# Pronunciation of "Rodeo"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 22, 2006, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209 "2006-12-22T11:07:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2006, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/41 "2006-12-22T21:24:47Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray]
I think this was a joke to the effect of “You fancy-shmancy Hollywood metrosexuals might affect a Spanishized pronunciation, but the the good old working-class folks around here are going to pronounce it the good old American way.”
[/QUOTE]
bingo!
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/42 "2006-12-22T21:36:43Z")
[QUOTE=lowbrass]
I’ve never heard it pronounced San Peedro, but I don’t know anyone who actually lives _in_ San Pedro. The radio traffic reporters use the Spanish pronounciation.
[/quote]
I’ve lived there, trust me. If you don’t, trust wikipedia:
> [@](#):
>
> The name of the town is pronounced by residents as San PEE-dro rather than its Spanish pronunciation, San PAY-dro.
> [@lowbrass](#):
>
> The first one. Like in bon-bon, Tom, Mom, or gone. That’s how caucasians say it, anyway.
It was a rhetorical question-- I’ve heard it pronounced both ways. And last I checked, Spaniards (who invented the language) are “Caucasians”. “English Speaker” is not a synonym for “Caucasian.”
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/43 "2006-12-22T21:50:38Z")
[QUOTE=indierock82]
Johnny Drama: Ma’am I think you mispronounced it. It’s “Row-DAY-oh”.
Woman: Oh no, when your south of XX-street it’s pronounced “Row-de-oh”.
I’m aware that it can be pronounced two different ways depending on your mother language. But why would geography determine how you would pronounce it? From what I understand, south of the nicer part of beverly hills isn’t a predominantly hispanic, but rather, a black neighborhood (like it was in entourage).
[/QUOTE]
The answer to OP has nothing to do with “correct” pronunciation, or trendiness, etc.
There are two different streets in L.A. county, not too far apart, that are spelled the same way–one is Rodeo Dr., the other Rodeo Rd. The local custom is that it’s easier to disinguish between the two by pronouncing the Dr. as “ro-DAY-o,” and the Rd. as “RO-dee-o.” (As a one-time taxi driver there I found it convenient when we still had voice dispatch.) The Dr. runs SE to NW, and is part in BH, part in LA. The Rd. is about 5 or 7 miles to the southeast of the Dr., and is completely in LA. They don’t come near to each other at all.
I haven’t seen the TV show mentioned, but the notion that there is a “ghetto” part of BH can only be facetious. It’s a joke in that it is relatively less affluent than the residential area of BH above the commercial part of Rodeo Dr. The lower part in reference is mainly a quiet, middle-class area with mostly single-family homes with large well-trimed lawns, inhabited by a good mix of whites (many Iranian), blacks, and just about every other ethnic/racial group you can think of.
Rodeo Rd. is not really in a “ghetto,” though some might think it is. It’s mostly Latino and Black.
In my 2-1/2 years of taxiing, I never heard anyone call Rodeo Dr. “RO-ee-o.”
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### Author:  [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)
#### Post date: [December 22, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/44 "2006-12-22T23:20:40Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace]
I’ve lived there, trust me. If you don’t, trust wikipedia:
[/quote]
Why so defensive? I said I’ve never talked to anyone who lived there. Ergo, I am not claiming to know how the residents pronounce it.
> [@](#):
>
> It was a rhetorical question-- I’ve heard it pronounced both ways. And last I checked, Spaniards (who invented the language) are “Caucasians”. “English Speaker” is not a synonym for “Caucasian.”
Wow. Get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? I’m not your enemy, (although you’re beginning to change that).
“Non-spanish white people” then, or whatever you want to call us. Sheesh - you _really_ didn’t know what I meant? :rolleyes: I grew up in Contra Costa County. Believe me, I know how people pronounce it.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/45 "2006-12-23T00:25:24Z")
This can-o-worms thread might get along more smoothly if we used the IPA. It’s just that I don’t know how to do it in the “Reply to Thread” mode. Maybe **Polycarp** can help.
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/46 "2006-12-23T00:42:02Z")
[QUOTE=lowbrass]
Why so defensive? I said I’ve never talked to anyone who lived there. Ergo, I am not claiming to know how the residents pronounce it.
[/quote]
Well, I couldn’t understand what point you were tying to make by saying you’d never heard anyone pronounce it that way since you hadnt heard any locals do so and I explicitly said that only locals pronounce it that way.
> [@](#):
>
> . Get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? I’m not your enemy, (although you’re beginning to change that).
That’s a decision you are free to make.
> [@](#):
>
> “Non-spanish white people” then, or whatever you want to call us. Sheesh - you _really_ didn’t know what I meant? :rolleyes: I grew up in Contra Costa County. Believe me, I know how people pronounce it.
No, I didn’t know what you meant, and there have been any number of posters coming onto this board who would use that term incorrctly. I have no idea if you’re one of those posters or not. If you can’t tolerate having your mistakes correcte, then you shouldn’t post in GQ, because it’s going to happen a lot. Trust me. 😉
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/47 "2006-12-23T00:42:33Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo]
I am just saying that in Spanish, the O sounds not like in “toe” but more like in “awe” (or “eau” in french)
Same for the E that sounds as in “bet” and not as in “may”
[/QUOTE]
Also, we should keep in mind that letters don’t “sound.” Put your ear up to the page of a book, and listen carefully. You won’t hear anything, unless you’re crazy. Letters are symbols we use to represent spoken language. They are not symbols which dictate how we decide to pronounce things. Babies don’t study printed pronunciation keys before they start to talk.
