Correct pronunciation of "Jaguar"

[TAKerry]

Me and Jethro say Sit-tree-own!  Fortunately I dont have to use it often.

[Studeous]

Some years ago, if I was sent to visit a company and was unsure of the pronunciation I would call the main number. No call trees, but a perky operator/

receptionist who would give me the answer, usually the first word from her lips. 
And usually her firstname as well. Ahhh the good old days.

[Restorer32]

Much to my chagrin my wife says the 140 in our garage is a Jagwire.

[Tom D]

I find it interesting that some care how the British pronounce the word.  Do we pronounce Volkswagen the way the Germans do?  And as some have stated, we do not all pronounce "American" words the same way.  New Englanders often pronounce "car" different than the rest of the country.  

IMO, you are both correct.

Tom

[oldcarfudd]

2 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

For extra credit pronounce Citroen.

seat roe EN

[Restorer32]

Ding Ding we have a winner.  Seat roe En is what we have been told is correct by an owner.

[Ed Luddy]

16 hours ago, alsancle said:

I just say Jag.

 

The pompous commercials pronounce it JAG-U-R

 

And this is an easy one.  Ask a car guy how to pronounce "Willys" - 99% say it wrong.

Wills is the correct so I'm told.

[alsancle]

7 minutes ago, Ed Luddy said:

Wills is the correct so I'm told.

 

I like willeeees  which is what everyone says.  But I thought it was willis?

[Restorer32]

Who said "The British and the Americans, two countries separated by a common language" ?   I'm thinking Churchhill.

[1937hd45]

While we are having fun with phonics time has an effect on how car names were pronounced. It is 1965, how did everyone pronounce Renault Dauphine?

[John_S_in_Penna]

23 minutes ago, alsancle said:

I like willeeees  which is what everyone says.  But I thought it was willis?

The pronunciation of "Jaguar" as an animal or car may

have legitimate international variations.  "Willys," on the

other hand, is a surname, pronounced "Willis" by the 

company.  It is never "Willees."  This was discussed as a

topic a couple of years ago, but here is an ad where the

company pronounces their own name.  We can hear it

twice in just the first 15 seconds:

 

 

 

[alsfarms]

This English vocabulary lesson is about as entertaining as I have seen "fur" a while.  I could never quite get how we educated Americans grew hair on all of our statements that contain "for".  Try speaking a day and on purpose taking the hair off your "for".  It is hard!  My Sis-In-Law has a very nice XJS DHC that she has not driven enough to know if she will have problems with the "lectrics"....maybe someday!

[rocketraider]

11 minutes ago, 1937hd45 said:

While we are having fun with phonics time has an effect on how car names were pronounced. It is 1965, how did everyone pronounce Renault Dauphine?

REE-nawlt Daw-FEEN!🙂 

 

And a Peugeot was a POO-jot!

 

Reh-NOH doh-feeeen et Poo-ZHOH.

 

My Uncle Buck, who was the local French car mechanic, passed last Thursday aged 94. He often said the secret to successfully repairing a French car was to swear at it in French!

[lump]

Let's face it, different folks from different places say the same words differently. To wit: 

 

Several years ago Fred Kanter and I went to London, England, and met with several of his old car friends over there. I was surprised to hear the first guy pronounce the name of the American Packard. Whereas I had previously always heard it said as, "PAK-erd," this wonderful and refined gentleman spoke to us of his "Pa-KARD." I just assumed that because he wasn't from America, he just didn't know differently. But then we met others...several of them, and all of them said "Pa-KARD." Don't know if it is said differently in other parts of Great Britain. 

 

Years ago my wife and I owned a cool little old German front-wheel-drive sports car...a 1933 Adler (yes, basically the same company as the typewriter). Of course, everyone we knew called it an "ADD-ler." But when I called Germany to search for parts, the folks there called it an "OTT-ler." 

 

And when my mates from down under visit my home, they often laugh when commercials on TV offer the "NEE-sahn" vehicles for sale. They have explained to me that a common ad slogan in the land of OZ for the same vehicle is: "You don't know what your missin' if you're not drivin' a "Niss-in." 

 

And I still recall the ongoing debate on Porsche, IE: "Porsh" vs "Por-shuh." (Wonder how the Germans at the factory say that one?)

 

In the end, our world already has too many subjects to disagree on. I'm perfectly happy to listen to any car enthusiast speak about a vintage vehicle, just knowing that because they are "car folks," they likely are my kind of people. 

Edited January 20, 2022 by lump (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

4 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

Who said "The British and the Americans, two countries separated by a common language" ?   I'm thinking Churchhill.

My brother has spent quite a bit of time in Europe and has developed friendships with many he has had contact with over the years.  Mom was pet sitting over a weekend and answered an incoming call. When my brother got home, Mom said 'so and so called but I couldnt understand a word he said'. She asked what foreign country he was from. The answer was England!

[oldcarfudd]

My godmother was English.  I spent a week with her in 1956.  She told me about an English girl from Lancastershire (pronounced, I believe, LANG-kuh-shuh), where the dialect is very strong.  She was dating an American airman from Mississippi, in English, through an interpreter.

