Trains.com

Pronunciation questions

15099 views
76 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    August 2006
  • From: St. Louis, MO
  • 432 posts
Posted by Ishmael on Saturday, October 20, 2012 7:13 PM

I'm across the river from Illinoi and it's still pronounced Kay-ro over there. Here in Missouri we call it Care-o We also have a town almost across the river called New Mad-drid..

Baltimore and Ohio-America's First Railroad
  • Member since
    September 2010
  • 339 posts
Posted by efftenxrfe on Friday, October 19, 2012 10:20 PM

When I retired we addressed the UP's mech. group of advisors as "goodwrench" and they were good.

The only unit left of three, run-thru's ran out of fuel, died as we wyed from an east-west line to a north-south line,blocking almost every way to get anywhere in Newark Ca. Dead in the water!

The Conducter said let's reboot. Later, like an echo, so did  Goodwrench.

It worked.The engine started and took us to West Oakland.

 

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Friday, October 19, 2012 5:30 AM

tree68

BaltACD

When CSX centralized their dispatching center in Jacksonville, I fully expected to be overwhelemed by the former SBD & LN people and their varieties of 'Southern' accents.

CSX dispatching in my area is done from Selkirk, south of Albany (NY), so we don't hear much of the southern accents here.

One day, however, I heard someone from the power desk (probably in Jax) trying to help a local crew with an engine problem over the radio.  And you could tell.

When I visit Michigan, I hear southern accents on the railroad radio, as that's "old" CSX and is dispatched from Jax.

Only the Jacksonville Division is still dispatched from Jax.  Dispatching was decentrailzed in 2008.  What you heard talking to the local about engine problems was the staff on the Mechanical Desk - the so called mechanical experts when it comes to diagnosing and 'fixing' line of road mechanical issues.  About 50-60% of the time they are able to talk the engineer through procedures to get the failed locomotive back on line....

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,026 posts
Posted by tree68 on Thursday, October 18, 2012 9:46 PM

BaltACD

When CSX centralized their dispatching center in Jacksonville, I fully expected to be overwhelemed by the former SBD & LN people and their varieties of 'Southern' accents. 

CSX dispatching in my area is done from Selkirk, south of Albany (NY), so we don't hear much of the southern accents here.

One day, however, I heard someone from the power desk (probably in Jax) trying to help a local crew with an engine problem over the radio.  And you could tell.

When I visit Michigan, I hear southern accents on the railroad radio, as that's "old" CSX and is dispatched from Jax.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,026 posts
Posted by tree68 on Thursday, October 18, 2012 9:42 PM

samfp1943

Is it true you went to being an Engineer so you would not have to call the station (Remsen,NY) on the ASR ?

(  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch ) 

I just call it Remsen.  Smile, Wink & Grin

Even though I'm now an engineer, I still see a fair amount of duty as a conductor.  I don't do much on that section of the railroad, though.

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    May 2003
  • From: US
  • 25,292 posts
Posted by BaltACD on Thursday, October 18, 2012 9:29 PM

When CSX centralized their dispatching center in Jacksonville, I fully expected to be overwhelemed by the former SBD & LN people and their varieties of 'Southern' accents.  The reality was signifigantly different.  While there were some 'southern' elements in their speech patterns, by and large most of their speech patterns were of the 'standardized' flat mid-western pronounciations - that's among the Dispatchers. 

Communicating with field personnel on the South end of the railroad was a total trip through the multiplicity  of Southern accents - the New Orleans area with it's Cajun emphasis, the Virginia emphasis as opposed to the Carolina's inflections, the mountain 'twang' of the Applachain areas - on and on and on.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Thursday, October 18, 2012 9:15 PM

Paul_D_North_Jr

One of Trains' regular writers (Jim Warsher ?  Don Phillips ?  Conductor Middleton ?) once commented on a conductor somewhere in the deep southern / gulf region of the US who announced as the train was about to depart from each station:

"Oboe shree-poe, oboe shreepoe !

A while later said writer realized it was, of course: "All aboard, Shreveport !"

- Paul North.   

Paul, this is from "Conductor Moedinger Rides Again," in Trains for June, 1976, pp.22-28. The conductor worked on KCS' Shreveport-Port Arthur line.