And by the same token, to talk of English vowels as either "long’ or “short” letters doesn’t do the language justice; it makes them binary. By that logic, English would have only ten vowels. The letters we use to represent spoken English can vary beyond the binary. Take the letters which represent the vowels of these words: _hot_, _work_, _remote_, and _mother_. Putting them into two categories (“long” and “short” “O”) doesn’t help at all.
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### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/48 "2006-12-23T01:22:22Z")
[QUOTE=guizot]
Also, we should keep in mind that letters don’t “sound.” Put your ear up to the page of a book, and listen carefully. You won’t hear anything, unless you’re crazy.
[/QUOTE]
I am disappointed at your ignorance. Punch the little hole of the O and blow on it. It makes a distinctive whistling sound. You are just not listening hard enough.
I am not disappointed at the thread, though. Never has a discussion about so little given so much.
😉
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### Author:  [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/49 "2006-12-23T12:39:36Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo]
not trying to be nitpicky. I just get a real kick of trying to write foreign languages in hack phonetics. 🙂
And I strongly disagree with your they/day suggestion. D is definitely D in spanish never TH not in any spanish “dialect” I know.
And, yes the R is RRRRRR. with gusto!
[/QUOTE]
D between two vowels is pronounced closer to “th.” That’s basic Spanish pronunciation
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/50 "2006-12-23T13:43:51Z")
[QUOTE=guizot]
This can-o-worms thread might get along more smoothly if we used the IPA. It’s just that I don’t know how to do it in the “Reply to Thread” mode. Maybe **Polycarp** can help.
[/QUOTE]
See my link in Post No. 26 for a link to ASCII IPA. It’s very useful on message boards like this.
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### Author:  [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/51 "2006-12-23T15:07:47Z")
Both versions are common in Australia,I don’t find about a Spanish influence down here.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/52 "2006-12-23T15:25:15Z")
[QUOTE=11811]
D between two vowels is pronounced closer to “th.” That’s basic Spanish pronunciation
[/QUOTE]
My guess is this might be basic to Castilian, but not necessarily to Latin American Spanish. But I’m no expert in Spanish dialects.
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### Author:  [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/53 "2006-12-23T17:41:51Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus]
As far as I know the cowboy event is always “roh-dee-oh” in English, unless the speaker is intentionally affecting the Spanish word.
[/QUOTE]
Except the one in Salinas, California, which for some reason is always the California Rodeo (Ro-DAY-o). I do not know why.
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### Author:  [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/54 "2006-12-23T17:50:16Z")
[QUOTE=acsenray]
My guess is this might be basic to Castilian, but not necessarily to Latin American Spanish. But I’m no expert in Spanish dialects.
[/QUOTE]
It isn’t dependent on the dialect.
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/55 "2006-12-23T18:29:42Z")
FWIW, the town of Rodeo, CA (North of SF, on San Pablo bay, in the aforementioned Contra Costa County) uses the Ro-DAY-o pronunciation. A much less tonier place than the drive in Beverly Hills.
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### Author:  [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/56 "2006-12-23T19:02:55Z")
[QUOTE=11811]
D between two vowels is pronounced closer to “th.”
[/QUOTE]
than to what? D in spanish sounds more like the D in Day than the TH in They.
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### Author:  [@CBEscapee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBEscapee)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/57 "2006-12-23T19:45:49Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo]
And I strongly disagree with your they/day suggestion. D is definitely D in spanish never TH not in any spanish “dialect” I know.
And the D in english sounds a bit like an R for us, so you are right in that it would be somewhere in between D and TH. But without the “airy” sound of the TH.
true, if there is no vowel after it, that’s a different sound (one simply ommitted by many!)
than to what? D in spanish sounds more like the D in Day than the TH in They.
[/QUOTE]
Make up your mind.
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### Author:  [@lowbrass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lowbrass)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/58 "2006-12-23T20:22:09Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace]
No, I didn’t know what you meant, and there have been any number of posters coming onto this board who would use that term incorrctly. I have no idea if you’re one of those posters or not. If you can’t tolerate having your mistakes correcte, then you shouldn’t post in GQ, because it’s going to happen a lot. Trust me. 😉
[/QUOTE]
Actually, I’ve posted a number of times in GQ, and you’re the first person who has posted a hostile response regarding some nitpicky crap due to your inexplicably having a chip on your shoulder. I find it hard to believe you couldn’t figure out from the context that I meant “caucasian” _as opposed to_ hispanic. I think you are being willfully obtuse in order to generate controversy where none exists. If you want to pick fights, do it in the BBQ Pit, not GQ.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/59 "2006-12-23T20:25:07Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace]
. The city of San Jose now writes its name as San José, but most people still say something like “san-uh-zay” (not a noticible accent on any of the syllables). .
[/QUOTE]
Having attened quite a few Council meetings, I can tell you, that tilde or no tilde, it’s nigh always “San Hoezay”, agreed no big accent anywhere.
The Calgary Roundup, the biggest rodeo, uses “row de ow” or “ROE de oh” (pronounced the same, different ways or writing it.)
But also having lived in San Pedro, I agree it was :“San PEE-dro rather than its Spanish pronunciation, San PAY-dro.” I am not sure if it’s that way any longer, now that the Hispanic pop is so much higher than when we (or at least \*I \*) lived there.
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### Author:  [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2006, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pronunciation-of-rodeo/385209/60 "2006-12-23T21:19:18Z")
For mangled spanish, local versions, ask a local from Long Beach about the pronunciation of two of the streets there. First, Ximeno Avenue (yup, that’s the spelling) is locally pronounced “ECKS-zim-en-oe”, first sylable stressed. In Spanish, I’m told, a closer pronunciation would be “Hee-MAY-noe”. In standard English, the word is nearly unpronouncable :).
Then there’s the truly odd one: Junipero Avenue, pronounced locally, get ready, HWAN-ee-pear-oe. No explanation is possible.
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