I hope I’m not the only one who’s felt this way, but most of my MRR’ing education came from books and magazines (like MR of course :)) The benefits need no explanation, but on the negative side, I had no familiarity of how some terminology, brand names or proper names were to be properly pronounced (and yes English is my first language). So I assumed they were pronounced a certain way!
So here’s a list of model railroad-related terms/names I have mis-pronounced in the past, with my incorrect pronunciation:
The company was founded by Hiroshi Kato (pronounced KAH-toe, rhymes with “auto”). In the Japanese language, there are no long vowel sounds like we have in English, especially North American English. But the company and the founder knows that Americans pronounce it “Kay-toe,” so they don’t make a big fuss about it. I remember once reading somewhere that Mr. Kato prefers people to pronounce his own family name properly, but doesn’t mind it when they refer to his company as “Kay-toe.”
For a non native-english speaker it is worst. Some words I mis-pronounced due to my non english origin were: Gauge, staging, playwood among some other. Of course, spanish words have never been problem, like: Santa Fe, Durango, Rio Grande, Rapido, Colorado, etc… [:)]
I think you mean “American” english as opposed to "North American’’ english, we up in Canadaland do have vast differences in pronunciation, Americans have the soft “A”, as in Viet NOM, or I-RON, do most of the names mentioned seem to be manufacturers name?
Ah, yes, but is it EYE-rack or e-ROCK? (There are railroads there, so this does not seem to be off-topic.)
While on a Royal Caribbean cruise (the cruise line says ka-RIB-e-an) that stopped in Belize, we had a guide whose lineage was from emigrants from one of the former French colonies and when asked how he and the others of his heritage pronounced the word and he simply said “care-a-BE-an.”
There’s a guy in my club who insists on saying Athearn as “a-THURN” instead of how everyone else I know pronounces it as “ATH-urn”. We also had a former member who always said, “AFF-urn”.
The other is “New Haven”. To most railfans that I’ve met here in New England, it’s the “nah HAVin”…especially when saying the full name of the railroad: The Noo Yawk, Nah Havin & Hahtfud. Yes, the “New” in New York is pronounced differently then the “New” in New Haven.
The funny part is that those who actually live in the City of New Haven, CT say “NEW haven”. Why? Because the City of New Haven is surrounded by EAST Haven, NORTH Haven, & WEST Haven (South Haven must be Long Island Sound). They place more importance on the different “Havens”, while the rest of us just care that it’s a Haven.
For a non native-english speaker it is worst. Some words I mis-pronounced due to my non english origin were: Gauge, staging, playwood among some other. Of course, spanish words have never been problem, like: Santa Fe, Durango, Rio Grande, Rapido, Colorado, etc…
One of the oddest things I ever heard was an Austrian gentleman who, when speaking English, pronounced “diesel” as DIEsel (as in the act of becoming dead) instead of DEEsel.
English words are often hard to spell and pronounce phonetically because many words are borrowed (without a change in spelling) from different languages, and many are partially or wholly anglicized in their pronunciation. For instance, “Mexico” is pronounced differently in U.S. English than it is in Mexican Spanish. (Both pronunciations are correct depending on the language one’s speaking.) And don’t get me started on local place names around here like “Pinole” and “Nevada” (Spanish words with totally anglicized pronunciation) and “Vallejo” and “San Mateo” (Spanish surnames with partially anglicized pronunciation).
As I mention I have worked part time in hobby shops from time to time.I always got a chuckle out of those that tried to pronounce names correctly…Some would have been wise to leave it alone and go with the flow.
A guy wanted a KAH oh NW2 and a pack of #5 Kaaaay Dahs…Thankfully I knew what he wanted when he said NW2 and a pack of #5.
Why I remember that after all these years I’ll never know.I can still recall what the guy look like because he wasn’t very tall probably around 5’1" and wore a old fashion continental suit…
I’ve noticed that the man’s name “Lionel” is usually pronounced something like “LION-null”, emphasizing and combining the first two syllables, but three-railers referring to Lionel Trains tend to say all three syllables clearly, and stress the last one…“Lie-uh-NELL”.
English words are often hard to spell and pronounce phonetically because many words are borrowed (without a change in spelling) from different languages, and many are partially or wholly anglicized in their pronunciation. For instance, “Mexico” is pronounced differently in U.S. English than it is in Mexican Spanish. (Both pronunciations are correct depending on the language one’s speaking.)
It’s not just that. Mexican (and any other Latin American country) Spanish is different from Castilian Spanish. My wife’s grandparents on both sides came from Spain (Andaluz and Salamanca). When my wife speaks Spanish, she speaks Castilian. Santa Cruz becomes Thanta Cruth. And like Brits who claim we don’t speak English, my wife complains that Mexicans don’t really speak Spanish.
Well that makes sense, after all “American” English is quite different from “English” English…but then English Public School “Received Pronunciation” English is quite different from London Cockney or Yorkshire English.
On a not-too-related note re Spain, I thought it odd a while back when someone was compiling an “All-time, All-Hispanic” baseball team that they didn’t include “El Senor”, Al Lopez as either catcher or a manager, saying that since he was Spanish (his parents were born in Spain) he wasn’t Hispanic(??)
[%-)]
Of course, they also left off Ted Williams, whose mother’s family were from Chihuahua Mexico.
