forenames (first names)

[honeychile]

Originally posted by AGDee
In my family's case, it was the workers. My nono said "Vincenzo" and they said "We'll call you Jim". Ditto with my nana who said "Ignazia" and ended up Nancy.

Oh, I'm not saying that it didn't happen, as I'm sure it did. I'm quoting the latest copy of the Genealogical Helper (the mothership for genealogy geeks). It says, "Many people have said that their names were changed at Ellis Island, but when the name is properly researched, it is usually the immigrant who chose to anglicize his or her name."

Originally posted by axidgl
Haha Tom...you say Lambda Chi Alpha isn't hard? I love to hear people butcher it with Lambda "Chee" Alpha...you'd think people would know better...

Welcome to my world...


"Delta Chi? Hmmm, 'delta' means change if I rememeber from math class....and 'chai' is a latte.....so your fraternity is about changing coffee?"


I swear I heard that!

[tld221]

Originally posted by RedRoseSAI
Actually, in British English, "Zeta" is pronounced with a long e, as is "Beta". She was being international without knowing it.

my calculus professor used these pronunciations and it was like nails on a blackboard to me!

beeta and oop-silon. she would stress the "oop" part like it was her call and duty.

When I learned the Greek alphabet, I thought MU was pronounced "MOO".

And then I attended my first Convention...I couldn't help but snicker whenever the Convention announcer pronounced it "MEW".

Which is correct?

[Senusret I]

Originally posted by OTW
When I learned the Greek alphabet, I thought MU was pronounced "MOO".

And then I attended my first Convention...I couldn't help but snicker whenever the Convention announcer pronounced it "MEW".

Which is correct?

I reckon either is correct.

I am in the MOO Alpha Chapter of APO but the MEW Lambda Chapter of APhiA.

Go figure.

[Tom Earp]

Mew, and uupsilon are good with Me!

XI and Phi are a biotch!

Zee and Fhi as far as I am concerned!

Is one on these things Either or Norther?

[Erik P Conard]

concordance, agreement. It might be reasonable to pronounce your greek name all in the English accepted or in the ancient one.
So, Alpha Phi would be ALL-fa FEE (Greek) or Al-fa FY (English)
and Alpha Xi Delta, ALL-fa ZEE (Greek) or Al-fa ZY (English) The most ridiculouis in Upsilon...it is not UP (like high) nor is it Yoop,
but it is OOP (rhymes with poop) si-lawn. And it is TAW for Tau,
and it does not rhyme with COW. Mu is not a bovine, but should
be like a cat, MEW, if one adhere's to modern custom. Iota is
EYE-o-ta, contrary to what SAI says. Groove Phi Groove...cute.
But we have enough problems with ever-changing English in the
pronunciation of Celtic or Xavier (should be ZAY-v-er, do you play
an EX-i-lo-fone? Is it preventive or preventative, orient or orientate, and enamored of or enamored with? Then there is british english. How do we get HO from whore?
Do as you please. Even American English teachers, including the
unemployed, have little understanding of linguistics or phonetics.
Oh, well, some dummies are hung up on writing a paragraph, which she may do well, but misspell the words therein. Duh

[Tom Earp]

Now, My Question is, Was I Close?

Many Go By The Dogma!

[RedRoseSAI]

Originally posted by Erik P Conard
pronounce your greek name all in the English accepted or in the ancient one.

[snip]

Iota is EYE-o-ta, contrary to what SAI says.

Both EYE-o-ta and EE-o-ta are correct. We use the latter, for various reasons.
http://www.greeklatinaudio.com/additional.htm

[Rio_Kohitsuji]

Originally posted by OTW
When I learned the Greek alphabet, I thought MU was pronounced "MOO".

And then I attended my first Convention...I couldn't help but snicker whenever the Convention announcer pronounced it "MEW".

Which is correct?

This brings up a fond memory....

When I was pledging a GLO (which I later quit), they would yell at us for saying 'moo'. They'd be like, it's "meeew", not "moooo" we're not f*ckin' cows!!"

[lifesaver]

Originally posted by RedRoseSAI
In various parts of Spain, an "x" is often pronounced as "sh". If you want to go to a champagne bar in Barcelona, you ask for the nearest "sham-pan-yera", not a "zam-pan-yera".

How is a Spanish X pronounced?

Also around these parts the spanish X can also be pronounced as the J sound, as in "huh" (in spanish, J is often peonounced as an H). The alternate spelling of Jiminez (last name) is Ximines. The main campus entry road from the south is Edward Ximines Drive. I did 5 years there before I figured out that it was pronounced 'he-men-ess' not 'zim-ens' (using the english zee sound for X, like in Xerox.)

On the government screwing up birthdates, one of my brothers from college is Vietnamiese and his family emigrated here int he early 80's. If you get to the US without proof of your birthday (an governemnt issued birth certificate, baptism certificate, etc.) the US government assigns you Jan. 1 as your birthdate. I've come across about 5 different people who had Jan 1 birthdays because of that.

[Erik P Conard]

the "x" enigma in Spanish...
Ximenez in old Spanish was "Shee-may-ness"
It is a complicated topic with many side streets.
The University of Illinois had an interesting linguistic
facility replete with phonologists and other ho-hum
pursuits. After a while, though, unless one came from lots
of old money, a $200,000 yearly income looked better.
Genealogy affords us all many avenues to pursue and a
site like this offers a sampling.
The words borrowed from other languages does indeed
complicate things, and like the cited 'champagne' one, a
strange pronunciation of the word may be offered just to
show all that that person is 'well-traveled.'
oh, yes, is it "jeen-e-ology" or "gin-e-ology?"
Even zoology majors stumble...and say ZOO-ol-o-gee, when it
is ZO-ol-o-gee. You still awake?
If we had an Academy like the French or Icelandics, perhaps this
discussion would not be as tepid.

[Buttonz]

No one can spell my name right. The end of 6th grade, a teacher I had for almost two full years, splet it Karen when she left me comemnts aobut my paper...it was on top of the page my name even

It's Caryn, thank you very much.

[btb87]

Took my little one out to eat 2 weeks ago, and was wearing a Sorority t-shirt. So the waitress tells me that she's in a sorority, and tells me that it's "Alpha Fee" - of course I'd never heard Phi pronounced "fee" before.

Also, I've heard lots of older folks pronounce Omega as "O-mee-ga". Any of you heard this before?

[Senusret I]

Originally posted by btb87
Also, I've heard lots of older folks pronounce Omega as "O-mee-ga". Any of you heard this before?

One of your sorors, who was the librarian at my high school, used to say O-mee-ga. And her (now deceased) husband was a Que as well, so I don't know if she was being funny or what.