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Pronouncing the name "Willys"


Guest myold88

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Guest myold88

I've always called this car a Willys, same as it's written, and so does everyone else i've ever known.

Now on T/V shows including the Mecum Actions, the announcers are pronouncing the car as a Willis- with an "S".

Just heard this again yesterday on one of the local T/V auto shows....

Can someone please tell me what's correct.

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I wasn't around at the time :-) but I've read several times that John North Willys pronounced his surname "Willis." It's my experience over more than 30 years of Jeepster ownership that, in my part of country at least, no one has a clue when I pronounce the name in that manner, so for sake of making myself understood I've fallen into the habit of saying "Willies".....

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I believe the correct pronunciation is "willies" just like it's spelled Willys because that's how most people say it. Too late to change it now. How do you know the owner pronounced it Willis. You have to provide verifiable proof to make those statements and even if it's true, it doesn't matter.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The worst is when it is spelled out. I received a flier for Chrysler at Carlisle where they now have expanded Jeep classes. This flier, created by "professionals" actually called the Willys class "Willy's." These "car" guys nowadays actually think that the Jeep was made by a guy or company called "Willy" and that the Jeeps he/they produced are "Willy's" as in "That Jeep is Willy's; he owns it." I don't understand how this ignorance has spread so rapidly, but only in more recent times. As a previous poster mentioned, Jag-wire is a big problem, which is even worse. I also get a ot of "Honday" instead of "Hyundai." I see far too many Camaro owners with "Camero for sale-$4,500" signs. You own the car, but you can't spell the name?

This ties in with another problem that I've seen only recently, and that is the failure to differentiate possesive words from plural words. I constantly see signs, most hand-written, but many professionally made, that use the possesive form of words almost constantly. i.e. "We have part's for Corvette's, Camaro's, Mustang's and many part's have sale's going on."

Any attempt to correct these people are met with curse words, blank stares, or "'ju think you're better 'emme?"-type responses, so I won't even bring it up; it still makes we wince in pain at peoples' ignorance.

Edited by hursst (see edit history)
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It's true. We live in a semi-literate world. Another one that bugs me is most people don't know the difference between then and than. They will say "My car's better then yours". I think it might also be geographical. Maybe they don't use the word "than" in the South. I now retract my former statement about Willys and will agree it is pronounced "Willis" based on a 1954 Willys car commercial where the announcer clearly says "willis" several times. Since that ad came from the company, I will agree with it, but I will still say "willies" so that others will know what I'm talking about.

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