Bush mispronunces Nevada in first presidential visit

[codeworks]

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Nevada memo to George Bush: When making a first presidential visit to a state, use the right pronounciation of its name.

Bush, in Las Vegas on Tuesday, repeatedly said Ne-vah-da. To properly pronounce Nevada, the middle syllable should rhyme with gamble.

Mispronouncing the state's name "sets people's teeth on edge," said state Archivist Guy Rocha. "He's the president, and he ought to get it right. Nothing personal."

State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the mispronunciation shows Bush, who won the state in the 2000 election, doesn't care much about the state.

"They take such pains to orchestrate these trips and to make sure everything is politically correct," she said. "You would think the name of the state would be a simple piece of that."

Assemblyman Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville, said the president ought to pronounce Nevada correctly, but Bush's message was more important.

"There are a lot more important things to worry about than that," he said. "The visit itself is far more important. Clearly some people will make hay out of it, and that's OK. That's the way it works."

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[angusr]

I saw this story earlier on some website, and I've been trying to make sense of their explanation as to how Nevada should be pronounced. "The middle syllable should rhyme with gamble"?
Ne - vamble - da?

 

[Phaedrus]

The truly sad thing is, that's just ignorance on the part of the native Nevada population, to believe that their bumpkin dialect is the correct way to pronounce it. The word Nevada is Spanish; try asking anyone who speaks Spanish but has never heard of Nevada to pronounce it for you. NeVAHda or NeVAAAAAda? That's almost as funny as hearing Nevada transplants say "Sierra Nevadas" or "Sierra Nevada Mountains" when talking about the Carson Range. The Sierra Nevada (no 's', no 'Mountains') is in fvcking California. Seeing as how it was only marked on the map in 1776, and the yokels are still trying to figure out how to correctly pronounce their own state's name, I guess they're allowed to slide on it just this once.

And you guys were downing on Alabama so recently. At least we know where our frigging state got its name and how it's pronounced.


Phaedrus

 

[Woody0]

Those of us in Kanata still live in our small "village" which explains why the Yanks keep asking for a street map.

 

[angusr]

That Heritage Canada commercial about "Kanata" blew. A bunch of Government workers trying to make the name of their suburb famous. The only thing Kanata will ever be famous for is a horrible hockey team and having the worst strip club on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River.

 

[UncleMoneybags]

Phaedrus,

Bumpkin or not, that's how they pronounce it. I don't live there anymore, but I understand why they cringe. As citizens, I think they should be given the right to determine the correct pronunciation since they live there. Also, most likely it wasn't a local. Most of the idiots there are from California, Arizona or Utah. People born and bred there are few and far between.

While I'm thinking about it, the good thing about where I'm currently living: No Mormons. Those little bastards are nothing if persistent.

 

[UncleMoneybags]

Never mind. After re-reading your post, I surmise that by transplant that you meant a non-local.

 

[Phaedrus]

Actually, looking back I was lashing out at both:

1) Natives who not only say "Nevaaada" -- bad enough on its own -- but who also criticise others who pronounce the word correctly, for "saying it wrong."

2) Transplants and tourists who don't realise that there is no such thing as a Sierra Nevada Mountain, and that even if there was one, it would most likely be in California, not Nevada. Locals who don't know this need to be dropped off in the desert; there's nothing that can be done for them.


Phaedrus

 

[lander]

I'd rather have Bush mis-prounce state names than hear another "bring em' on" remark from our Commander in Chief. At least he's not inciting more violence this time.

 

[UncleMoneybags]

Let me ask you one question, Phaedrus. Do you say loss angeles or l-oh-s angeles? I assume the latter since it is the "correct" Spanish pronunciation and the other 90% of us are just bumpkins. Would that be fair to say?

 

[Phaedrus]

I say "l-oh-s."

I think it's a shame to see names and words get mangled by local dialect, then exported. Understand, I grew up the child of a British family in the southern U.S., so the issue is one that's been grating on my nerves for years now.

Cairo, Georgia residents pronounce their town's name "KAY-ro." Most residents in and around Dougherty County pronounce "Albany" "ALL-binny." "Syrup" is "surp." And so forth.

Exposure to the sort of mangling of the English language that goes on in my area has perhaps led me to be a bit of an Enunciation Nazi in my adulthood.


Phaedrus

 

[UncleMoneybags]

Please don't take this as a direct confrontation but I'm still having difficulties with it. The Brits say cah pahk. Is this wrong? If so, do we all pale in comparison to the great and mighty Phaedrus: Protector and Director of Etymology?

All joking aside, I think that whether or not it's wrong for the local yokels (who probably don't or don't want to speak Spanish) to propagate the "local dialect" we should all hold hands and sing "Sha-na-na".

I've got an Indian friends and one of their languages has weird noises in it. It almost sounds like an ape in heat. Try that one out without your "local dialect". If you're as good as I was, they'll start laughing.

 

[radiofreecostarica]

No entiendo...

I´m still trying to think of HOW you can possibly mispronounce NE VA DA