Trains.com

I thought it was Ca jun pass and not Cahon

15908 views
106 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    August 2004
  • From: St. Paul, Minnesota
  • 2,116 posts
I thought it was Ca jun pass and not Cahon
Posted by Boyd on Thursday, May 6, 2010 1:46 AM

All these years of reading about it and in my head I was pronouncing it as Ca jun pass and not Cahon pass. You can learn a lot watching the RR feature on the History channel.

Modeling the "Fargo Area Rapid Transit" in O scale 3 rail.

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Nanaimo BC Canada
  • 4,117 posts
Posted by nanaimo73 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:03 AM

kuh-HONE, and tuh-HATCH-uh-pee

I've pulled out the July 1986 issue of Trains several times over the years to check out their guide to California pronounciation on page 36.

They are a long way from nuh-NYE-moe.

Dale
  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:10 AM

At one time I was fluent in Spanish...40 years ago.  I knew that the name was a Spanish one, and so I knew how to prounounce it.  Still, I asked for confirmation from a knowledgeable friend, which he gave me.  It means 'chest' or 'box'.

-Crandell

  • Member since
    June 2001
  • From: US
  • 13,488 posts
Posted by Mookie on Thursday, May 6, 2010 4:02 AM

nanaimo73

They are a long way from nuh-NYE-moe.

And I thought it was nuh-NAY-moe.  I will correct that immediately!

She who has no signature! cinscocom-tmw

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Cedar Rapids, IA
  • 4,213 posts
Posted by blhanel on Thursday, May 6, 2010 7:11 AM

nanaimo73

They are a long way from nuh-NYE-moe.

LOL, here I've been pronouncing that "Nah-nah-i-mo"!

  • Member since
    December 2005
  • From: MP 175.1 CN Neenah Sub
  • 4,917 posts
Posted by CNW 6000 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 7:30 AM

I, too, confess to pronouncing it like the southern-style food.  Oops!  Similarly when my little sister was in the Ft. Knox/Louisville area I frequently referred to 'louis-ville' instead of 'looi-ville' as she called it.  However that one...WAS intentional. Smile,Wink, & Grin

blhanel

nanaimo73

They are a long way from nuh-NYE-moe.

LOL, here I've been pronouncing that "Nah-nah-i-mo"!

I've been thinking Dale's hometown was 'nye-nah-moe'.

Dan

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern New York
  • 25,014 posts
Posted by tree68 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 7:42 AM

I've had just enough exposure to Spanish to know some of the pronuciation rules.  Like La Jolla (la ho'ya) and Cabrillo (ca bree' oh), so Cajon has never been an issue.

We have some pronunciation headaches around here - both from the French and the native American place names - Chaumont (sha MOE) and Gananoque (gan an AH quay) are two often massacred by "furriners."

The Polynesian languages can be a challange - with multiple vowels, all of which are pronounced, like the Samoan "Fa'afetai" (fa ah feh tah ee), which translates to "thank you."

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
    April 2005
  • From: Nanaimo BC Canada
  • 4,117 posts
Posted by nanaimo73 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 8:32 AM

blhanel

nanaimo73

They are a long way from nuh-NYE-moe.

LOL, here I've been pronouncing that "Nah-nah-i-mo"!

We could switch to the Coast Salish pronounciation, which I think is schnu-NAY-mochk.

tree68
The Polynesian languages can be a challange - with multiple vowels, all of which are pronounced, like the Samoan "Fa'afetai" (fa ah feh tah ee), which translates to "thank you."

Welsh can also be a challenge.

Dale
  • Member since
    July 2006
  • From: Aledo IL
  • 1,728 posts
Posted by spokyone on Thursday, May 6, 2010 8:52 AM

 Here is one that tripped me up when I moved from SoCal to North Idaho.
Lake Pend Oreille. (Pondaray.) I said Penned Oriole.

  • Member since
    June 2003
  • From: South Central,Ks
  • 7,170 posts
Posted by samfp1943 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 8:54 AM

nanaimo73

kuh-HONE, and tuh-HATCH-uh-pee

I've pulled out the July 1986 issue of Trains several times over the years to check out their guide to California pronounciation on page 36.

They are a long way from nuh-NYE-moe.

