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Most mispronounced words in PNW climbing?


Jens

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Nike. We pronounce it with a long I and a long E, but the Greeks (she's their goddess) would have pronounced it nee-kay

 

at um vs dI uh tom

 

The word isotropy (i SAW tro pee) gives me trouble because you say ISO tro pic.

 

And then there's all the reading I've been doing this week that has left my mind as complete mush (and an impromptu game of anagram Scrabble Mon night certainly didn't help):

Lyapunov

Lipschitz

Pontryagin

and for some reason, I want to say "passivity" as "passissivity"

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adidas. I once met a Brit who thought the American way of saying it (a-DI-das) was sexier than the British way (a-di-DAS).

 

Probably it was just 'cause you were the one saying it. He was probably already swooning and then when words came out of your mouth that clinched it.

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On a related note, "data" is a collective plural, not singular, noun. blah blah blah

 

...In which case "Lieutenant Commanders Data" would be the more correct plural from.

 

Yes, dryad, you win the geek award of the day, and extra credit for the correct proper noun plural. grin.gif

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Goode - Good or Goo-dee ?

 

Bravo! This gets my vote. I bet Richard U. Goode pronounced his last name "good" but everybody I know says "goodie". (I usually say "goodie" too, just to be a conformist.) I bet Harry Majors knows the answer. wink.gif

 

Another good one is "traverse". All my friends say tra-VERSE, but old-timers like the Fireys say TRA-verse. On a hike a couple years ago, Duke Watson explained to me that when the word is used as a verb, the accent goes on the last syllable (tra-VERSE). When it is used as a noun, the accent goes on the first syllable (TRA-verse, although putting the accent on the last syllable is also acceptable). I checked Webster's Dictionary and, by golly, he's right! So, in honor of Duke Watson and the Fireys, I think we should all go tra-VERSE the Ptarmigan TRA-verse.

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Goode - Good or Goo-dee ?

 

Bravo! This gets my vote. I bet Richard U. Goode pronounced his last name "good" but everybody I know says "goodie". (I usually say "goodie" too, just to be a conformist.) I bet Harry Majors knows the answer. wink.gif

My friend, Roy M., says he knows members of the Goode family who still live in the state and they pronounce their name, "good".

 

By the way, plant growers are among the worst when it comes to misprouncing names. The best example I can think of is Cattleya ("cat-lee-a"), the corsage orchid. Some people pronounce it "cat-a-lay-a". How they get that from the spelling is a mystery to me.

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I'd heard the guy who Goode is named after pronounced it "Good" as well, and that climbers have just mispronounced it.

And down on this side of the Columbia, what about Tualatin (too-AH-la-tin) and Tigard (TIE-gerd). Then there's the ever present Deschutes (deh-SHOOTS), although that one's not bad.

 

What about Suiattle? Is that sue-AHT-el, sue-AT-el, or something else?

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BTW, unlike the Goodes, my name is pronounced "Clink-ee," not "Clink." Now you know. This will come in handy for you in the future when you keep reading my name in all the latest and greatest guidebooks, climbing rags, climbing history books, etc. grin.gif

 

 

D'oh! I thought it was "Klen-key." blush.gif

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