Kind of. It is actually the English word ‘quay’, but that word in Ireland seems to have absorbed the matching pronunciation of the Irish word meaning the same thing.
I remember some weird memory test (Jerry Lewis mentions it every now and then) that begins one hen, two ducks, three squawking geese, four limerick oysters, etc
Here’s a site:
http://cheesecakeandfriends.com/Troop1440/songs/OneHenTwoDucks.htm
Anyway, if that isn’t obscure enough, a local DJ (Boston) used to play a “song” (about a minute) of all 10 items. Yes, there is a point to all this. This was the first time I was ever made aware of the word “quay” which I might add was mispronounced as “KWAY” in the song.
Thank you.
Hunh. I memorized this version:
A big fat hen
A couple of ducks
Three big brown bears
Four running hares
Five fat frivolous females
Six simple Simons sitting on a fence
Seven Sicilian sailors sailing the seven seas
Eight egotistical egotists eagerly echoing egotistical ecstasies
Nine nubile nudes nibbling nibbling nuts, nickels and nicotine
I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit, upon the slitted sheet I sit.
I am Canadian. That is why I mentioned that most everybody I know called Norquay Norkway.
UK place names which incorporate it have the ‘kee’ sound - Newquay, Torquay.
[Slight hijack] the Welsh ‘cae’, mentioned (and mistranslated, it means field not fence or hedge) in the etymology link, is pronounced to rhyme with ‘eye’ though so I’m not sure of the connection. Modern Welsh dictionaries give ‘cei’ (to rhyme with ‘kay’) as the translation of ‘quay’ but which came first I don’t know. [slight hijack]
My semi-educated guess is that the word ‘quai’ (kay) came over with the normans and, as with a lot of words, the pronunciation got mangled as a new language evolveded.
That link doesn’t indicate a link between the Welsh ‘cae’ and ‘quay’ - it suggests they are each independently derived from earlier languages, and French influenced the spelling of ‘quay’ at a later stage.
“Quichotte” is the French spelling: “kee-showt”. This has its origins in the original Spanish pronunciation, “kee-show-tay” (more or less.) Modern Spanish has “kee-ho-tay” (or “cho” with the “ch” of “Channukah” or “Bach” if you’re a Spaniard.)
It doesn’t?
I understand bay to mean a natural inlet from the sea (or a lake, I suppose) and a dock to be a man-made construction for ships or boats. I’m sure many bays have docks built in them.
Frankly, it doesn’t make sense in my American English either. In my mind, if you’re sitting on (or, rather, in) a dock, then you’re getting wet. I prefer to sit on the pier where I can stay dry.
‘Dock by the bay’, or ‘dock on the bay*’, make sense to me. But not ‘of’.
Ah. I get you. :smack:
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Strictly speaking, the dock is the place where the boat goes. The pier is the thing you walk on. (Or wharf if it’s parallel to the shore.)
Hardly anyone makes this distinction, though.
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Point taken GorillaMan
(translation was still faulty tho’)
www.dictionary.com gives ‘pier or wharf’ as one of several definitions of dock.
Agreed. (Not that I’ve any reason or knowledge with which to disagree )
Anyone know if [url=“http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/directors/tbrothers/”]these guys
[/quote]
pronounce their names “Kee” as well? I’m pretty familiar with their work but can’t remember if I ever actually heard their names pronounced out loud (at least by someone who would rightly know).
Crap. Sorry about the coding. Fixed link
It’s “Brothers Kway.”
And it figures the dictionary would say that now, GorillaMan.
There’s a good deal of confusion among educated English speakers how it should be pronounced. I think William Safire once did a column about the controversy. As best I can recall, what he said was more or less the same as what Wikipedia says: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote#Spelling_and_pronunciation
The adjective quixotic is always pronounced “quick-sot-ick” in my experience. Something to keep in mind when you use it in that cut-throat Scrabble game.
As the former editor of the *Quay County Sun *in Tucumcari, New Mexico, here in Quay County we pronounce it “Kway.” I can also add that the people of Quay, New Mexico, a community about 20 miles south of Tucumcari pronounce their community as “Kway”.
That being said, the people in this area also pronounce the word “shit” as “chit”.
Not to mention that emminent rocker, Quay Lewd.
(The “real name” of the Tube’s front man is Fee Waybill, which is almost as silly. It appears that he was born “John Waldo”)