[QUOTE=SisterCoyote]
No, we’ve been over this. It’s “Throatwarbler Mangrove,” but with a silent “w”. Sheesh.
[/QUOTE]
Unless, of course, you live in England, in which case the “b” is silent. And it’s a soft g.
I live in MI, where we have a city named Charlotte. Pronounced Shar- lot (accent on the lot).
My username is British - I pronounce it Ffffff. Betchall didn’t know that. 
[QUOTE=neutron star]
And in Louisiana, it’s LAFFY-ette.
[/QUOTE]
And in Lafayette County, Miss., its’ “luh-FET”. Reminds me of Bobba Fett for some reason. 
I remember a thread in which the OP said yes, her name was spelled Caroline, but pronounced Carolyn and she’d appreciate it if, once people were told that, they would remember it. Several posters insisted that she was simply spelling her name WRONG and how dare she insist on pronouncing it that way when everyone knows that “I-N-E” is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS pronounced with a long “I” sound. Sure, SHE may pronounce her own name that way, but that was her affectation and it was ridiculous of her to expect other people to go along with her. I believe someone even said something about the LAWS of ENGLISH.
Then I said my daughter’s name is Katherine, and so far no one has ever pronounced it with a long “I” sound.
I’m no fan of creative spellings (despite my own name*) but I’m pretty sure you’re allowed to spell your name any goddamn way you want.
(*My name is not spelled the standard way, but it’s only half of my full first name.)
[QUOTE=LifeOnWry]
I said my daughter’s name is Katherine, and so far no one has ever pronounced it with a long “I” sound.
[/QUOTE]
I work with someone named “Katherine” who pronounces it “KatherEEEEEn.”
Makes me scrEEEEEEEm.
I’ve been trying to think of an area that was settled by non-pioneer types.
[QUOTE=Zoe]
I’ve been trying to think of an area that was settled by non-pioneer types.
[/QUOTE]
Do penal colonies count?
Penises always pioneer, such eager flag planters.
[QUOTE=brownie55]
What’s your take on Brett Favre then?
[/QUOTE]
Honestly, I’ve never heard of him (or is it her?) but the name’s spelled correctly at least.
[QUOTE=Hilarity N. Suze]
“Racheal” is a variant spelling, kind of like “Shelia.” I have seen both of these spellings, but in every case I know about they have been wrongfully applied to people whose actual names were “Rachael” and “Sheila.”.
[/QUOTE]
If it was just a variant spelling (Rachel/Raichel or Sheela/Sheala) it wouldn’t be so bad (well, okay, ‘Sheala’ is bloody 'orrible), but misspellings like ‘Racheal’ and ‘Shelia’ just can’t be read in any (sensible) way to align with the pronunciation they’re being given.
I’m perfectly okay with someone telling me that ‘Aisling’ is pronounced ‘Ashlyn’ because it’s Celtic, for example. But to my knowledge there’s no language in which Racheal is pronounced ‘Ray-chell’, nor one in which ‘Shell-ee-ah’ (or is it ‘Shell-eye-ah’?) becomes ‘Shee-la’.
If it turns out I’m wrong, and somewhere in the world you actually get ‘Shee-la’ out of ‘Shelia’, then I’ll immediately build a bridge and get over this little pet hate.
My best friend’s brother has a daughter named ‘Sarai’. I’m assured it’s pronounced ‘Sarah’. To me, it just looks like they ran out of room on the birth certificate and only got the first stroke of the ending letter. 
[QUOTE=Zoe]
I’ve been trying to think of an area that was settled by non-pioneer types.
[/QUOTE]
Aw, Zoe, it’s so sweet of you to try to help me with the lack of precision in my writing. I’ll try harder, but I’m afraid I might be a hopeless case. 
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena]
Aw, Zoe, it’s so sweet of you to try to help me with the lack of precision in my writing. I’ll try harder, but I’m afraid I might be a hopeless case.