Dear Dale:

                Thank You for the Clarification!         Pronunciations can sometimes be really problematic, in particluar when someone is raised in the South and moves to another area.  Having been born in Memphis and innoculated at an early age with a taste for Wet Bar B Que, and then moved to Mississippi where I learned that all those years I had been learning about Civil War History, I found out from my kids that it was actually the War Of Northern Agression. Go Figure.Whistling

      Having driven a truck for a number of years, my Sothern accent was both a problem and a blessing, especially, when you spend as much tme as I had to 'visiting' in the Far Northeast. When I got back home in the South, people thought by my accent I was some 'carpetbagger'Evil moving into unfamiliar terriory.Oops

  And then when my trucking job went 'Swiftly' down the drain and I had to move from AAAAAHHHHLLLLLAAANNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAA  ( or Hot Lanta, for those that moved there, from some place else.) to Kansas, it was really a culture shockMischief.   People could not understand me, they wanted to know WHERE I was fum?  And then I did the right thing, I had a mixed marriage, Me, fum da South, married a girl fum Kandsas. I had to learn english all over again.Banged Head I found out that wash, had an 'r' in it, and creek had an 'i' in it. Just to name a couple of idio's, and imagine have to be an adult and relearn your native tongue. Confused

So this thing about language and stuff with those weird name out there seem like imponderables. Why would anyone name a way through the mountains as CAJOHN Pass or TEEEHATCHAPEE or call a place LOSS ANGELEES,  I mean DUDE?   Its now wonder the place shakes like jello, and the people are a little strange.My 2 cents

 Better get off my soapbox! SoapBox

 

 

 

 


 

  • Member since
    February 2008
  • 602 posts
Posted by Bruce Kelly on Thursday, May 6, 2010 9:41 AM

There's an editor emeritus of a certain rail publication who would have announced yesterday was "SINK-oh duh-MAY-oh" (as in "hold the mayo") instead of saying it as "MY-oh." His mis-pronunciation was immortalized two decades ago on a video covering the 4449/844 steam gathering at LAUPT. Gave many of us a good chuckle. But I give him credit for having taught me that Lancaster, CA, and Lancaster, PA, don't sound the same.

It's not always a problem with pronunciation. Sometimes it's being unaware of local terminology. Way back in my late 1980s Trains story on BN's two main lines between Spokane and Pasco, my photo caption referring to the "blast box sound" of an F40PH was changed by the editors to read "boom box sound." Not sure what they meant by that. Blast box was a common phrase, at least out West, to describe the high-revved exhaust of Amtrak's early HEP-equipped units, although I must admit the "blast" sound was more of a factor when they were standing still. Many years later, in my review of a Donner Pass route for Microsoft Train Simulator, my reference to SP's "ice decks" was changed by the editors to "ice docks." Ice deck was such a standard term on SP, they even named a siding after it.

Closer to where I live, I'm often perplexed by people who come from elsewhere and do things like refer to eastern Washington's wheat fields or the Columbia Basin as a "prairie." Nobody living in this region would say that.

Spokyone, you're one of the few folks to master the Pend Oreille thing. There are some north Idaho news reporters and business folks (perhaps recently transplanted from elsewhere) who manage to misspell and mis-speak a lot of our local French- and Indian-based place names. When did you leave SoCal, and where did you live in north Idaho?

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Smoggy L.A.
  • 10,743 posts
Posted by vsmith on Thursday, May 6, 2010 10:01 AM

nanaimo73

blhanel

nanaimo73

They are a long way from nuh-NYE-moe.

LOL, here I've been pronouncing that "Nah-nah-i-mo"!

We could switch to the Coast Salish pronounciation, which I think is schnu-NAY-mochk.

tree68
The Polynesian languages can be a challange - with multiple vowels, all of which are pronounced, like the Samoan "Fa'afetai" (fa ah feh tah ee), which translates to "thank you."

Welsh can also be a challenge.

Welsh, a challange?, naah no way Wink

   Have fun with your trains

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Southeast Missouri
  • 573 posts
Posted by The Butler on Thursday, May 6, 2010 10:05 AM

samfp1943

nanaimo73

kuh-HONE, and tuh-HATCH-uh-pee

I've pulled out the July 1986 issue of Trains several times over the years to check out their guide to California pronounciation on page 36.

They are a long way from nuh-NYE-moe.

