EOS-1D X Canon Press Release

On 2011-12-03 17:30:35 -0800, Robert Coe said:

On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 08:57:31 -0800, John McWilliams wrote:
: On 12/2/11 PDT 2:31 PM, Robert Coe wrote:
: On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:18:13 -0800, Savageduck
:
: :
: : Regional variations still play a part with locals. My father was born
: : in LaFayette, GA where it trips from the tongue as "Le-Fayut" vs
: : "La-Fay-et" and I have heard some other variations. Another is Albany
: : which has been rendered as "All-binny" and "Al-bunny"
:
: In Mississippi, where the locals smoothly navigate through countless Indian
: names that many outsiders consider unpronounceable, Lafayette County, where
: the University of Mississippi is located, is pronounced luh-FAY-it.
:
: All good info! In Chicago there's a street named after the German poet
: philosopher Goethe. I've heard it pronounced definitively five different
: ways. And, yes, one of them was "go-e-the".

I'd expect "Gertie" to be one of them.

....and for the transplants from New Jersey it probably falls on the ear
as "Goiter".

On Sun, 4 Dec 2011 02:23:33 +0000, Pete A
wrote:

Savageduck said:

Eric Stevens said:

Pete A wrote:
[...]
Commoners still have rooms named toilet and lounge. I wonder if
Smythe's name their rooms correctly.

What is the correct name for toilet?

"Dumpster"

Good one :-)

A toilet is a lavatory; a lounge is a sitting room; a settee is a sofa;
a serviette is a napkin.

A toilet is a place where you wash.

A lavatory is a place where you wash.

I was glad to see that around the Baltic they are frequently labelled
W.C.

Regards,

Eric Stevens

On 12/3/11 PDT 5:47 PM, Robert Coe wrote:


Ah, don't get me started! "I'll just contribute "lay-mizzer-OBB" and then shut
up. :^|

Lez Mizz?

On 12/3/11 PDT 4:02 PM, tony cooper wrote:

Should, perhaps, but what you actually hear is Dez Plains.

Des Plaines is a suburb of Chicago, and "Chicago" is derived from the
way the French pronounced the Miami (Indian) word "shikaakwa", meaning
"wild onion" or "wild garlic". Robert de LaSalle rendered it
"Checagou" in 1679 in his journal.


..... Which is how some French pronounce it to this day!

On 2011-12-03 22:02 , Robert Coe wrote:
On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:47:06 -0500, Alan Browne
wrote:
: On 2011-12-03 12:10 , John McWilliams wrote:
: On 12/3/11 PDT 8:42 AM, Alan Browne wrote:
: On 2011-11-30 14:58 , tony cooper wrote:
: On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:05:17 +0000,
: wrote:
:
: wrote:
: Hyundai is a great example of the Western ear not being able to wrap
: its tongue around an oriental pronunciation. I have to agree that the
: nation with the least consistent pronunciation of almost anything, is
: the U.S.A. and I believe much of that can be attributed to the global
: "melting pot" nature of the American population.
: Then if you add in regional accents within many countries and
: continental regions all bets are off. Here the two most obvious
: culprits are North America, and the entire British Isles.
:
:
: I believe in praise where praise is due, in this case to the USA for
: having a standard pronunciation for each town and city name. So
: no-one is in any doubt how to pronounce Des Moines, for example.
:
: I have been in Des Moines and in Des Plaines (IL). The first is a
: "dee" and the second is a "dess".
:
: A lot of French in the midwest from the French colonial fur trading
: routes. One state has the state motto "L'étoil du nord".
:
: In French, "Des" should be pronounced like dé (a slightly sharp "day")
: in both cases.
:
: Moines should sound like "one" with an M sound front - the s is mute.
:
: Plaines should sound like "plenn" and the s is mute.
:
: A lot of distortion in French names in the US - as well as a lot of
: places that pronounce it close to French. Same applies to Spanish I
: suppose.
:
: Quite right. La Jolla comes to mind. Junipero Serra. Nice places to be
: in Hanuary!
:
: But Moines is not pronounced as a "one". Maybe in Canada, yes, but in
: French French, there's an "ahn" sound to fit in there. Not quite an
: "ahn" but a bit closer than a "one".
:
: Good catch. In French Canadian too, but it is fainter (almost wrote
: "more faint" - are you happy?).
:
: And in France the regional differences are quite extreme. "Parisian"
: French may be the reference (other than the large use of anglicisms,
: patois and vulgarisms [I rent a lot of French movies and I'm often
: gobsmacked at the meaning of some expressions]), but even as close as
: Orléans accents change. In Marseille, accents (and grammar) are very
: different. There is one news anchor on TV5 (brunette, short hair, blue
: eyes, stunning) who has an absolutely wonderful accent (Toulouse
: perhaps, I'm not sure - but definitely south).
:
: I do love how folks trying so hard to be sophisticated call a Pinot
: Noir, "Pee-no NWA!"
:
: The "Pee-no" part is pretty close - a bit sharper perhaps.
:
: Mastering that soft rolling r is not easy for anglos.
:
: Americans also call Sauvignon Blanc "... blanque" - with the 'a' okay,
: but the hard c is a laugh. It is mute. Is that so hard? Some mangle
: the Sauvignon as well with the last sylable as "n-yawn"
:
: Ratatouille is another one Amercians can't do. They completely lose the
: 'L's at the end (though it is near mute) add an 'ee' on the end that in
: French is so faint as to be all but mute.

