Mis-Pronounced Model Railroad-related Terms?

I hope I'm not the only one who's felt this way, but most of my MRR'ing education came from model RR books and magazines. The benefits need no explanation, but on the negative side, I had no familiarity of how some terminology, brand names or proper names were to be properly pronounced (and yes English is my first language). So I assumed they were pronounced a certain way!

So here's a list of model railroad-related terms/names I have mis-pronounced in the past, with my incorrect pronunciation indicated:


Kato: "KAY-toe"

fascia:"FASS-key-uh"
Rapido: "ruh-PEE-doe"
Suydam: "SUD-yam"
Kadee: "kuh-DEE"
Gorre & Daphetid: "Gore and DAFF-tied"

If you have any of your own, please share them!

 

Well, not to correct you, but
Fascia Is more like FASH-ya
and don't most folks say
Kay Dee?

 

Yes, I'm aware of that -- Read my post more carefully, I put my mis-pronunciations up on purpose to show how I used to pronounce them.

But in one of the popular model RR tutorial videos on YouTube, I've heard the host pronounce fascia as "FAY-shuh."

 

The Gorre & Daphetid was a John Allen play on words.
Pronounced as Gory & Defeated.

 

That one always bothers me. When using Romaji (Roman letters for Japanese works), "a" has an "ah" sound and "e" has an "ay" (long "a") sound. Maybe people watched too much Green Hornet.

I will admit that as a child, I pronounced "wye" as "way" and maybe it's a midwest thing but fascia was pronounced "Fay shuh" by everyone - model railroaders and non model railroaders alike.

Andy

 

I pronounce Suydam as "SIGH-dam"...is this correct?

 

To be academically correct, Fas-kee ah is correct for fascia, but the construction industry pronounces it Fayshuh.

Potayto, potahto, ...or potatoe if you are someone we know.

I knew how to pronounce Kato because I have some training in Japanese. But I understand those who pronounce it Kay toe, just like I understand someone who pronounces Paris, and not the correct Puh-ree.

I try to give credence when people communicate with me, hoping that they will overlook my deficiencies and defects n turn. It's the meaning, not the errors, that are important, unless one is a guardian or a teacher and has that kind of relationship with the person making the errors. Otherwise, I communicate privately if I think someone would benefit from some gentle correction. :tb-biggrin:

 

I have also heard Kato pronounced as Cottoe with the first 'o' as a short o.

 

Kato I have pronounced Kah-toe simply because I have a little bit of experience in Japanese and I know that there really isn't a KAY syllable.

I don't really care when someone says Kay-toe, and only once got in a disagreement (minor) with someone who insisted on "correcting" my pronunciation.

Fascia is almost always "Fay-shuh" in modern American English. I know it's a word with roots much older than the English language, but so are so many of our other words and we "butcher" most of them, too.

I love being "corrected" on pronunciation by people who live in cities like LOSS ANN-juh-liss.

I am with Crandell here. I prefer to cut the other person some slack and not run in to "correct" every bit of pronunciation in hopes that they will, in turn, overlook some of the deficiencies that they perceive in my manner or speech.

There are words that I know that I don't pronounce correctly simply because so much of what I learn I read, and reading a new word may give a hint at the meaning but not always at the pronunciation, unless you're reading rhyming verse.

 

This thread reminds me...

This thread reminds me of a joke about a small town not too far from here, Mexia. Most people say ma-HAY-ya, some of the old timers say my-HAIR and every once in a while someone who is not from around here will say MEX-ee-ya.

The joke goes that one day a couple of travelers stopped in Mexia for lunch. While they were eating, they debated the proper way to say Mexia. To settle the arguement, they decided to ask someone. So, they asked the guy sitting at the next table, "Sir, could you please tell us where we are?" To which the man replied "Dairy Queen".

Now to put this back on topic...we have all heard someone refer to HO as ho...LOL

 

Yes, I've been aware of that for a long time. Read my post more carefully.

 

Was that a personal dig at me, or are you just showing an example?

My whole point of the post was that I learned model railroading terms by reading them, and not hearing them, so for any unfamiliar word, I had to make a guess as to their pronunciation. I never belonged to a club, nor had a model RR mentor to teach me these things, so I learned on my own, hence the incorrect pronunciations.

We learn word pronunciations by the way we hear them from others, but without hearing them from others, how do we pronounce them? That was my whole point.

I think my initial post should win an award for the "Most Misunderstood Post Ever."

 

I can see why you'd think that, Metro Red Lone. It is the same on any forum I frequent...people miss important words or syntax that convey accurately what the originator wishes to say, and they understand that you are either casting aspersions on those who are different from you, or you are digging in and telling everyone else to go fly kites, or they go off on other tangents.

Try not to let it confound you...it is a frequent turn of events in the best of forums with the best of intentions.

FWIW, I understood you to be saying, "Here is what I have learned I was doing incorrectly. What similar learning or unlearning have you had to do?"

In that respect, you are no different from the heavy majority of us; we can stand to be more open minded, listen better, read more carefully, and generally be positively disposed to getting the most out of the hobby.

Thanks for starting us off with your own self-disclosure. I have made one or two flubs in my time. :tb-biggrin:

 

Metro Red Line, I am sorry. I wasn't making a dig at you but I see that, given your location, it probably looked that way. This is a case of posting a sentence without thinking on my part. If I had paid any attention to your location I would have picked another often mispronounced name.

We get visitors to my state all the time telling us that we pronounce our placenames funny here, as if any of them really has any clue how the Chinookan tribes would have pronounced any of them. Often, they try and put more French or Spanish inflection in them, which is not correct. Oftentimes, the know-it-alls come from places with French or Spanish names that are routinely "mispronounced" by the locals. I figure if a majority of the people living somewhere want to pronounce the name of their place in their own way then that is the pronunciation which should stand.


I think I understood your post. I am a reader, too. I often don't know how to pronounce words simply because I have only ever read and written them, never heard them spoken.

Best,
Adam

 

I've known for years that 'Kay-toe' is wrong, but I still think and speak it like that. And 90%+ of the modellers I've spoken with say it that way too. I'm afraid I'm gonna die thinking "Kay-toe"

 

That one doesn't look incorrect to me.

I don't even know what this is.

 

Suydam is an old company that made (some very excellent and expensive) brass traction models in HO.

 

Hahah, okay, we're cool then, no problem! At least I gave you the benefit of a doubt!