Pronunciation Key Wanted

Collecting HLs and being a virtual resident of this website have been a teriffic education for me. However, because of the relative lack of face-to-face interaction with other collectors, my new knowledge is silent -- I don't know how to pronounce many of the names of the lights that I learn about. Some of the names I have wondered about and/or struggled with in the past are:

Coquille River
Minot's Ledge
Heceta Head
Assateague
Scituate

I'm sure you can think of others. Anyone else phonetically challenged like me? Maybe this could be a forum topic where various pronunciations can all get aired out and challenged?

-Art

I've been working on an audio version of this where you can click on the name and hear a well-know voice pronouncing it. Until then,

(Emphasis on the capitalized sylable)

Coquille River "KO-keel"
Minot's Ledge "MINE-its"
Heceta Head "HECK-it-ah" (some say "Hiss-EE-tah"
Assateague "ASS-ah-teeg"
Scituate "SIT-chew-it"

A couple of others than often get mangled:

Tawas Point "TAH-wass"
Traverse City "TRA-verse" (TRA as in trap)
(Not "tra-VERSE" as in skiing)
Mackinac Point "MACK-in-awe" **
Nauset - Rhymes with faucet
Tybee - TIE-bee
Umpqua River - UMP-kwah
Yacquina - yah-KEEN-ah
West Quoddy - QUAD-dee (not QUO-dee)
Admiralty - say "Admiral" and add "TEA"
Biloxi - bill-OX-ee


For non-Michiganders: The Mack-word is all pronounced the same in:

Mackinac Island
Mackinaw City
Straits of Mackinac
Mackinaw Bridge (or is it Mackinac Bridge?)

But the fort under the bridge is:
Michilimackinac "MISH-ill-ah-MACK-in-ACK"

John [CHID-s-ter "CHID" rhymes with LID not with HIDE]

And for the Canadian pronunciation, just add a very slight pause and the syllable 'eh' to each of the above. :->

As for the Bridge, just call it the 'Mighty Mac' and you'll be safe.

Rgds,
__
/im

St. John I'd like to offer a correction to your pronunciation of place names:

Biloxi is bill-UX-ee

to us locals and near-locals.

Wow, JC.....


I'm gonna have to call you on this one.

The Park Service guide at Heceta Head told us HECK-IT-AH was incorrect and that your second choice of "Hess-EE-tah" is, in fact, correct.

Regards,
Brian (here to help)

....and not to be picky, BUT....

The folks at Yaquina Head and Yaquina Bay seemed to be pronuncing it ya-KWIN-ah.



Brian

I stand corrected.

I'll have to listen to my tape of the 'famous person' again.



------------------
John

[This message has been edited by JChidester (edited 11-09-98).]

Maybe the pronounciation of each lighthouse could be included with the pictures and descriptions of all of the HL's in the various years of production. Sort of like a dictionary would do it. Or maybe the Glossary could have the lighthouse names and how to say them, along with a link to the pictures that Paul has taken of them all.

Why not .wav files? Then we can hear the name spoken.

It seems so obvious, I'll assume someone has made the audio equivalent of a digital camera.

Rgds,
__
/im

See above:


John

In the audio version I would like to suggest that we have one of the locals say the name of the lighthouse. By doing this you would get the flavor and accent that is spoken in that region.

Don't forget Michigan City is pronounced Michigan City. That's in Indiana pronounced Indiana by everybody but the Kennedys who pronounce it In-deanne-eer.

I like RFosters idea of having a local pronounce the name but I think that would be quite a chore to put together...however its done it sounds great!

There are enough Harbor Lights collectors who use PCs that we ought to be able to get people from each region record the pronunciation. I'd be glad to do some West Coast ones, and I have a PC which could record .wav

Dixie

Good idea, Dixie. And if several locals pronounce those lighthouse names that are in dispute (e.g., Heceta Head, Yaquina Bay) we could get an idea of variations in pronunciation, predominant pronunciations, etc. I'm no linguist, but I have taken an interest in the way different folks articulate these sometimes challenging monikers.

-Art