There’s both a roulette strategy* and a concept in probability theory called Martingale.
Just one quick question: How do you pronounce this? I was thinking of an English version (something like Martin Gayle), or a French pronunciation (Martuh Gull, in my quick ‘n’ easy phonetic transcription. Since I wasn’t able to find out the etymology of the name, I’m turning to the Teeming Millions.
[sub]*) And yes, I know that it’s not a recommendable strategy - just like any other roulette “system,” it’s unable to eliminate the house edge.[/sub]
You have it the way I’ve always heard it pronounced as it refers to the horseback equipment. Merriam-Webster lists it first, also. (And I’ve never heard their secondary way used.)
It is also the name of a common piece of horse equipment (its a sort of strap that limits how high a horse can lift its head – it doesn’t hold the horse’s head down though, it is intended to prevent horses that like to “flip” their heads from breaking your nose unexpectedly).
Anyhoo, in the horse world we pronounce it:
MART-ingayle
(there is a micropause between after the t, and the rest runs together)
My experience is with the horsey kind. Not the buy bulbs for casinos kind.
It is a subtle difference between pronouncing it Martin Gayle and Mart-ingale the break after mart- is more of a lift to the second part rather than a pause. I would never pronounce it Marting-ale.
For me, it rhymes with nightingale.