[/QUOTE]
No, you’re not. The Pilgrims were not pioneers. Mostly they were completely clueless and lost. If the Indians hadn’t helped them, they’d have been dead in a year, IMO.
And Australia was not first colonized by pioneers, but by “hardened” convicts who were also clueless as to botany, most hunting skills and other survival needs.
What were we talking about again? Oh, pitting CS. Carry on!
[QUOTE=Bites When Provoked]
My best friend’s brother has a daughter named ‘Sarai’. I’m assured it’s pronounced ‘Sarah’. To me, it just looks like they ran out of room on the birth certificate and only got the first stroke of the ending letter.
[/QUOTE]
Sarai was the name of Abram’s wife before God changed their names to Abraham and Sarah.
The ex-wife of one of my boys has two daughters (one his, her older sister the product of a romance before they married). Their names are Katelynn and Jazzmine. And yes, she knows how to spell the standard names of like/similar pronunciation; she wanted unique names for her girls.
Our church’s secretary is a Shelia, spelled that way. We formerly knew a DeWayne, a nice guy who was forever correcting the over-officious “correction” of his given name to Duane or Dwayne.
Carol Stream has seemed to me someone who was invincibly convinced of the absolute rightness of her own opinions, and the terrible error of anyone who dared disagree – and belligerent in stating them, to boot. I may be misreading her, but she’s shown little if any willingness to convince others to agree with her by sweet reason – she said it, so by the Almighty it must be so!
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena]
I’m going to assume that what I’ve heard was an aberration (or a joke?)
[/QUOTE]
I’m from the West and Northwest burbs so the first time I heard of that town was when Little Tommy and Your Ol’ Uncle Lar told us about Contented Linda Grace of Bourbonnais and they pronounced it “bur-bun-nay.” You’re not telling me that Larry Lujack was lying to us, are you?
(shrugging) Pronounciations change. When “Dragnet” was still on the radio Los Angeles was still pronounced with a hard G.
ETA: No, Contented Linda Grace was not going to be alright.
[QUOTE=dropzone]
I’m from the West and Northwest burbs so the first time I heard of that town was when Little Tommy and Your Ol’ Uncle Lar told us about Contented Linda Grace of Bourbonnais and they pronounced it “bur-bun-nay.” You’re not telling me that Larry Lujack was lying to us, are you?
[/QUOTE]
Uncle Lar would NEVER lie to us! Not even about intermingling of the species!
But what does he know? He’s not from here, and when he did live here, he lived in Palatine, which is where I’m from. A long way from Burr-bone-iss! 
As I said to WhyNot and Eleanorigby, it seems that, at least in the Chicago area, bur-bun-nay is the standard pronunciation. I have heard it pronounced the other way, but I can’t prove it, so what can I say?
Oh yeah? Spent much of my youth in Arlington Heights, but the DJs around me were a bit downmarket from Lujack.
[QUOTE=dropzone]
Oh yeah? Spent much of my youth in Arlington Heights, but the DJs around me were a bit downmarket from Lujack.
[/QUOTE]
Great town…my dad grew up there (proud grad of the long-closed Arlington HS), and we lived there until I was 7.
(To everyone else…fascinating, I know. )
[QUOTE=Polycarp]
Carol Stream has seemed to me someone who was invincibly convinced of the absolute rightness of her own opinions, and the terrible error of anyone who dared disagree – and belligerent in stating them, to boot. I may be misreading her, but she’s shown little if any willingness to convince others to agree with her by sweet reason – she said it, so by the Almighty it must be so!
[/QUOTE]
Careful, Poly, she might come in and revoke your Christianity!
[QUOTE=dropzone]
Oh yeah? Spent much of my youth in Arlington Heights, but the DJs around me were a bit downmarket from Lujack.
[/QUOTE]
I babysat once for Lujack’s stepson. I believe the moniker “little snot-nose” was coined for him, and then later applied to Tommy Edwards.
(I’m originally from the NW side of Chicago, then out to the 'burbs, briefly up to Lake County -where my younger sister was one of the down market DJs- then out thisaway.)