Reply to: Pronunciation of Total

[bogeyman]

Minor gripe but is it just me who gets annoyed when every BBC report on the strikers says the company name is Totaaaal because it ez French owned.

Why can't they say Total properly. Will every firm in the news now be checked for it's ownership and pronounced in an accent suitable for the owning country ?

OMG Little Englander Alert

It is pronounced 'Totaaaal' and always has been to anyone in the oil industry.

[expat]

Interestingly, on a different note, I was reading the other day that some French phrases which we use routinely in English aren't actually used by the French themselves: nom de plume, double entendre, panache, bon viveur and RSVP, for example.

Cul de sac

[Drewster]

It's pronounced "Cholmondeley-Warner".

Ahhh Hello Mr Charming-W*nker

[Churchill]

Lots of words are not pronounced as they are written.... in english

The point is/was that our mate Morgan has his name spelt T-S-V-A because that was phonetic in English..... Its not really his name (or more accurately it was not really his ancestors name) its just a representation of how his name sounds...... in ENGLISH. So why would a newsreader speaking in ENGLISH not pronounce it!

Is your "name" pronounced Church-Ill, Chur-Chill or even Kirk-Hill ?

Oh Yes!!

It's pronounced "Cholmondeley-Warner".

[Drewster]

Why when it isn't spelt that way?

(You do see where I'm going with this, don't you?)

Lots of words are not pronounced as they are written.... in english

The point is/was that our mate Morgan has his name spelt T-S-V-A because that was phonetic in English..... Its not really his name (or more accurately it was not really his ancestors name) its just a representation of how his name sounds...... in ENGLISH. So why would a newsreader speaking in ENGLISH not pronounce it!

Is your "name" pronounced Church-Ill, Chur-Chill or even Kirk-Hill ?

Oh Yes!!

[dang65]

The old "Milky Bar" adverts used to pronounce "Nestlé's" as Nessels, now they've gone all la di da Gunner Graham and it's NestLay!!!

Nescafé. "Nescaffay" or "Nescaff"?
Air Liquide. "Air Lickweed" or "Air Lickwid"?
BNP Paribas. "BNP Pareebaa" or "BNP Parribass"?
Christian Dior. "Kristiaan Deeorr" or "Kristiuhn Dyer"?
Crédit Lyonnais. "Craydee Leeonay" or "Creddit Lionays"?
Renault. "Rennow" or "Renawlt"?

etc etc.

"Totaal" doesn't seem like a big deal to me, if that's what the company is called.

Interestingly, on a different note, I was reading the other day that some French phrases which we use routinely in English aren't actually used by the French themselves: nom de plume, double entendre, panache, bon viveur and RSVP, for example.

[wobbegong]

Quite right Unicorn - My pet hates:

Morgan Tsvangirai pronounced CHANGARI - Its spelt T-S-V-A etc because it is a bl**dy African name (probably Zulu) that cannot be directly translated to English - So it is "translated/approximated" phonetically.....

Beijing - We have called it bl**dy Peking for 100s of years because we Brits can't get our heads round the million and one "ch" type sounds used by the Chinese. No one trys to pronounce other foreign places in "foreign" (well except pretentious winkers)

Paris is Paris not Paree

Munich, Rome, etc etc etc.

It all started with that bloody newsreader on the Big Breakfast (Phil somebody) saying "Newcassel" instead of "Newcarsel". It just caught on amongst journalist types.

[Churchill]

How would you pronounce "Lieutenant"?

I would pronounce it "Leftenant"........... Why?

Why when it isn't spelt that way?

(You do see where I'm going with this, don't you?)

Morgan Tsvangirai pronounced CHANGARI - Its spelt T-S-V-A etc because it is a bl**dy African name (probably Zulu) that cannot be directly translated to English - So it is "translated/approximated" phonetically.....

[Drewster]

How would you pronounce "Lieutenant"?

I would pronounce it "Leftenant"........... Why?

[oracleslave]

How would you pronounce "Lieutenant"?

left tennant.

'orrible stuff

[Unicorn]

How would you pronounce "Lieutenant"?

Sir (assuming you're a lower rank)

[Churchill]

Quite right Unicorn - My pet hates:

Morgan Tsvangirai pronounced CHANGARI - Its spelt T-S-V-A etc because it is a bl**dy African name (probably Zulu) that cannot be directly translated to English - So it is "translated/approximated" phonetically.....

Beijing - We have called it bl**dy Peking for 100s of years because we Brits can't get our heads round the million and one "ch" type sounds used by the Chinese. No one trys to pronounce other foreign places in "foreign" (well except pretentious winkers)

Paris is Paris not Paree

Munich, Rome, etc etc etc.

How would you pronounce "Lieutenant"?

[Drewster]

Quite right Unicorn - My pet hates:

Morgan Tsvangirai pronounced CHANGARI - Its spelt T-S-V-A etc because it is a bl**dy African name (probably Zulu) that cannot be directly translated to English - So it is "translated/approximated" phonetically.....

Beijing - We have called it bl**dy Peking for 100s of years because we Brits can't get our heads round the million and one "ch" type sounds used by the Chinese. No one trys to pronounce other foreign places in "foreign" (well except pretentious w*nkers)

Paris is Paris not Paree

Munich, Rome, etc etc etc.

[Unicorn]

and I've just seen...

EO's post SQL Problem from earlier today.

It's not just me then.

[Churchill]

Minor gripe but is it just me who gets annoyed when every BBC report on the strikers says the company name is Totaaaal because it ez French owned.

Why can't they say Total properly. Will every firm in the news now be checked for it's ownership and pronounced in an accent suitable for the owning country ?

WHS++;

Also, "Monsieur Saaaarkoooooozeeeeee" is another one that gets on my tits!

If you're French then fine but otherwise it's rather pretentious, n'est-ce pas?

The old "Milky Bar" adverts used to pronounce "Nestlé's" as Nessels, now they've gone all la di da Gunner Graham and it's NestLay!!!