The Vee-hickle Pronounciation Thread

[barefoot]

Back for a moment if I may to Iveco & Mercedes.

 

All the truck drivers I used to worked with called them I Vee Co.

 

And the attractive young woman in the Nags Head really is called Mercedes.

She has spectacular breasts but everyone calls her, Murk

[scooters]

ahhhh...pronunskiation...don't ya lurve it?

 

My doris, the good Mrs S studied English Language at Edinburgh in the early 1990's under a leading prof in the area...he always maintained that there is no 'correct' way to pronounce a word, the most important issue is to ensure that you are pronouncing the word so your listener can understand it guv. Until the advent of radio broadcasting what we call 'Queen's' English didn't really exist - the reason why the BBC and Mr Chomondeley-Warner etc adopted what became known as RP was because it was immediately understandable by a far more regionally accent diverse country and indeed.....empire. The spread of 'estuary' English is merely an extension of the effect mass mejja has had on accent and language, indeed, RP, probably as it is often confused (wrongly) with the 'public school drawl' and therefore identified with class is becoming rare and slowly replaced by estuary as the language of powah - as demonstrated by the likes of Alistair Campbell and others.

 

His point was always that living languages are constantly evolving INNIT...SOS TXTNG ABOWT SAXOS M8 IS JUZT ANOVVER WAY OF SPEEKIN ENGLIZH N SHUD BE RESPKD ...no matter how we may detest the particular trend.

 

Accents also constantly develop - the Cockney of Dicken's time and into the early 20th C pronounced 'Vee' as 'Dub le ew'

 

hence - wittles rather than vittles...

 

this dropped out of use sometime before WW1...why is lost in the midst of time.

 

If we are, indeed becoming increasingly AmericaniZed then you could argue that language is returning full circle. Whilst there are many different American accents and dialects the one found in parts of New England is as close to English as spoken by Shakespear as you are gonna get these days:

 

"Hey nonny nonny and forsooth lootenant, howdy and line me up another of those tap saspirrillas ho diggidy ye hah!"

 

or something....

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

If we are, indeed becoming increasingly AmericaniZed then you could argue that language is returning full circle.

 

I'm all for evolving language and all that jazz, but I can't stand some of the Americanisms like people talking about "cell phones". I'm not an inmate or, worse still, a bloody monk!

[flat4alfa]

There's a E missing off the end of that word Shakespear.

 

Which is nice.

[Albert Ross]

Mitsubishi Grandis.

 

Gran-dee, Gran-diss, Or Gran-dizz?

[overheadvalve]

The french do indeed call them a deux chevaux, every car still has a 'chevaux' rating still so the word is in common use.

Wasn't the name first used to describe the power of the car?

Deux Chevaux = two horses, as opposed to a larger car which might be powered by 40 horses.

An easier one, maybe Saab, sssaahB or zaaB

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

The french do indeed call them a deux chevaux, every car still has a 'chevaux' rating still so the word is in common use.

Wasn't the name first used to describe the power of the car?

Deux Chevaux = two horses, as opposed to a larger car which might be powered by 40 horses.

 

CV is the fiscal rating, not the engine power output. There may or may not be a connection between the two- I have no idea about the French tax system.

[dollywobbler]

2CV was originally just that - 2CV on the fiscal rating. A Ferrari Testarossa is 36CV apparently. With the 602cc engine, later 2CVs are actually 3CV, and I think that's what they were called in Argentina (or somewhere else in South America). It's an interesting point about Cheval Vapeur as apossed to Chevaux though. Presume it's just another nickname thing. The Germans tend to call 2CVs ducks, for some unknown reason.

[flat4alfa]

The Germans tend to call 2CVs ducks, for some unknown reason.

It came from the Dutch term given to it 'de lelijke eend' (The Ugly Duckling). In German the term for duck is 'Ente' and it stuck.

 

The Volkswagen 'Beetle' to Frenchman is not a Beetle - eeet eez a Ladybird. Yes, the car is called 'Coccinelle' - not 'Coléoptère' as it ought to be. The Germans got it right by calling it 'Käfer' (Beetle, as in the shapely insect. Not a Ladybird, the flying one with spots)

 

The Germans call the Alfasud the 'VerrostendesBastardexplodieren ' (exploding rusting bastard).

 

No. I'll come clean - I made that last one up.

