# Jaguar pronunciation in commercials **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 27, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776 "2003-06-27T15:59:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/1 "2003-06-27T15:59:21Z")
I’ve noticed that in Jaguar commercials, they pronounce it “jag-yoo-ar,” rather than “jag-war.” Is this an accepted alternate pronunciation, or is it just some faux artsy crap? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/2 "2003-06-27T16:03:14Z")
That’s the British pronunciation–of both the car and the animal. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/3 "2003-06-27T16:39:48Z")
In my English Lit. course in college, the instructor pronounced “Don Joo-ahn,” because Lord Byron had written it. If it had been written by a Spaniard, I’m sure he would have called it “Don Hwahn.” In fact, I was listening to a car dealer commercial on the way home last night. The announcer on the pre-recorded part of the commercial (presumably from the national advertising agency) pronounced it a “jag-wahr.” The announcer on the local tag (presumably under orders from the local dealer) very deliberately called it a jag-oo-ahr." ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/4 "2003-06-27T16:45:31Z")
And speaking of pronunciation in auto commercials when did they change FI-nancing to fy-NAN-cing??? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/5 "2003-06-27T16:46:17Z")
They can pronounce it however they wish, but I do wish they’d stick to the same pronunciation within the same commercial, or even within the same series of commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/6 "2003-06-27T16:51:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hampshire \* > \*\*And speaking of pronunciation in auto commercials when did they change FI-nancing to fy-NAN-cing??? \*\* Where are you that they pronounce it like that? I’ve never heard that, ever. ---
**Author:** ![mcbiggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@mcbiggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcbiggins)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/7 "2003-06-27T18:19:58Z")
Heh. After moving from the southern U.S. to Canada I quickly noticed that commercials for the make of car I had always called “mahz-duh” called it “maaz-dah”. Every time I try to say it that way i feel like I’m doing a bad Brooklynese impression. “Youse gotta get the paas-tah from the maaz-dah.” I just can’t do it with a straight face. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/8 "2003-06-27T19:07:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Q.E.D. \* > \*\*Where are you that they pronounce it like that? I’ve never heard that, ever. \*\* I hear it all the time. Actually the general (but not absolute) rule for syllable accent on a two-syllable word that can be used both as a noun and a verb is for the accent to fall on the first syllable for a noun, second syllable for the verb (i.e., convert, confines). I’ve heard fuh-NAN-cing (from fuh-NANCE for “giving a loan for”) a lot and I think it’s perfectly acceptable, though today is probably not prevalent. See Item 3 on Summary of Accent Patterns (note: this link is for a PDF file). [http://www.epsbooks.com/lesson\_packs/0100000027.pdf](http://www.epsbooks.com/lesson_packs/0100000027.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/9 "2003-06-27T19:46:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kunilou \* > \*\*In fact, I was listening to a car dealer commercial on the way home last night. The announcer on the pre-recorded part of the commercial (presumably from the national advertising agency) pronounced it a “jag-wahr.” The announcer on the local tag (presumably under orders from the local dealer) very deliberately called it a jag-oo-ahr." \*\* I posted something like this months ago (years ago? To a different board maybe? I forget now…), except in my case it was the National Ad campaign that had the woman with a ‘British’ accent saying jag-u-war, and the ‘American’ male voice in the local dealership part saying jag-wahr. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/10 "2003-06-29T18:59:40Z")
My friends made fun of me when I first moved here (to the US, from Britain), because I said “My Mum is buying a Jag-yoo-ar”… I’d always thought everyone knew that was how you said it. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/11 "2003-06-29T20:13:50Z")
During a plane flight from London to Los Angeles, I happened to sit next to a woman who did the voice-over for several of the Jaguar commercials. She was from England, and naturally pronounced it “Jag-oo-ar.” She said that the advertising company who produced the commercials wanted it to be pronounced that way, even in the American market, because it sounded, in her words, “exotic.” So, there you go. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/12 "2003-06-29T23:53:17Z")
If you want to be really exotic and authentic, you could go to the Spanish “HAH-gwar.” I don’t know what los indios called the cat before the Spaniards came. The cat herself probably called the name “rreeowwr.” There’s no need to be snobby about it. Even the deeply American “JAG-wire” is just another variation. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/13 "2003-06-30T00:02:21Z")
Well if we aren’t going to be snobby about it, who will? And you can’t go around saying things are “just a variation”- I mean if all of our presidential candidates started saying nuclular you wouldn’t know who to vote for now would you? ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/14 "2003-06-30T04:57:29Z")
Jag-wire…that’s what my Mom calls it. I noticed here in the States, Hyundai is pronounced “hun-day” but in Ireland (and presumably in the U.K. and the rest of Europe) its pronounced “hoon-dye”. The French pronounce Cadillac as “caddy-yack”. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Physiognomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@The\_Physiognomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Physiognomist)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/15 "2003-06-30T05:35:49Z")
Well, the Hyundai dealers around here have started saying “hon-duh”. They claim that’s the correct Korean pronounciation. What a coincidence, eh? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/16 "2003-06-30T05:38:22Z")
My Hyundai dealer (I drive one and its actually rather good) said Hun-day… I have a Korean friend who says something closer to Hun-dye though. ---
**Author:** ![mecaenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/91b2a8/32.png) [@mecaenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mecaenas)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/17 "2003-06-30T10:45:17Z")
In Australia we pronounce Jaguar as “jag-yoo-are” and Hyundai as “high-yoon-die”. ---
**Author:** ![RM\_Mentock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@RM\_Mentock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RM_Mentock)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/18 "2003-06-30T11:00:19Z")
I heard an ad just the other day–but it sounded like what SirRay heard years ago, just the opposite of what kunilou heard. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/19 "2003-06-30T16:14:24Z")
**AskNott** > [@](#): > > Even the deeply American “JAG-wire” is just another variation. _Jag-yoo-are_ is an automobile. _Jag-waaahr_ is a big cat. _Jag-wire_ is an operating system. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776/20 "2003-06-30T16:23:18Z")
And [/ is the beginning of the code to end bloody #^@#@ _italics_ when you’re done with them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jaguar-pronunciation-in-commercials/184776.md?page=2)