I know very little French, but my impression is that "-lle", like many French
word endings, comes and goes depending on the phoneme that follows it. In the
"French in Action" TV series that undertook to familiarize Americans with
French some years ago, the main female character was named "Mireille".
Sometimes the cast pronounced it "mee-ray", sometimes "mee-ray-yuh" (often
with the final vowel partially devoiced), depending on the context.

The last is correct, however it is very light. Mee-ray-uh - but the
'uh' very light to the edge of not being audible.


: To point - my SO made a very nice Ratatouille last week - though with a
: little basil and oregano - going off the recipe a tad and a great result.
:
: I have friends in the UK who are proficient in French. The combined
: accent is very charming. Je dis!

In Spanish the shibboleth (one of them anyway) is "saguaro". (It's a type of
cactus.) In Spanish the "gu" in that context is very weakly pronounced, but
it's there, often making its presence felt mainly through a subtle effect on
the meter and intonation of the utterance. An English speaker who knows little
or no Spanish will usually pronounce the word "sah-GWAR-oh", based on how "gu"
is pronounced in English. Those more confident of their understanding of
Spanish pronunciation than the reality warrants will deliberately omit the
"gu" and pronounce it "sa-WAH-roe", which is also wrong. (FWIW, the Spanish
spelling of that pronunciation would be "sahuaro".) Only those who have really
paid attention get it right. :^)

I get muted consonants, just not enough knowledge of Spanish to know
which and when.


BTW, everything said above relates to North American Spanish. Whether the same
applies in Spain and South America, I have no clue.

I can understand a little Spanish. In Venezuela it's easy to parse, in
Argentina more difficult. In Madrid I can't parse it well and they
seems almost as if they have a speech impediment on some words.


--
"I see!" said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.

On 2011-12-03 20:47 , Robert Coe wrote:
On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 09:10:14 -0800, John wrote:
: On 12/3/11 PDT 8:42 AM, Alan Browne wrote:
: On 2011-11-30 14:58 , tony cooper wrote:
: On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:05:17 +0000,
: wrote:
:
: wrote:
: Hyundai is a great example of the Western ear not being able to wrap
: its tongue around an oriental pronunciation. I have to agree that the
: nation with the least consistent pronunciation of almost anything, is
: the U.S.A. and I believe much of that can be attributed to the global
: "melting pot" nature of the American population.
: Then if you add in regional accents within many countries and
: continental regions all bets are off. Here the two most obvious
: culprits are North America, and the entire British Isles.
:
:
: I believe in praise where praise is due, in this case to the USA for
: having a standard pronunciation for each town and city name. So
: no-one is in any doubt how to pronounce Des Moines, for example.
:
: I have been in Des Moines and in Des Plaines (IL). The first is a
: "dee" and the second is a "dess".
:
: A lot of French in the midwest from the French colonial fur trading
: routes. One state has the state motto "L'étoil du nord".
:
: In French, "Des" should be pronounced like dé (a slightly sharp "day")
: in both cases.
:
: Moines should sound like "one" with an M sound front - the s is mute.
:
: Plaines should sound like "plenn" and the s is mute.
:
: A lot of distortion in French names in the US - as well as a lot of
: places that pronounce it close to French. Same applies to Spanish I
: suppose.
:
: Quite right. La Jolla comes to mind. Junipero Serra. Nice places to be
: in Hanuary!
:
: But Moines is not pronounced as a "one". Maybe in Canada, yes, but in
: French French, there's an "ahn" sound to fit in there. Not quite an
: "ahn" but a bit closer than a "one".
:
: I do love how folks trying so hard to be sophisticated call a Pinot
: Noir, "Pee-no NWA!"

