Oregon & Uranus

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

The problem with saying that one word is pronounced like another, is that your reader may not share your pronunciation of that other word.

I’ve always said “Or - (e) - gun”, with the middle syllable barely there. The last syllable has a schwa for a vowel. I was born in 1961 by the way.

I have also heard many people say what I would describe as “Or - e - gahn”, but that always sounds wrong to me.

I’ve never heard it said to rhyme with the word gone. That one sounds like “gawn” or “gaun” in my dialect.

22

Doesn’t Orgone have something to do with a Kate Bush video?

23

Sometimes I cannot tell whether a person is speaking of the state or of a noble gas.

24

Thread title make me wanna scream, “What are ‘Two places you can’t pump your own gas’, Alex!”

25

No. The classical Greek (transliterated) is Ouranos, which I think is pronounced something like oo-RAH-nos.

26

I cannot ever recall Uranus being pronounced as “your anus,” except for TV shows in which it was probably deliberately done as a joke. It was usually “urine-nus” - which, of course, sounds bad in its own right.

There’s just no way that name can sound good no matter what.

27

Says the guy who lives in Nevahda.

28

There’s a tendency in English for unstressed vowels to become schwas. I have always pronounced it ORE-uh-gun, and that’s how I usually hear it pronounced.

29

When I moved to Oregon in 1960, everybody was diligently ontask to make sure I pronounced it like
“organ” with a faint vowel hitch between the R and the G.

30

In school, in the 1950s, it was “your anus” and nobody snickered, because kids in those days didn’t know what an anus was.

31

Anyone claiming that we pronounce it “Orygin” is pulling it out of theranus.

32

I was born in 1950, and by 6th Grade we certainly knew that word. Snickering would ensue. 1962, but still.

33

I pronounce “Oregon” as instructed by the locals:

“DAM-site-better-than-callie-fornyah”

Turns out the “g” is silent.

34

Well, it wouldn’t be very healthy, but there’s no law against pumping gas into Ur-anus…

Personally, I live in (and pronounce it) Nogero, but I’m kind of backward that way.

35

If you think a ‘j’ was endorsed or suggested by anyone upthread, there may be confusion. Perhaps we need to bump the Phonetic Transcription thread. :slight_smile:

36

One guy who said he went to school down there told me the locals pronounce it like “engway”, but we always said it like “enegoo”. Was he having me on?

37

Funny someone mentioned the sportscasters prompting the correct pronouncing of “Oregon”. The same sportscasters are responsible for the mispronouncing of Wesconsin.

38

41-Year old, lived my entire life in Washington State.
There is a lot of variety on how you pronounce the first two syllables. Most people prounounce it or-a-gun, with the middle syllable done quickly but never omitted. A few say ore-a-gun, while a lot more pronounce it or-ah-gun or or-eh-gun. I almost never hear OR-y-gun in this state. The one thing everyone agrees is NEVER rhyme with “gone”.
By the way, what’s with the people pronouncing this state as war-sheen-ton?

39

All I know is I can see Uranus quite clearly tonight.

40

Sorry, I forgot tot close the blinds.