 

Re Porsche:  Many Germans barely pronounce an unstressed r at the end of a syllable.  For them, Porsche comes out PAW-shuh.

 

The Renault Dauphine should be ruh-NO daw-FEEN, although many Americans said ruh-NAWLT.

 

I'm old enough to remember when Nissan was pronounced DAHT-sun!

[pont35cpe]

I like willeeees  which is what everyone says.  But I thought it was willis?    "What you talkin bout, Willis"

Edited January 20, 2022 by pont35cpe (see edit history)

[bryankazmer]

5 hours ago, oldcarfudd said:

 

 

The Renault Dauphine should be ruh-NO daw-FEEN, although many Americans said ruh-NAWLT.

 

 

actually doh-feen

[oldcarfudd]

56 minutes ago, bryankazmer said:

actually doh-feen

You're right!  au in French is like oh.  My error, or maybe my sloppy attempt at spelling French sounds as if they were English.

[mike6024]

12 hours ago, rocketraider said:

REE-nawlt

???

 

[mike6024]

7 hours ago, oldcarfudd said:

ruh-NO

I have been pronouncing it   ren-NO

Edited January 21, 2022 by mike6024 (see edit history)

[Bloo]

9 hours ago, lump said:

And I still recall the ongoing debate on Porsche, IE: "Porsh" vs "Por-shuh." (Wonder how the Germans at the factory say that one?)

 

Decades ago a German co-worker of mine said something along the lines of, "Germans pronounce every letter. There are not silent ones". He was pretty dismissive of the idea of "Porsh".

 

[Restorer32]

For several years in a different life I studied Hindi. Beside there being 52 letters in the Hindi alphabet there are many words, now pay attention here, where a letter is pronounced after the letter before which it appears when written.

[wayne sheldon]

I love linguistics! So many little things with no one right answer.

Listen to a lot of people, and many words have multiple enunciations. Our common ten cent coin is an example. While mose people pronounce it basically as written with the "e" silent, a lot of people in this country enunciate it as "di-em". There is a historic reason for this.

Way back when the founding fathers were putting our young nation together, one of the many issues that had to be addressed was money, and specifically, coinage. One thing they did very early was reserve official coinage to only the federal government, in spite of the fact that paper money was issued mostly by private or corporate financial institutions (a fact that did not get changed until the Civil War). (A whole lot more to the story than I squeezed into a few sentences!) 

The first couple decades of the new nation required setting up denominations for the coins. To this end, the new nation borrowed from other countries. Our "dime" was "borrowed" from France, and they spelled it "disme". The first couple decades of our use, we also spelled it the French way, pronouncing it with basically silent "s" and "e".

However, the "s" and "e" were not entirely silent. In disme, the "s" is practically silent, however the "e" is slightly enunciated, ahead of the "m" instead of behind it as it is spelled. Hence, di-em.

 

Fairly early in the 1800s, the USA dropped the "s" officially spelling it as dime. But the two syllable enunciation still hangs on in some regions.

[Restorer32]

I too find linguistics and the etymology of words interesting.  There are many Hindi words in English.  Bungalow, jalopy, and pajama are all Hindi words.  My favorite is the Hindi name for that orange fruit that is squeezed for juice.  In Hindi it is a "narange" which is where "orange" comes from.  Strangely "narange" is not the Hindi word for the color orange.  It is just by coincidence that a narange/orange is also the color orange in English.

[60FlatTop]

All kinds of dialects. If you have an idea how people from New York talk come up here to the western end. You'd swear you were in Milwaukee.

[Restorer32]

We are 8 miles from the Pennsylvania Maryland border and it is surprising how different words are pronounced only 10 miles away. Any question where someone is from we just ask them to pronounce "oil".

[Bloo]

Many car names can really only have one correct pronunciation, that of the land the car comes from. So many of them are names of people, Citroen, Mercedes-Benz, Peugeot, Maserati, Ferrari, Renault. Buick, Chrysler, etc. How can you change that?

 

If I live in some foreign land where another language is spoken, and I and my countrymen start calling Buick "Buck", you can call it a local pronunciation if you like, but it is still wrong. Jaguar only sort of escapes this because it is named after a large cat. A cat whose English name is often pronounced with 3 syllables in the UK and two in the US.

 

On the other hand, maybe it doesn't escape. After all, the car is not really the same thing as the cat, is it? The car and it's name come from the UK.

 

 

[avgwarhawk]

6 minutes ago, Restorer32 said:

We are 8 miles from the Pennsylvania Maryland border and it is surprising how different words are pronounced only 10 miles away. Any question where someone is from we just ask them to pronounce "oil".

 

I'm south of Bawl-mer hon.  The land of Natty Boh.   The crankcase is full of ar-ol.      In MI they drink pop.  Here in MD is soda.  Odd indeed the different areas that have a different way of saying things.   

[Restorer32]

You folks do grow some tasty arysters.