You tempt me to re-read The Adventures of William Moedinger, Pullman Conductor, which is my name for the collection of his memoirs that I photocopied from the various issues of Trains. I especially enjoy re-reading the account of how he spent the evening after Christmas Day dinner, 1945, while on the Milwaukee Road in Montana (Trains, October, 1972, p. 43).

Johnny

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
  • 9,575 posts
Posted by zugmann on Thursday, October 18, 2012 8:16 PM

I was at one of my away-from-home terminals (AFHT), when a trainmaster/RFE struck up a conversation.  At the end of the conversation, he asked me:

"y'all not from 'round here, are ya?"

I replied: "Nope, I'm from the other end of the line".

His response:  "I could tell, 'cause y'all talk funny!"

I just smiled and agreed.

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

  • Member since
    October 2006
  • From: Allentown, PA
  • 9,810 posts
Posted by Paul_D_North_Jr on Thursday, October 18, 2012 7:58 PM

One of Trains' regular writers (Jim Warsher ?  Don Phillips ?  Conductor Middleton ?) once commented on a conductor somewhere in the deep southern / gulf region of the US who announced as the train was about to depart from each station:

"Oboe shree-poe, oboe shreepoe !

A while later said writer realized it was, of course: "All aboard, Shreveport !"

- Paul North.   

"This Fascinating Railroad Business" (title of 1943 book by Robert Selph Henry of the AAR)
  • Member since
    September 2010
  • 339 posts
Posted by efftenxrfe on Thursday, October 18, 2012 7:47 PM

(middle-tun)

Would it then  be  (middle-tun)  "tunship"?

Strange, to me, variant pronunciation.

Many consistent dialects, OK, reasonably consistent, pronounce thesaurus words without changing intonations. F'rinstance, the film "Fargo" left no doubt by intonation who the " homies" were. The Geico     gecko spoke Chicago accurately, the Everley brothers "I wonder if  I (keer) as much, as I did....

Before that Cousin Keerol (Carole) ate keerots (tubular orange root vegts.)  
That was Buffalo, NY. Another accent that moved around the northeastean portions of the Great Lakes.
  • Member since
    June 2003
  • From: South Central,Ks
  • 7,170 posts
Posted by samfp1943 on Thursday, October 18, 2012 7:13 PM

zugmann

In PA, we have Middletown  (middle-town)

Then a county or two away, we have a Middletown Township   (middle-tun).

ZUG:  Found this (on Wikipedia)>

Middletown is the name of more than one location in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania:

And having been there looking for one in my Rand-McNalley.. I can say that not one is pronounced the same and you can bet a non-Native will never get it right!   Mischief


Mischief

 

 


 

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Canterlot
  • 9,575 posts
Posted by zugmann on Thursday, October 18, 2012 5:17 PM

In PA, we have Middletown  (middle-town)

Then a county or two away, we have a Middletown Township   (middle-tun).

It's been fun.  But it isn't much fun anymore.   Signing off for now. 


  

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, October 18, 2012 7:02 AM

blownout cylinder

Anyone from Illinoyz???

Cairo....is it still pronounced KAY-ro?    

Most definitely!  Other Illinois pronuniciations:  San Jose (San JO-see), Marseilles (Mar-SAY-ells), among others.

My favorite experience in this regard was spending a day at Jamaica NY.  Listening to the LIRR station announcer calling out the station stops for each train was something to behold.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
Moderator
  • Member since
    November 2008
  • From: London ON
  • 10,392 posts
Posted by blownout cylinder on Thursday, October 18, 2012 12:13 AM

Anyone from Illinoyz???

Cairo....is it still pronounced KAY-ro?    

Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry

I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...

http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/

  • Member since
    December 2005
  • From: Cardiff, CA
  • 2,930 posts
Posted by erikem on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:49 PM

efftenxrfe

Here an erudite group thrives. Great!

Let us keep this going on.....

Vallejo, Quoque. La Jolla, Amarillo, Cuyahoga, Patchogue,..... 