Ah, don't get me started! "I'll just contribute "lay-mizzer-OBB" and then shut
up. :^|

Quite.


--
"I see!" said the blind man as he picked up his hammer and saw.

On Sun, 04 Dec 2011 09:30:37 -0500, Alan Browne
wrote:
: On 2011-12-03 22:02 , Robert Coe wrote:
: On Sat, 03 Dec 2011 16:47:06 -0500, Alan Browne
: wrote:
: : On 2011-12-03 12:10 , John McWilliams wrote:
: : On 12/3/11 PDT 8:42 AM, Alan Browne wrote:
: : On 2011-11-30 14:58 , tony cooper wrote:
: : On Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:05:17 +0000,
: : wrote:
: :
: : wrote:
: : Hyundai is a great example of the Western ear not being able to wrap
: : its tongue around an oriental pronunciation. I have to agree that the
: : nation with the least consistent pronunciation of almost anything, is
: : the U.S.A. and I believe much of that can be attributed to the global
: : "melting pot" nature of the American population.
: : Then if you add in regional accents within many countries and
: : continental regions all bets are off. Here the two most obvious
: : culprits are North America, and the entire British Isles.
: :
: :
: : I believe in praise where praise is due, in this case to the USA for
: : having a standard pronunciation for each town and city name. So
: : no-one is in any doubt how to pronounce Des Moines, for example.
: :
: : I have been in Des Moines and in Des Plaines (IL). The first is a
: : "dee" and the second is a "dess".
: :
: : A lot of French in the midwest from the French colonial fur trading
: : routes. One state has the state motto "L'étoil du nord".
: :
: : In French, "Des" should be pronounced like dé (a slightly sharp "day")
: : in both cases.
: :
: : Moines should sound like "one" with an M sound front - the s is mute.
: :
: : Plaines should sound like "plenn" and the s is mute.
: :
: : A lot of distortion in French names in the US - as well as a lot of
: : places that pronounce it close to French. Same applies to Spanish I
: : suppose.
: :
: : Quite right. La Jolla comes to mind. Junipero Serra. Nice places to be
: : in Hanuary!
: :
: : But Moines is not pronounced as a "one". Maybe in Canada, yes, but in
: : French French, there's an "ahn" sound to fit in there. Not quite an
: : "ahn" but a bit closer than a "one".
: :
: : Good catch. In French Canadian too, but it is fainter (almost wrote
: : "more faint" - are you happy?).
: :
: : And in France the regional differences are quite extreme. "Parisian"
: : French may be the reference (other than the large use of anglicisms,
: : patois and vulgarisms [I rent a lot of French movies and I'm often
: : gobsmacked at the meaning of some expressions]), but even as close as
: : Orléans accents change. In Marseille, accents (and grammar) are very
: : different. There is one news anchor on TV5 (brunette, short hair, blue
: : eyes, stunning) who has an absolutely wonderful accent (Toulouse
: : perhaps, I'm not sure - but definitely south).
: :
: : I do love how folks trying so hard to be sophisticated call a Pinot
: : Noir, "Pee-no NWA!"
: :
: : The "Pee-no" part is pretty close - a bit sharper perhaps.
: :
: : Mastering that soft rolling r is not easy for anglos.
: :
: : Americans also call Sauvignon Blanc "... blanque" - with the 'a' okay,
: : but the hard c is a laugh. It is mute. Is that so hard? Some mangle
: : the Sauvignon as well with the last sylable as "n-yawn"
: :
: : Ratatouille is another one Amercians can't do. They completely lose the
: : 'L's at the end (though it is near mute) add an 'ee' on the end that in
: : French is so faint as to be all but mute.
:
: I know very little French, but my impression is that "-lle", like many French
: word endings, comes and goes depending on the phoneme that follows it. In the
: "French in Action" TV series that undertook to familiarize Americans with
: French some years ago, the main female character was named "Mireille".
: Sometimes the cast pronounced it "mee-ray", sometimes "mee-ray-yuh" (often
: with the final vowel partially devoiced), depending on the context.
:
: The last is correct, however it is very light. Mee-ray-uh - but the
: 'uh' very light to the edge of not being audible.
:
:
: : To point - my SO made a very nice Ratatouille last week - though with a
: : little basil and oregano - going off the recipe a tad and a great result.
: :
: : I have friends in the UK who are proficient in French. The combined
: : accent is very charming. Je dis!
:
: In Spanish the shibboleth (one of them anyway) is "saguaro". (It's a type of
: cactus.) In Spanish the "gu" in that context is very weakly pronounced, but
: it's there, often making its presence felt mainly through a subtle effect on
: the meter and intonation of the utterance. An English speaker who knows little
: or no Spanish will usually pronounce the word "sah-GWAR-oh", based on how "gu"
: is pronounced in English. Those more confident of their understanding of
: Spanish pronunciation than the reality warrants will deliberately omit the
: "gu" and pronounce it "sa-WAH-roe", which is also wrong. (FWIW, the Spanish
: spelling of that pronunciation would be "sahuaro".) Only those who have really
: paid attention get it right. :^)
:
: I get muted consonants, just not enough knowledge of Spanish to know
: which and when.
:
:
: BTW, everything said above relates to North American Spanish. Whether the same
: applies in Spain and South America, I have no clue.
:
: I can understand a little Spanish. In Venezuela it's easy to parse, in
: Argentina more difficult. In Madrid I can't parse it well and they
: seems almost as if they have a speech impediment on some words.