[RoadworkUK]

The one Septicism I can't stand is the one you hear whenever you (inadvertantly, of course) stroll into a branch of McDonalds, and hear somebody say:-

 

"Can I get a (McOlesterol with "Bacon", etc.)"

 

Can I "get"? What the hell is wrong with "may I have", or "I would like". "Can I get" just sounds stupid.

 

In other news, Alfa Romeos;

 

Giulietta. JULIE ETTA? GWEELI ETTA? (I'm sure it's the latter, but I'd hate to have looked stupid for all these years)

[scooters]

yes - "can I get" is a bit rude!

 

'May I have" is much better

 

 

personally I prefer:

 

"Relinquish unto me..."

 

and I'll write it 3 times...

 

Shakespeare....Shakespeare....Shakespeare.....

 

do I get a star?

[Albert Ross]

Giulietta is Zhoo-lee-yetter.

[Cavcraft]

X5: 'Ex five' or 'I'm-a-baldy-forty-something-steroid-munching-gobshite-with-a-very-small-cock-and-a-trophy-blonde-bint-wife-and-neither-of-us-can-drive-very-well-but-my-car-is-bigger-than-your's-so-f*ck-off-out-of-my-way-before-my-neck-explodes'?

[Albert Ross]

Tough one. I'd go for the latter, just to be safe!

[RoadworkUK]

Giulietta is Zhoo-lee-yetter.

 

Oh, shit. Is it? Bugger.

[RoadworkUK]

X5: 'Ex five' or 'I'm-a-baldy-forty-something-steroid-munching-gobshite-with-a-very-small-cock-and-a-trophy-blonde-bint-wife-and-neither-of-us-can-drive-very-well-but-my-car-is-bigger-than-your's-so-f*ck-off-out-of-my-way-before-my-neck-explodes'?

 

It seems that X5 and Range Rover Sport are pronounced exactly the same way.

[maxpower]

sierra chasseur.......see-era sha sewer

[Tayne]

I'm all for evolving language and all that jazz, but I can't stand some of the Americanisms like people talking about "cell phones". I'm not an inmate or, worse still, a bloody monk!

 

Maybe not, but if your phone has a signal its in a transmission cell.

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

I'm all for evolving language and all that jazz, but I can't stand some of the Americanisms like people talking about "cell phones". I'm not an inmate or, worse still, a bloody monk!

 

Maybe not, but if your phone has a signal its in a transmission cell.

 

I know, but it still sounds wrong!

[ashmicro]

My ex is called Valentina, and she is an Italian (if you hadn't guessed). I asked her how to pronounce "Giugiaro", yet no matter how many times I tried, I just couldn't say it properly. Val got fed up, and said "canna you no just saya the man ees from Italdesign?"

[Jozza]

Cinq I imagine. Renault 4 is the Renault Quatre, with the L spec being the Quatrelle.

 

I'm a Too See Vee man myself. Only posh folk over here seem to refer to it as a Doh Chervaux. Dodoche is apparently a French nickname for them.

 

I've always called them Too See Vees as well.

 

The Germans tend to call 2CVs ducks, for some unknown reason.

 

I've never understood why the 2CV's nickname in several European countries has something to do with ducks Equally- why does the 'Tin Snail' nickname only seem to exist in English when it's so apt for so many reasons.

 

Of course Citroen themselves were rather fond of names that were also puns when pronounced properly in French- DS, ID, LNA, Acadiane (which works on several levels) and so on.

 

Just today at work I was talking with someone who called various lorries 'D-A-Fs', 'E-R-Fs' and 'M-A-Ns'. I've always said M-A-N as well as saying that you saw a 'Man lorry' always sounded strange. However I've always said 'Daf' and 'Urf' for the other two, which is illogical but just rolls of the tongue a bit better.

[Captain Mainwaring]

I'm still trying to get to grips with the pronunciation of 'early Skoda Octavia'. Currently I'm using 'foreign registered, bestickered and generally rough pseudo-Passat'. Any suggestions otherwise?

[Luxobarges_Are_Us]

'taxi'?

[flat4alfa]

I've never understood why the 2CV's nickname in several European countries has something to do with ducks

Your answer is on the previous page

[worldofceri]

Shakespeare....Shakespeare....Shakespeare.....

 

do I get a star?

 

You were right the first time. And the second time. Shakespeare hardly ever spelt his name the same twice.

 

They didn't gyve a fook abowt speling in thos daise, ye sea.