Dear Dale:

                Thank You for the Clarification!         Pronunciations can sometimes be really problematic, in particluar when someone is raised in the South and moves to another area.  Having been born in Memphis and innoculated at an early age with a taste for Wet Bar B Que, and then moved to Mississippi where I learned that all those years I had been learning about Civil War History, I found out from my kids that it was actually the War Of Northern Agression. Go Figure.Whistling

      Having driven a truck for a number of years, my Sothern accent was both a problem and a blessing, especially, when you spend as much tme as I had to 'visiting' in the Far Northeast. When I got back home in the South, people thought by my accent I was some 'carpetbagger'Evil moving into unfamiliar terriory.Oops

  And then when my trucking job went 'Swiftly' down the drain and I had to move from AAAAAHHHHLLLLLAAANNNNNNNNTTTTTTTTAAAAAAAAA  ( or Hot Lanta, for those that moved there, from some place else.) to Kansas, it was really a culture shockMischief.   People could not understand me, they wanted to know WHERE I was fum?  And then I did the right thing, I had a mixed marriage, Me, fum da South, married a girl fum Kandsas. I had to learn english all over again.Banged Head I found out that wash, had an 'r' in it, and creek had an 'i' in it. Just to name a couple of idio's, and imagine have to be an adult and relearn your native tongue. Confused

So this thing about language and stuff with those weird name out there seem like imponderables. Why would anyone name a way through the mountains as CAJOHN Pass or TEEEHATCHAPEE or call a place LOSS ANGELEES,  I mean DUDE?   Its now wonder the place shakes like jello, and the people are a little strange.My 2 cents

 Better get off my soapbox! SoapBox

 

 

Sam, I feel your pain! Big Smile After living outside of Buffalo, NY; Chicago, IL; North of Green Bay, WI; and now South of Saint Louis, MO; I just ask the locals how to say something and smile as they laugh at my mispronunciation. Tongue I find it interesting to learn I once lived in El-in-noise or Wes-con-sin. Confused

Where I live now, there is Desloge (Da-loje), Bonne Terre (Bon Tare), and my favorite, Valles Mines (Valley Mines) Shock and wash has an r in it here, too.  Here there are Knob's: Pilot Knob, Knob Lick (they call themselves "Knob Lick-ers" Shock

Back in Wisconsin, I learned Lena (Lee-na) and Shawano (Shaw-no) but I never did figure out Butte des Morts. Black Eye

James


  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,540 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, May 6, 2010 10:20 AM

Consider an outlying stop (Matteson) on the Metra Electric, which is supposed to be pronounced with three syllables (Mat-uh-sen), not two syllables.  One can thank Land's End, which is based somewhere in Wisconsin, for coming up with this mispronunciation.  My old neighborhood of Hegewisch is Hegg-wish, not Hedge-wish, I've regularly visited Dolton (Dawl-ton) Crossing.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    January 2005
  • From: Ely, Nv.
  • 6,312 posts
Posted by chad thomas on Thursday, May 6, 2010 10:48 AM

While were on the subject of pronounciation, Does anyone know the proper way to pronounce Cadiz (as in Cadiz, Ca. on the BNSF transcon)? Someone I know that lived there says it's like katy's, but I never heard that. hopefully someone here knows.

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Thursday, May 6, 2010 11:12 AM

Oh yeah?  I'll sse your challenges and raise you the name of the Icelandic volcano:  Eyjafjallajokull. 

It doesn't say as it reads.

-Crandell

  • Member since
    December 2005
  • From: MP 175.1 CN Neenah Sub
  • 4,917 posts
Posted by CNW 6000 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 11:45 AM

The Butler

Back in Wisconsin, I learned Lena (Lee-na) and Shawano (Shaw-no) but I never did figure out Butte des Morts. Black Eye

Replace the "v" in view with "b", take the "s" off of des, take the "ts" off of Morts. 
Biew de Mor...lol! 

On the letter "r" being in "warsh"...ugh...almost as bad as what cows give: melk instead of milk according to some.

Dan

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Smoggy L.A.
  • 10,743 posts
Posted by vsmith on Thursday, May 6, 2010 11:46 AM

 

selector

Oh yeah?  I'll sse your challenges and raise you the name of the Icelandic volcano:  Eyjafjallajokull. 

It doesn't say as it reads.

-Crandell

Easy: 

Eye-of-jello-joke-hole, just sound it out Tongue

   Have fun with your trains

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Nanaimo BC Canada
  • 4,117 posts
Posted by nanaimo73 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 12:08 PM

vsmith

 

selector

Oh yeah?  I'll sse your challenges and raise you the name of the Icelandic volcano:  Eyjafjallajokull. 

It doesn't say as it reads.

-Crandell

Easy: 

Eye-of-jello-joke-hole, just sound it out Tongue

Is that the pronounciation, or the translation?
Dale
  • Member since
    June 2003
  • From: South Central,Ks
  • 7,170 posts
Posted by samfp1943 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 12:09 PM

LORD!  Bruce, and Jim, and everybody else:

  All I can say is I feel your pain!   It is bad enought that as Americans we manage to mangle the 'Kings English' to almost the point of ridiculousness., But at least we do it without prejudice to all. I guess it must be a national trait. Since we have such a varied population.

