Hi All
I see reference to Cajon pass on the Rail Pictures etc, and wondered how to pronounce it? I’m thinking, “Cajun” or "Kahone. I’m assuming it’s latino and the “J” is like an “h”.
Just curious [%-)]
Lee
“Ka-hone” with a long O sound. Cajon means a box or drawer (like a dresser drawer); I guess the early Spanish explorers felt like they were in an open-top box with mountains all around them or something.
It could be worse. It could have been “cojone” pass, cuz’ it took some big ones to get a railroad through there.
…just sayin’…
Thanks, just one more of lifes little mystery’s solved. [(-D]
Lee
[(-D]
Lee:
They’re right, it’s “Ka-HONE” Pass. Out here in SunnyCal, there are a ton of places that have kept their original Spanish names since California was part of Mexico, back in the 1840’s.
In fact, there’s a kinda/sorta California joke about them: A woman from the East Coast telling her California friend that she spent some time in “San Jose” and enjoyed it very much. Only she pronounced it “San JO-see.” The woman from California corrected her and said, “It’s San Ho-SAY. Here in Caifornia, we pronounce our ‘J’s’ like the letter ‘H’. When were you there?”
The woman from the East Coast furrowed her brow and said “Hune and Huly.”
Okay, bad joke, but I hope you get the drift. If it helps, as a native Californian, I’m NEVER sure that I’m spelling “Connecticuit” right. [:)]
Tom [:D]
Most Spanish place names in California are partially or totally Anglicized. For instance, San Francisco isn’t pronounced anything like it is in Spanish. Vallejo as the “hoe” at the end, but the double L is Anglicized and not sounded with a Spanish Y. Pinole is completely Anglicized (Pin-ole, not Peen-oh- lay). Vacaville (cow village) is completely Anglicized (not Vahcah). One can go on and on. Visitors, good luck. And let’s not get started with Indian names like Tuolumne.
Mark
Correct Hispanic pronunciation requires either a native Hispanic or an Oklahoma hog!
We have plenty of tough ones back here on the East coast as well. Go ahead, pronounce Schuykill [:D]
–Randy
Randy
When I was in Philly, I could pronounce Schuykill only because I heard it on the news.
Getting back to Cajon, I visited the famous pass two weeks ago and the pictures are posted by Ryan Slaton who was in our group. In this picture, you can see three trains at one time, but on Saturday morning, four trains were in sight from the Silverwood location and the UP and BNSF ran close to 30 trains in the daylight hours.
It is amazing the difference in this area since 1963 when I first looked at Cajon.
Can you say Hill 582? No it is not Jill 582.
Picture by Ryan Slaton
Picture by Ryan Slaton
Picture by Ryan Slaton
Tom
I’ve been to California twice, once in 1964 and again a couple years ago. my first encounter with the "J"s was as a kid. One of my aunts was named Juanita, as in Wa-nita.
Yall have a nice day and watch out for those earthquakes. [:D]
Lee
I agree, Randy. One that used to bug me was Skaneateles (Scan-ee-at-ellis, according to a resident), but one that’s still got me stumped is Youghiogheny. According to one Pennsylvania resident I spoke with at a hobby shop, it might be Yucka-hainey, but he wasn’t positive and I’m not convinced. Any takers?
For my contribution, in most parts of Canada, Toronto is pronounced Trawna, usually with a note of disdain in the voice. [swg][(-D][(-D]
Wayne
Peabody MA, a person outside of Mass would pronounce it “Pee-body”, but in Mass it’s Pee-ba-di.
Worcester is Woooster, not, War-chester.
Now. I’ll have a bowl of chowda please [:D]
Ya’ll be good.
Well, I expect that ‘Schuykill’ is pronounced a lot like ‘‘Schuylkill’’ [;)] = ‘skool - kill’ or ‘skoo - key - yill’ or sometimes the ‘skook - yill’ - which is the proper name for both the River and the Expressway, also know as I-76 - except that the locals and cynics often instead refer to it as . . . wait for it . . . the ‘Sure-Kill’ Expressway. [swg]
Youghiogheny is pronounced ‘Yock - a - gainey’, known to whitewater boaters and rafters as just the ‘Yock’.
CAZEPHYR - that fellow you were visiting with sure has an elaborate model railroad with all those trains running at the same time - a fine western scenery job, too ! [;)]
-Paul North.
Paul
I have pictures of four trains in one picture on that Saturday. One for each main line. It was one of those days that you dream about when watching trains and it does look like a large Model railroad.
CZ
When I drove truck OTR I went down the highway version of Cajon a lot. I lvoed seeing trains doing the same thing just out the window.However I went slower than all the trucks. One reason was to watch trains the other…well when the truck scales get full they close them so on ones sitting on the interstate waiting to get in. Zooom then I would look like the Super C coming down that hill.
Got to run down Cajon two times in a train. First time I did great. second time I got my dash 9 up to 90 and flipped it! Thankfully it was in the simulator at engineer school lol.Cojones are needed for sure!
Another Cali name we had fun with was Port Hueneme. To which us Seabees chaneged to Port Why me.
Now speaking of weird names How do you say Ypsilanti?
Lee:
It gets even more complicated, sometimes out here [:P]. For instance, my home town in the California mountains is called Nevada City. Well, “Nevada” is the Spanish word for ‘snow’. However, the town was settled by (and named by) New Englanders and Cornish hard-rock miners in the early 1850’s, so the word has always been pronounced “Nuh-VAAH-dah” and not “Ne-VAH-dah.” At least not until it was ‘discovered’ by people moving in from Southern California and the northern San Francisco bay area in the 1970’s, and who proceeded to teach we poor, uneducated ‘natives’ how to pronounce it properly. You can always tell who’s lived in the town the longest, LOL! Actually, we ‘natives’ pronounce it the old way just to Bug the ‘newcomers’.
It’s kind of fun watching them shudder. [;)]
PS: Earthquakes? Never heard of 'em. We have ‘foot massages’ out here. [:-^]
Tom [:D]
The tough names sometimes are ones where there are two cities or places that use the same name, but say it differently. There was an early French explorer in the Great Lakes area name Nicollet. Streets, counties, and cities are named after him in Wisconsin and Minnesota, but in Wisc. they say “Nick-o-LAY” and in Minnesota we say “Nickle-it”. Similarly, Monticello is “Mon-ta-chell-o” if you’re talking about Jefferson’s home, but “Mon-ta-sell-o” if you’re talking about the town in Minnesota.
And with apologies to Miss Judd, here it’s “Win-NO-nah” not “WHY-no-nah”… [(-D]
Mackinac ? As in the ‘Straits of’, or ‘the Bridge’ . . .
BTW - my guide to Youghiogheny is a co-worker from out that way.
CAZEPHYR - yeah, I could see that. Wow - lucky day. [tup]
- Paul.
Only if you are from the west (ern part of the state). In the east they say something that sounds like wooos-tah.