In Spain, "c" before "e" or "i" is pronounced like English voiceless "th",
rather than like "s", as it is in western-hemisphere Spanish. That phoneme is
rare in European languages (English and Greek being the only other notable
exceptions), so linguists have speculated as to how it got there. One of the
speculations is that one of the kings of Spain spoke with a lisp and that
those around him imitated his pronunciation to avoid embarrassing him. As I
recall, my college linguistics professor dismissed that explanation as silly,
but I don't know that the question has ever been definitively answered.

Bob

On 12/3/11 PDT 1:47 PM, Alan Browne wrote:
On 2011-12-03 12:10 , John McWilliams wrote:
On 12/3/11 PDT 8:42 AM, Alan Browne wrote:

Quite right. La Jolla comes to mind. Junipero Serra. Nice places to be
in Hanuary!

But Moines is not pronounced as a "one". Maybe in Canada, yes, but in
French French, there's an "ahn" sound to fit in there. Not quite an
"ahn" but a bit closer than a "one".

Good catch. In French Canadian too, but it is fainter (almost wrote
"more faint" - are you happy?).

Ecstatic! Couldn't be more happy over folks recalling what I wrote, and
applying it!
Mon Dieu! L'ironie, c'est moi!

On 12/4/11 PDT 7:22 AM, Robert Coe wrote:


In Spain, "c" before "e" or "i" is pronounced like English voiceless "th",
rather than like "s", as it is in western-hemisphere Spanish. That phoneme is
rare in European languages (English and Greek being the only other notable
exceptions), so linguists have speculated as to how it got there. One of the
speculations is that one of the kings of Spain spoke with a lisp and that
those around him imitated his pronunciation to avoid embarrassing him. As I
recall, my college linguistics professor dismissed that explanation as silly,
but I don't know that the question has ever been definitively answered.

I think your profethor wath thilly. I was a mere child when that
happened, so can't opine directly.