Third one is easy - La Hoya - as I graduated from La Jolla High (pronunciaion of PB and Garnet separate the locals from the turistas)
First one is va lay ho  (spent a few years in the Bay area, pronounced bayrea)
- Erik
  • Member since
    April 2002
  • From: Northern Florida
  • 1,429 posts
Posted by SALfan on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:30 PM

samfp1943

SALfan

samfp1943 -

Cairo, GA is also pronounced "KAY-ro".  None of the kids fresh out of journalism school hired by the local Nitwitness (TV) News can get that thru their thick heads.

Liked your phrase for Mississippi ("South of the Magnolia Curtain").  I'll have to remember that one - I try to collect and use vivid descriptive phrases.

deggesty-

In an earlier post I believe it was you who said the folks from NE North Carolina and SE Virginia had a very unique, almost Elizabethan pronunciation (my apologies to the actual author, if it wasn't you).  Whomever said it, they were so right!  I once worked with a guy from somewhere in the Tidewater, and he had a pretty good dose of the Old English in the way he pronounced words.

In your post above, you make the point that there are many "Southern" accents.  Right again!  I grew up in SE GA, but my mother had family in SW GA, where they have an accent different enough that it can be easily distinguished from that of SE GA.  Back in the days when Phil Gramm was a U.S. Representative from Texas, some reporter on TV made a comment about his "Texas drawl".  Hogwash!!  Nearly hurt myself laughing at that, because it is obvious to anyone with the right ear that he learned to talk in SW GA.  I believe his father was in the Army, but I know Gramm's family was living near Columbus, GA when he was little.  When my wife and I (she's a Tallahassee, FL native) lived in Arkansas, we were asked thousands of times "Are you from Texas?"  We spoke different enough from the Arkansawyers that it was obvious. 

And right you are SALFAN !  

        About the turn of this century, I was thrust into a move to HotLanta ( or for my aviation savvy friends ATL)  Taking my Native tongue( born in Memphis,Tn.)  to Georgia was a real experience.Smile, Wink & Grin   We did business in Albany, Georgia with a couple of shippers ( the locals pronounce it "ALL BENNY", and are pretty serious about THAT pronunciation, it took me a little while to find out it was not tow places. Mischief   ) 

      Do not ever think that all Americans speak the English language you grew up with.  Out here in fly-over country the Kansans speak their own brand ( adding 'r's, subtracting other letters with abandonment in places most would not exppect  We have a 'crick' behind our place; clothes go into the 'Warsh'.

   Well! you get my drift! Laugh

(Laughing out loud) If you know the ALL BENNY pronunciation for Albany, GA, you have definitely been there or talked to someone from there.  The folks there are certainly serious about that pronunciation.  I'm not a big fan of hers, but if you want to hear a textbook Albany accent (and therefore SW GA accent), listen to Paula Deen on the Food Network.  Takes me back to childhood trips to visit my mother's family, south of Albany. 

  • Member since
    September 2010
  • 339 posts
Posted by efftenxrfe on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:10 PM

May everyone in this conversation risk dislocating  their favored shoulder by patting themselves on the back  in admiration. Good  and humored, worthwhile for a linguist and extraordinarily with-it, they have without vituperation brought up wonderful themes.

Can a reader of an Official Guide to the American Railroad......or google map not wonder how to pronounce a place name?

Here an erudite group thrives. Great!

Let us keep this going on.....

Vallejo, Quoque. La Jolla, Amarillo, Cuyahoga, Patchogue,..... 

  • Member since
    September 2011
  • 6,449 posts
Posted by MidlandMike on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:03 PM

In Michigan you can cross the Mackinac Bridge over the Mackinac Straits, spotting Mackinac Island.  But when you get to Mackinaw City you will be in the only place that spells it like it's pronounced.

  • Member since
    June 2003
  • From: South Central,Ks
  • 7,170 posts
Posted by samfp1943 on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 6:14 PM

tree68

Skinny-at-a-less.  But with the I in skinny leaning slightly toward an E, and more of a hint of the A between "at" and "less" than an actual syllable.  "Skinny Atlas" isn't quite there...

One of those words it's easier to say to illustrate than to spell out...

A small town near Rochester, NY always sorts out those who know and those who don't.

Chili is pronounced with long I's - Ch[eye]-Lye.

