Pronunciation watch

[gurnemanz]

I persist in pronouncing Braun (razor manufacturer) the same as with Werner von ... or Eva ... (or Gordon for that matter) but realise I am swimming against the tide on this one.

[jean]

It was printed on the packet in a way that suggested that. (Unless it said "Rowntrees").

You mean the way the they include the acute accent on the final e but make it look like a sort of extension of the initial N?

[jean]

I persist in pronouncing Braun (razor manufacturer) the same as with Werner von ... or Eva ... (or Gordon for that matter) but realise I am swimming against the tide on this one.

So do I.

It's odd that the English don't recognise a German word which is really exactly the same as one of ours.

(But on second thoughts, when we say Volkswaggon that's exactly what we're doing.)

[Don Petter]

It all went downhill once Hovis started leaving off its accent.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

It all went downhill once Hovis started leaving off its accent.

Generalized Mummerset, wasn't it (with Brass Band to imply that Northerners could eat it, too)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgjLJSuGPt8

[Beef Oven!]

Quite simply, "nor".

In Turkish supermarkets, it's as per Knappertsbusch.

Global markets and multinational companies also influence brand names and pronunciation.

For example, Jif has been changed to Cif. Cif is pronounced 'Jiff' in Turkish and works better in many languages, other than English.

It was always Nessels when I were a lad (well, until my 30s, I think).

In this global vilage that we live in, petty nationalism, tribalism and esotericism should be put aside and everyone on the planet should speak English.

[MrGongGong]

Global markets and multinational companies also influence brand names and pronunciation.

I always thought the Vauxhall Nova one was true :sad face:

But sadly (along with how we can't walk down the street these days without stepping over the entire population of Bulgaria ) it turns out to be a myth

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

[Beef Oven!]

I always thought the Vauxhall Nova one was true :sad face:

But sadly (along with how we can't walk down the street these days without stepping over the entire population of Bulgaria ) it turns out to be a myth

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

I don'y know (no) the Vauxhall Nova story.

I remember the football club that had SEGA, the games manufacturer as it sponsors. Trouble is Sega means W--ker in Italian.

So far, the 29 million Bulgarians that have settled in Bermondsey have had little influence on local pronunciation. One to watch, though.

[ahinton]

I remember the football club that had SEGA, the games manufacturer as it sponsors. Trouble is Sega means W--ker in Italian.

...and a quasi-fertility dance in parts of east Africa...

So far, the 29 million Bulgarians that have settled in Bermondsey have had little influence on local pronunciation. One to watch, though.

There's scant space for any of them here in Horrorford because of the Lithuanians, Latvians, Ukrainians and Poles.

[gurnemanz]

I always thought the Vauxhall Nova one was true :sad face:

Another possibly untrue car naming story is that Rolls Royce were once planning to call a new model "Silver Mist" until someone pointed out that in German "Mist" means "crap".

[P. G. Tipps]

What seems to be happening is that rthe conventions are changing - whereas in four-syllable words the stress used to be on the first syllable - FORmidable, CONtroversy, HARrassment, (ir)REVocable and many more - the fashion now seems to be to shift the stress to the second syllable..

Yes, you are absolutely right ...

I hadn't realised there are even as many examples as you have listed.

[Don Petter]

Generalized Mummerset, wasn't it (with Brass Band to imply that Northerners could eat it, too)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgjLJSuGPt8

My 'downhill' was unintentionally apposite for the advert, which I had forgotten. (Or, at least, I remembered there had been an advert for something using Gold Hill, but not what it was. So much for the power of advertising!)

Seems they had already stopped using the accent by that time - At least, the 'HOVIS' on the loaf didn't have one.

[Serial_Apologist]

Generalized Mummerset, wasn't it (with Brass Band to imply that Northerners could eat it, too)?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgjLJSuGPt8

Our family could never work out what Dvorak's "New World" had to do with an English rural scene in that ad (and many others).

[teamsaint]

Our family could never work out what Dvorak's "New World" had to do with an English rural scene in that ad (and many others).

Gold hill? Rural?
Tell that to the farmers on market day in Shaftesbury !!

[Serial_Apologist]

Yes, you are absolutely right ...

Er not quite. My parents' generation always would say "contrOversy"; Dad always made the point that the "modern" alternative would require two stresses for it to sound balanced, e.g. "cOntrovErsy" - hence his version (which I too have always preferred) being the correct one.