  English gets some pretty grusome treatment across this fruited plain. Then you have all those Frenchmen who have left their imprints on our geography, multiple sylable monikers as well.      Here in Kansas there is a river The Marias de Cygne, you'd not belive the way that gets mashed around!     Not to give short shrift to the way we mangle the Indian pronunciations, and finally angelize them, so they'll fit on signs that aren't the size of a Ball Diamond. 

     Pitty the poor Canadians, not only do they HAVE to learn TWO languages,  Laugh   If one of the CN trains goes by; if it is the English side, the folks in Quebec can't read it.Confused They have to wait for the train to come back so they'll know what railroad they're seeing, by being able to read the French side of the cars!

  I guess the by-linguals can read everything in one pass?Whistling   Ain't this a great country?Thumbs Up

 

 


 

  • Member since
    March 2004
  • 587 posts
Posted by garr on Thursday, May 6, 2010 12:10 PM

Being in the south, how do you think Martinez, GA just outside of Augusta is pronounced?

Jay

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Southeast Missouri
  • 573 posts
Posted by The Butler on Thursday, May 6, 2010 1:17 PM

Mar-tin-ezz?

James


  • Member since
    December 2006
  • 1,879 posts
Posted by YoHo1975 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 1:50 PM
Cajon, Tehachapi, La Jolla. Those are easy. Now pronounce San Joaquin Valley Note, it doesn't sound like the flowering bulb. There's a reason they just call it the central valley. I had some problem initially with the Native based names in Oregon, but ironically, being a computer nerd helped me. Intel taught me how to pronounce Willamette and Tualatin and Deschutes. And of course, you have to pronounce Oregon right in the first place. And Aloha isn't pronounced the way Hawaiins do and for some reason Oregonians can't spell Milwaukee right. They need to spell it Milwaukie.
  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Vancouver Island, BC
  • 23,330 posts
Posted by selector on Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:00 PM

Dale, should we tease 'em with Ucluelet?

  • Member since
    June 2003
  • From: South Central,Ks
  • 7,170 posts
Posted by samfp1943 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:20 PM

garr

Being in the south, how do you think Martinez, GA just outside of Augusta is pronounced?

Jay

Jay:

I am not sure of the Georgia-correct pronunciation, I would suspect that it is all about a long aaaaaaa!

I had enough of a time when my neighbors pronounced "Faye'vil" for Fayetteville, and I pretty much gave up on Atlanta, and it was Hot-Lanta or shortly "ATL" in e-mail correspondence, VI-day- Li-a (my favorite onion) was Va-dal-ya to the locals. 

  It's a great country ( or COUNTRIES, with A TIP O THA' HAT TO  DALE& CRANDELL), Bow

if you don't let its' linguistic Idiosyncrasies drive you over the edge!LaughLaughSmile,Wink, & Grin

 

 


 

  • Member since
    April 2005
  • From: Nanaimo BC Canada
  • 4,117 posts
Posted by nanaimo73 on Thursday, May 6, 2010 2:37 PM

selector

Dale, should we tease 'em with Ucluelet?

Whenever I hear tourists asking for directions to get there, they always seem to say YUCK-o-let or YUCK-u-let. I go with U-Q-let myself, but U-clue-let is probably better.

Dale
  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Southeast Missouri
  • 573 posts
Posted by The Butler on Thursday, May 6, 2010 3:52 PM

Juniata Locomotive Shops

How is Juniata pronounced? Also, is it Read-ing or Red-ing Railroad?

James


  • Member since
    November 2005
  • From: Florence, SC
  • 1,614 posts
Posted by grampaw pettibone on Thursday, May 6, 2010 5:01 PM

The naval air station in Iceland was once known as NAS Kwitcherbellyakin!

Tom

COAST LINE FOREVER

It is better to dwell in the corner of a roof than to share a house with a contentious woman! (Solomon)

A contentious woman is like a constant dripping! (Solomon)

  • Member since
    September 2002
  • From: Rockton, IL
  • 4,821 posts
Posted by jeaton on Thursday, May 6, 2010 5:14 PM

Boyd

All these years of reading about it and in my head I was pronouncing it as Ca jun pass and not Cahon pass. You can learn a lot watching the RR feature on the History channel.

Good thing you never encountered my high school Spanish teaching wife (ret.) as she may have wack you on the side of your head with a ruler.  LOL. 

For a real test try the pronunciation of Valladolid, the Spain city that we visited last fall. 

"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Denver / La Junta
  • 10,820 posts
Posted by mudchicken on Thursday, May 6, 2010 5:16 PM

Kay-DEEZ

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