who first explored this area.


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 08:35
^ ps: one odd fact about English is there are only four Welsh words in common usage in the language, and they are all names of things - Penguin, Flannel, Corgi and Coracle.
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 09:00
Names of towns in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, et. al. that were "borrowed" from England often trip people up who are not from the area.  You will often hear outsiders pronounce Worcester "Wor-chester" when it is actually "Wooster" (pronounce the "woo" part like you do with the word "wood").  Similarly with Greenwich, which is not to be confused with a green witch.  Tongue
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 09:04
I used to think the Yosemite in Yosemite Sam was pronounced like Marmite Embarrassed
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 09:16
^ You mean you don't pronounce it Marmy-tea?
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 10:00
There's a place in Cornwall called Crows-an-wra.

There's also Mousehole.  Not pronounced as Mouse-hole but as Mowsul.  Then of course there's Fowey.  It's pronounced Foy.  I think I pronounce Lostwithiel incorrectly too.

Then of course there's Launceston.  The Australians pronounce it differently to us.

The Essex town of Fingringhoe still makes me giggle.  It is pronounced exactly as spelt.


Edited by James - January 21 2011 at 10:03
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 10:28
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

 
English isn't complicated - you just have to remember it's more than one language (Celtic, Saxon, Roman, Danish and Norman all mashed together).


Wasn't there a lot of Dutch, too, in English?

Speaking of Dutch, neither G*Censored*e nor any of the words mentioned here are as difficult to pronounce as Dirk Kuyt. Tongue


Edited by harmonium.ro - January 21 2011 at 10:30
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 10:45
Originally posted by harmonium.ro harmonium.ro wrote:

Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

 
English isn't complicated - you just have to remember it's more than one language (Celtic, Saxon, Roman, Danish and Norman all mashed together).


Wasn't there a lot of Dutch, too, in English?

Speaking of Dutch, neither G*Censored*e nor any of the words mentioned here are as difficult to pronounce as Dirk Kuyt. Tongue
Hmm, probably - I know cucumber, gherkin and cornichon are three separate words in English and Dutch but only two in German and French implying that English and Dutch share common roots for that vegetable at least (excuse the pun)
 
The manager of our test lab in The Netherlands was Dik Kok - much to our (English) merriment, luckily he didn't own a shop (winkel)


Edited by Dean - January 21 2011 at 10:46
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 11:53
Originally posted by James James wrote:

There's a place in Cornwall called Crows-an-wra.

There's also Mousehole.  Not pronounced as Mouse-hole but as Mowsul.  Then of course there's Fowey.  It's pronounced Foy.  I think I pronounce Lostwithiel incorrectly too.

Then of course there's Launceston.  The Australians pronounce it differently to us.

The Essex town of Fingringhoe still makes me giggle.  It is pronounced exactly as spelt.


and they wonder why there's 'Essex girl' jokes....Ermm
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2011 at 12:09
Originally posted by ExittheLemming ExittheLemming wrote:

Originally posted by James James wrote:

There's a place in Cornwall called Crows-an-wra.

There's also Mousehole.  Not pronounced as Mouse-hole but as Mowsul.  Then of course there's Fowey.  It's pronounced Foy.  I think I pronounce Lostwithiel incorrectly too.

Then of course there's Launceston.  The Australians pronounce it differently to us.

The Essex town of Fingringhoe still makes me giggle.  It is pronounced exactly as spelt.


and they wonder why there's 'Essex girl' jokes....Ermm
Dunno - I'll have to ask my sister. Tongue
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2011 at 03:15
Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

Originally posted by aginor aginor wrote:

or Nietzche Embarrassed
 
what about Peugeot, or worcestershire souce,
Worcestershire sauce is pronounced "Lea & Perrins" Stern Smile
 
 
Rather than Peugeot (which will forever be pronouced "Pug", as in Pug-ugly), how about Citroën:
 
A colleague of mine has a house in France and can speak French fairly well, all be it with a decidedly English accent - when his car broke down he went to a small rural garage for help, where he proudly announced: "J'ai un problème avec mon Citron" to howls of laughter from the car mechanics... since it translates as "I have a problem with my lemon"
Um, isn't albeit one word?
Well, there it is. (Amadeus)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2011 at 03:17
Originally posted by aginor aginor wrote:

^ LOL
 
I have a related story but this time it's about a basoon player
 
 
a norwegian big-band (or symphonie orchestra) went to GB to hold a concert when the basoon players instrument had been forgotten in the lougage system. he went to the info receptionist at the airport and explaind what was missing. the problem was that he did confuse the englsih word for bassoon with the norwegian name for the instrument.
 
the norwegian word for bassoon is fagot, which pronounced on english becomes similar to fagot (gay), so what he actualy said to the info desk was "hay can you help me, it seems that I  might have forgotten/left my fagot behind in Norway" ore something in that manner
Isn't it just really a happy cigarette? A fag I believe is a cigarette. Can someone loan me a sawbuck for another pack?
Well, there it is. (Amadeus)
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 23 2011 at 03:52
Originally posted by Steven Brodziak Steven Brodziak wrote:

Originally posted by Dean Dean wrote:

Originally posted by aginor aginor wrote:

or Nietzche Embarrassed
 
what about Peugeot, or worcestershire souce,
Worcestershire sauce is pronounced "Lea & Perrins" Stern Smile
 
 
Rather than Peugeot (which will forever be pronouced "Pug", as in Pug-ugly), how about Citroën:
 
A colleague of mine has a house in France and can speak French fairly well, all be it with a decidedly English accent - when his car broke down he went to a small rural garage for help, where he proudly announced: "J'ai un problème avec mon Citron" to howls of laughter from the car mechanics... since it translates as "I have a problem with my lemon"
Um, isn't albeit one word?
It is supposed to be but I don't pronounce it as one word so I'll be arsed if I'm going to write it as one word - sometimes convention is simply wrong.

Edited by Dean - January 23 2011 at 03:53
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