[rocketraider]

3 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

I too find linguistics and the etymology of words interesting.  There are many Hindi words in English.  Bungalow, jalopy, and pajama are all Hindi words.  My favorite is the Hindi name for that orange fruit that is squeezed for juice.  In Hindi it is a "narange" which is where "orange" comes from.  Strangely "narange" is not the Hindi word for the color orange.  It is just by coincidence that a narange/orange is also the color orange in English.

Italian "arancio" and Spanish "naranja". Seems those languages picked up on the Hindi "narange".

[rocketraider]

1 hour ago, avgwarhawk said:

 

I'm south of Bawl-mer hon.  The land of Natty Boh.   The crankcase is full of ar-ol.      In MI they drink pop.  Here in MD is soda.  Odd indeed the different areas that have a different way of saying things.   

Here in southeast any cola is a coke, no matter the brand. Unless it's an RC. Properly pronounced "Ahra-cee" and consumed with a Moon Pie cookie or a pack of Lance peanuts or Toast-Chee crackers. Which are always called Nabs even though they aren't made by Nabisco (they're actually much better than Nabisco brand Nabs, which have little to no seasoning in the crackers).

 

It's a Southern thang, y'all might not understand!🙂🙃

[rocketraider]

11 hours ago, mike6024 said:

???

 

The question was "it's 1965. How would you pronounce Renault Dauphine?"

 

In 1965 there might have been two Dauphines within 100 miles of me, and one of those was owned by my aforementioned Uncle Buck. Southside Vajenyans having never seen such a car and at the time mostly unexposed to things French, it was called a REE-nawlt.

 

As always, times, location, and vernacular have to be considered.

[Restorer32]

Perfect snack in the Southeast.  An RC and a Moon pie.  Carried in a tote of course.

[Restorer32]

Good HS friend of mine had a Renalt Dolphin.  I actually kinda liked that car.

[rocketraider]

Actually a "poke".😀

 

There used to be a local chain of convenience stores here called "Tote-A-Poke".

[Restorer32]

Poke...that's the word I forgot.  In 1969 we took my blind Uncle back to Southeast VA to visit the few relatives who were still alive.  They spoke a language that was confusing to a boy raised in PA Dutch country. One relative we visited lived 15 miles back a dirt road. They raised maybe 75% of the food they ate.  No telephone, no indoor plumbing, no TV,  no car,  but they were satisfied with their lives.

[f.f.jones]

I grew up in California and took the places with Spanish names and pronunciations for granted until I met many newcomers to the state who were baffled by how we said the names. Two examples come to mind: 

Vallejo (Spanish = “bah-YAH-hoe”,  local resident = “vuh-lay-hoe”,   newcomer = “valley-joe”)

San Jose ( Local resident = “san-ho-zay” or san-a-zay”,  newcomer = “san-joe-say”)

 

I moved to Oregon and then to Washington state, and it was a whole new ball game, Native American names that even people on the same street would pronounce differently. Many of the native languages were unwritten and native speakers have all passed on, so no accurate record of pronunciation really exists. I’m sure this condition exists in other parts of the country…

 

Chehalis: this town is named for the Chehalis Indian tribe, a Salish-speaking group linguistically and culturally related to the Humptulips and Wynoochee.

 Chimacum: this town is named for the Chimacum (also spelled Chemakum and Chimikum) Indian tribe

Clatskanie: this town is named for the Klatskani Indian tribe (also spelled Klats-kani, Tlatskani, Klaatshan, and Klatsskanine),

Necanicum: this community started off as Ahlers in 1896, then changed its name to Push and then to Necanicum.

Neskowin: this was the aboriginal home of the Nestucca band of Tillamook Indians

Yachats: the Alsea Indians, a Penutian-speaking group, had lived in this area for thousands of years.

Yoncalla: this community is named for the Yoncalla Indian tribe, a Salish-speaking group, linguistically related to the Alsea, Cathlamet, Chinook, Clackamas, Clatsop, Coos, Hanis, Kalapyan, Kiksht, Miluk, Multnomah, and others. 

Here are some more:

Asotin, Cathlamet, Chehalis, Chimacum, Cle Elum, Enumclaw, Hoquiam, Mukilteo, Omak, Palouse, Spokane, Tonasket, Wenatchee, Claquato. Quilcene, Tulalip,  Nisqually, Swinomish, Stillaguamish, Skookumchuck.

[Peter J.Heizmann]

1 hour ago, Restorer32 said:

Poke...that's the word I forgot.  In 1969 we took my blind Uncle back to Southeast VA to visit the few relatives who were still alive.  They spoke a language that was confusing to a boy raised in PA Dutch country. One relative we visited lived 15 miles back a dirt road. They raised maybe 75% of the food they ate.  No telephone, no indoor plumbing, no TV,  no car,  but they were satisfied with their lives.

How about "An-teeck Aw-toe-mo-beels ?  Nah...that's asking too much.

[CChinn]

How about saying Humuhumunukunukuapua’a

It’s the name of the Hawaii state fish