polenta

Q, this is A PIECE OF CAKE!!!!

It's like:

WHAT'S FIRST?

THE EGG OR THE HEN?

LOL

polenta

Now seriously, in Genesis WORD is first, isn't it?

Dragon

To add a little to the nicknames conversation, we do have lots of nicknames that anyone (not just someone intimate) can use. I know a man who everyone calls Butch but that isn't his given name and won't show up on any official documents. I've known several "Scotty's" but that wasn't their name, they were older Scottish men and that seems to be the nickname that gets plastered on them (though they all seemed pretty happy about it). I guess some people just lend themselves to having nicknames. As for people you don't know any man might be "Buddy" or "Guy" or "Dude". It's just nicer than Hey You I guess. :p

Login

No, in Genesis "In the beginning" was first. (only joking, polenta.

Login

polenta, if the (presumably Spanish) examples you gave us are descriptive names, we do use such names in English. For example, a tall person may have the nickname of 'Lofty', an effeminate man may be called 'Nancy' or any other womans name for that matter. A Scotsman might be called Jock, Irishman are often called Paddy and Welshmen are often called Taffy. They are real names but, in these cases, they refer to a persons appearance or ethnic origin.

I'm not sure how the names you gave in your examples arise. When and why are these names attributed to certain people?

polenta

Dragon must be right about Butch and I think Lofty would apply too because GORDO or GORDA or FLACO or FLACA are FAT and THIN. It's true some of them can be people's origin too. RUSO (Russian for someone who was Polish, Russian, Jewish, Ukrainian and the like and someone who is 100% Uruguayan too). It was very common to call TURCO (Turk) to Armenians, Lebanese, etc
Apart from that there are also "nonconnected" ones like COCO, POCHA, etc.
I promise I won't bring up these silly topics again!!!!

Login

What's silly about it? Now I know that you are referring to descriptive names, it's given me a whole lot more to think about.

polenta

names, names, names.......................it's a mystery.................
Why do you say EDINBRA to Edimburgh but it's not HAMBRA to Hamburg or LUXEMBRA etc?
LOL, LOL, LOL

Dragon

I've always been amused that Glouchester is pronounced "Glosster". There just seem to be way to many syllables in there for that. Though I do notice that I (and most Calgarians like me) pronounce my hometown Calgary as Calgry, and many Canadians pronounce Toronto as Tarona. I think that's just lazy speaking.

polenta

You pronounce it Glosster?I didn't know.

I've also heard there is a street in New York City called Houston but its OU is pronounced like the OU in the word out.
As far as I know in the city of Houston,Texas the OU is pronounced like the U in union.

Arw65

we have words that have multiple pronunciations as well- Rodeo for example-
if it is referring to Roping or riding bulls and horses It is Ro-dee-oh- but if it is in reference to a street it's Ro-day-oh. always confused me.
As far as the nicknames go We do have several that simply refer to their appearance, Stunty- for very short people, Jane-for an average looking woman, Bones for a very thin person, Mary or Ginger for a person with red hair. -etc

matthew

Gloucester gets me too Dragon as does Worcester Massachusetts (pronounced Wuster)... We have a street here named Huger (pronounced Yoo~Gee)... Can't figure that one out... (Must be those dang Canadians)...j/k

indigo

Thank-you matthew ;]

indigo

Actually I should have said you're welcome matthew ;], he, he

Qsilv

When I first moved to England it was to Chiswick... which of course I tried to pronounce with the 'w' ....lol...got SUCH lectures!

And in upstate New York there's a town called Watervliet. Looked like a French ending to me... so I tried "wa-ter-vlee-ay". Nope. Got laughed outta town --everyone from there knows it's Dutch -- "wa-ter-fleet".

On the other hand, you, polenta-dear, would have no problems with most of the ones around here in Los Angeles, but folks from "back east" have a wonderfully horrible time with 'em-- Cahuenga, La Cienega, La Tijera, Tujunga, Matilija, Santa Ynez... ;>

I'm afraid we locals habitually mangle Figueroa (we say fig-yur-oh-ah, tho I suppose it should be fig-wer-oh-ah) and Sepulveda (where we stress the PUL instead of the VE)...

;>

Dragon

My friend at work is doing a correspondence course through a school in San Juan. We got a kick out her telling us how she had to contact the people in "San Jew-awn".

polenta

Little secret; after more than half a century of studying English I always doubt if the river Thames is pronounced
1)like FACE or BAIT or
2)like WET or BET.
And another word whose pronuciation I know (silent C) is Connecticut... but I've always wondered why people don't pronounce the C.

polenta

I also think Arw is getting near to what I mean by those "famous" nicknames.
It's funny but in Uruguay I remember there is a town called YOUNG (must be after someone called like this, I mean his surname). You won't believe how people pronounce it. This reminds me of Q's remarks about geographical names in California.
We (yes, including me because if not nobody would understand me!!!) pronounce the name of the town of YOUNG as something like JUNE in English....... isn't it incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes, the mystery of names.

Login

To settle your dilemma, polenta, Thames is pronounced tems.
There's a village in Northamptonshire called Cogenhoe, pronounced cook-no.
Another Northamptonshire town, Towcester is pronounced toe-stir.
In Wales, there's a town called Pontyclun, pronounced ponti-cleen.
Aren't languages beautiful.

polenta

So thanks Login for the River Tems. LOL
And yes, in UK the pronunciation of names of cities, towns, rivers and so forth is kind of difficult if you've never heard it.