Please insert “say” into the appropriate place in my last.
Thank you.
There should probably be another thread along the lines of “pronunciations that show you’re not from around here”. There is Houston (House-ton) Ave. in NYC, which the uninformed pronounce like the city in Texas, and Peabody (PEEbidee), MA, which newbies pronounce like the cartoon character. And out-of-towners shouldn’t even attempt Worchester, MA (Woostah).
Here in Alaska, newbies say “Vahl-DEZ”, instead of “Val-DEEZ”, and “SEEward” instead of “SOO-werd” (the historical figure notwithstanding).
I always thought the most common mispronunced California locales were La Jolla (my gf kept saying “la jaw-la”) and Yosemite (my father used to say it like he was calling to a Jew on the other side of a street in Philadelphia).
sailor-"*The vowels in Spanish, as in most languages that used the Roman alphabet, English being the exception, have short, brief, sounds and not the English long ones:
a = ah as in father (think of “la” in Spanish)
e = eh (think of “te” in Spanish)
i = ee as in geek (think of “ti” in Spanish)
o = short o as in pot
u = ooh (think of “tu” in Spanish)
Anyone who says rodeo is pronounced ro-day-o in Spanish does not know the most basic thing about Spanish pronunciation.*"
Maybe you’re the one that doesn’t know the most basic thing about Spanish pronunciation-
http://www.tomzap.com/sp_key.html
“o – for a syllable ending in a vowel, like the o in vote; for a syllable ending in a consonant, like the o in pot”
Could be but probably very unlikely.
Pronounciation of vowels in Spanish, Italian, and related languages depends on the quality of the syllable. Amazingly, for the most part, pronounciation of English vowels follows similar rules, though the actual sounds which are considered the “long” and “short” versions are different from most other European languages, especially with regard to “a” “e” and “i”.
While it would be improper for someone to assert that the actual vowel sound for the “e” in the spanish word rodeo would be the same as used by an English speaker for the vowel sound in “say,” the “e” would be given a long quality, since the syllable involved is of long quality, having the pattern CV. Think of it as the “long a” in “fate” without the little dipthong glide at the end into the long “e” sound.
With this thought in mind, sailor might want to go back and learn some pronounciation rules… 
Bear in mind that there is a Salinas in Kansas, too. How is that one pronounced?
Mapquest didn’t find a Salinas in Kansas. There is a Salina, Kansas, and it’s pronounced suh-LIE-nuh.
Just a slight nit pick. Its Houston Street not Avenue. The reason its pronounced “House-ton” is becasue the man it was named after, from Georgia I believe (or at least his family was), pronounced it that way.
I did a quick google and found this link:
The street name Houston (SAMPA /"haUst@n/) confuses many people from outside of New York because the letters “ou” are pronounced as in the word house, whereas the same letters in the name of the city of Houston, Texas (SAMPA /"hju:st@n/ or /"ju:st@n/) are pronounced like the “u” in huge. This is due to the fact that Houston Street was named for a Georgia politician, William Houstoun (1755-1813) (note that the spelling is different), long before the fame of Sam Houston who is honored by the name of the Texas city.
There is no salinas in Kansas. There’s a salina, which is pronounced as “Sa-lye-nuh”.
Salinas here was named after a series of shallow lakes that line the valley the town is situated. It’s a Spanish word. meaning “Salt pools”
Sorry, but they’re correct. You’re messing up either your Spanish or your English.
Rodeo in Spanish is most definitely pronounced roe-deh-oh.
Except the o can also be sounded as the o in vote. At least in Latin American usage.
To be clear though, for me and most other American English speakers the pronunciation of eh and ay are nearly identical and if I were to try and sound out a word in English off the top of my head, I would use the two interchangeably since they sound almost exactly alike to my ears.
Fine, then how would you pronounce it in Spanish?
I’ll have to ask my Spanish teacher :rolleyes:
In a related vein, is Cabrillo pronounced “Cah-bree-oh” or “Ca-brill-o”?
I already had “Ro-day-oh Drive” down, but it’s going to take some time to get used to “San Pee-dro”…
Local guy checking in:
Just for the record, the name Rodeo comes from Rodeo de las Aguas, which was the name of the old Spanish rancho that covered much of what today is Beverly Hills.
The name, meaning “Meeting Of The Waters”, refers to the fact that streams used to flow out from the hills above, along what today is Coldwater Canyon, Benedict Canyon, and Beverly Drive. The streams all met at about the point where the Beverly Hills Hotel stands today, and Beverly Drive and Benedict Canyon issue forth into Sunset Boulevard.
Thanks for the correction. (And I even made a quick Google check to make sure I had the name right. Should have looked harder at the results.)
[QUOTE=rjung]
In a related vein, is Cabrillo pronounced “Cah-bree-oh” or “Ca-brill-o”?
[QUOTE]
Generally, around these parts, it’s Ca-bree-yo. For some reason, us Californians can handle the double-l in Cabrillo, but the double-l in Vallejo doesn’t make it.
Back to the OP: it depends on context. if you want to sound like a cowboy, it’s RO-dee-o. If you want to sound properly Spanish, it’s ro-DAY-o. Looks like Beverly Hills opted for the latter.
There’s also a Celina, Ohio, pronounced like the Salina in Kansas. Celina, Ohio, apparently was named after Salina, New York, with an intentional spelling change.
With my dialect, if you tell me to pronounce “eh,” you’re going to get a schwa - which is dead wrong.
Telling me to pronounce it like the “ay” in “say,” while not the right sound, is a great deal closer.
In other words, telling me that the sound is “eh” rather than “ay” is only true if we pronounce “eh” and “ay” the same way.
Cabrillo is from the explorer who discovered what is now the state of California. This man was possibly Portuguese by birth, and was known in his lifetime by his Portuguese version of his name, João Rodriguez Cabrilho. But he spent most of his known life in the Spanish New World, and was working for Spain when he discovered California. His Spanish name was Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. In Spanish, the “ll” is a rolled sound similar to our letter “y”. I believe (speakers of the language can help by being more precise) that Portuguese “lh” is not much different.
My favorite similar story has to do with finding in Sacramento a “John Cabrillo Elementary School.” This made me laugh.
OK I’m a little confused, when I lived in Ca in the 70’s Mission Vijello was pronounced Ve-ya-ho, with a long a sound.
Now for my mid-western confessions. Reading the early Travis McGee novels I thought he lived in La Jolla. Pronounced in english just as it looked with the la sound. I subsequently moved to San Diego and learned the error of my ways. (By asking people where La Jolla was and getting dopey looks :o )
My biggest doof was when I got lost and stopped for directions and was told that I should continue on “El Cahone”. My helpers looked at me like I was a nut when I said "and where do I find “El Cahone?” They asked what road have you been driving on and I replied “El Cajun” as if it was El Cagin. I’m sure they continued to laugh after I left.