It's not far from Irondequoit (Irondequoy).

Hey, Larry {tree68}! 

Is it true you went to being an Engineer so you would not have to call the station (Remsen,NY) on the ASR ?

(  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch )  Smile, Wink & GrinSmile, Wink & GrinSmile, Wink & Grin

My cousin's wife is from 'Skinny Atlas', and my wife's family was from McConnellsville [ Love our Hardin Cherry Table!], gotta love the Finger Lakes Region!

 

 


 

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,026 posts
Posted by tree68 on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 5:46 PM

Skinny-at-a-less.  But with the I in skinny leaning slightly toward an E, and more of a hint of the A between "at" and "less" than an actual syllable.  "Skinny Atlas" isn't quite there...

One of those words it's easier to say to illustrate than to spell out...

A small town near Rochester, NY always sorts out those who know and those who don't.

Chili is pronounced with long I's - Ch[eye]-Lye.

It's not far from Irondequoit (Irondequoy).

LarryWhistling
Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) 
Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you
My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
Come ride the rails with me!
There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Georgia USA SW of Atlanta
  • 11,919 posts
Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 3:52 PM

Tree should help us on the lake and town near Syracuse that I really butchered;

Skaneateles Lake   --- 

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: At the Crossroads of the West
  • 11,013 posts
Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 12:48 PM

There are two cities on the Mississippi Gulf Coast that have names that are mysteries to the uninitiated: B'luxi (Biloxi) and Pass ChristiAN (Pass Christian). Again, my mother corrected my pronunciation early on.

Johnny

  • Member since
    August 2002
  • From: Turner Junction
  • 3,076 posts
Posted by CopCarSS on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 11:29 AM

mudchicken

 ....and then squawk like a parrotSmile, Wink & Grin (at least that is what I'm reminded of...)

Should we ask them about "Saguache" next? Laugh

-Chris
West Chicago, IL
Christopher May Fine Art Photography

"In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration." ~Ansel Adams

  • Member since
    August 2012
  • 3,727 posts
Posted by John WR on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 10:48 AM

When I was a kid in grammar school we would all stand, put our right hands over our hearts and say "I led the pigeons to the flag."  

  • Member since
    December 2006
  • From: Trieste, Italy
  • 258 posts
Posted by GN_Fan on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 10:11 AM

When I was a kid my mom told me I was a human bean.  She made me drink prume juice and eat my samwiches.  My sister liked hard boiled aigs, but I was disappointed when my cold slaw as only cool.  I couldn't figure out where the Volts Wagons plugged in either.   It was nice to be a kid, even I couldn't pronounce things right.

Alea Iacta Est -- The Die Is Cast
  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 10:01 AM

blue streak 1

If you think its bad getting an occasional location pronounced wrong try being an ailine pilot with passengers requesting where you are. Then you announce the places you are traveling over and sure enough at the destination someone will correct your diction. Boy is that humbling !!

I thought that all airline pilots tried to affect a West Virginia accent a la Chuck Yeager.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    December 2007
  • From: Georgia USA SW of Atlanta
  • 11,919 posts
Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:20 AM

If you think its bad getting an occasional location pronounced wrong try being an ailine pilot with passengers requesting where you are. Then you announce the places you are traveling over and sure enough at the destination someone will correct your diction. Boy is that humbling !!

Moderator
  • Member since
    November 2008
  • From: London ON
  • 10,392 posts
Posted by blownout cylinder on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 5:18 AM

Well, PALM..er..stun...{Palmerston, ON) seems to have a local accent on PA'M...er...ston....Emphasis added on PAM...

I don't ask why...I just pronounce it the way they do....Confused

Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry

I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...

http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Denver / La Junta
  • 10,820 posts
Posted by mudchicken on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 12:39 AM

CopCarSS

Murphy Siding

FORT smith? . . . . Or, is that putting to much French accent into it?

Closer! Wink

Believe it or not, the locals call it "Pea-EBB-low"

....and then squawk like a parrotSmile, Wink & Grin (at least that is what I'm reminded of...)

Mudchicken Nothing is worth taking the risk of losing a life over. Come home tonight in the same condition that you left home this morning in. Safety begins with ME.... cinscocom-west

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy