How, or how not, to pronounce "Norge" merged threadfest

[Sasquatch Jim]

 Of course, pronounce it like the Germans do,  Bay Em Vay.
 Or Boyer ish Motern Verk Ay,  No difficulty at all with that one.

[BravoBravo]

As far as I am concerned, this pic pretty much settles the debate:






 :D

Bill

P.S.  This was Rick Mathis's Norge at 2009 South'n Spine Raid

Now that is funny. I don't care where you're from!  ;D ;-T ;D

[Bill Hagan]

***

Do we really need six or eight threads wondering how to pronounce Norge?

Some ask why; others ask why not.   :D

Bill

[rocker59]

Some ask why; others ask why not.   :D

Bill

"back in the day", I would've just bumped them all to the front page.   ;D

now that I have "the button", I'm putting the merge feature to use.   :BEER:

[Sack]

How can we say any word is pronounced only one way when we're such a melting pot who's official language changes daily based on popular talk? I don't know how people studying (our) English are even able to learn it!

[Idontwantapickle]

 :pop

[screamday]

"back in the day", I would've just bumped them all to the front page.   ;D

now that I have "the button", I'm putting the merge feature to use.   :BEER:

With the lack of understanding on how to use the search function, you will wearing out that new little button you have been empowered with.  ;D :BEER:

[donn]

How can we say any word is pronounced only one way when we're such a melting pot who's official language changes daily based on popular talk? I don't know how people studying (our) English are even able to learn it!

(I'm not sure the following quotation makes any really valid point, but it seems like an appropriate follow-up.)

The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

[Lannis]

"back in the day", I would've just bumped them all to the front page.   ;D

now that I have "the button", I'm putting the merge feature to use.   :BEER:

I just want all of you to know ....

I knew rocker59 when he wasn't nothin', was just a regular peon like the rest of us.    Is fame, power, and fortune going to change him?   Will Marcia still be able to ride with him?   Will he still come to rallies and hang out?   Or will he be drawn to the halls of power and influence wherein he now resides at WG world headquarters, never to mingle with the hoi-polloi again?

Time will tell ...  ;-T :D

Lannis

[rocker59]

I guess we'll see in McAlester tomorrow...  

 :bike

Oh, and I think we'll hold an impromptu poll at Bob's, asking the locals about this word, "Norge"...

 :BEER:

[Kev m]

Don't see how anybody could mispronounce m. It's m! ;D

:D ;D :D ;-T

[Bill Hagan]

El Dorado is in Arkansas.  It's pronounced El-do-ray-do.  The "do" being pronounced like "doe" or "dough".  It's an oil town and the home of Murphy Oil.

Miami in Oklahoma is pronounced "My-am-uh".

How you pronounce anything depends upon where you're standing and with whom you're talking.

I've known only a few folks from Ar-kansas.  Great people, tho one guy -- a fellow law professor at West Point -- had this watch with a silly red pig on it that raced around and made squealing sounds on the hour.  He was wonderfully proud of it, but we plotted to steal and stomp it, tho we never did.   ;)
 
My favorite pronunciation story involving an Arkansan was after the ground war in Desert Storm.

I was sitting in my "office," a tent in the middle of nowhere in Saudi Arabia (a redundant construction, that) when I heard someone approaching.  

A young lieutenant lifted the flap, came in, and said, "Suh, I am Lt. X from the Arkansas National Guard."

I responded, "hooah!" -- a term that had only recently entered the Army at the time, and which, for those who aren't familiar with it, meant and means ... well, pretty much whatever you want it to mean.  My meaning was, "Great.  Welcome.  Make yourself comfortable (before I put your young ssa to work.)"  :D

I guess the the lieut. thought I was a deaf old guy and that I had used the Arkansas two-syllable version of "who."  So, he repeated slowly and more loudly:

"Suh, I am Lt. X from the Arkansas National Guard."

 ;D

Bill

[rocker59]

That sounds like a Forest Gump moment, for sure...    ;D

[PICKLEKOOKEN]

I call mine a NORGY.

[radan2]

The one I hear about all the time is how you all pronounce "Pedernales".

The big questions for me are: (1) does that mean what the rumors say it means? (2) If so, how do they explain it to small children?

[radan2]

Not sure how the French side of you folks say it up there, but south of the border, we apply the "pizza rule."  I mean, do you really say "I'll take a medium pissa?"  ;D

Bill 



No because you use the Italian pronounciation.


And if you use the American pronunciation on the word "ghouti", it's pronounced "fish".   ("gh" as in "tough", etc.)

I have been able to find no instance in English where an initial "gh" is pronounced as "f".

[Lannis]

I have been able to find no instance in English where an initial "gh" is pronounced as "f".

Yeah but how's a non-English speaker who's trying to learn by example going to know that .... ?   I'm glad I don't have to learn English, it makes no sense at all unless you grew up with it ....

Lannis

[Spuddy]

"NOR-da-ga" Plain and not so simple.

[Atavar]

I have been able to find no instance in English where an initial "gh" is pronounced as "f".

ghoti , pronounced like fish
You pronounce the 'gh' in 'rough' as 'f'
You pronounce the 'o' in 'women' as 'i'
You pronounce the 'ti' in 'nation' as 'sh'

[Stormtruck2]

ghoti , pronounced like fish
You pronounce the 'gh' in 'rough' as 'f'
You pronounce the 'o' in 'women' as 'i'
You pronounce the 'ti' in 'nation' as 'sh'

Ehhhh? ??? ??? ???  Whhhaaatttt????  Me no speak a englash.  ~; ;) :D

[Buckturgidson]

Take it from someone who knows italian diction:
Nor'-jay.
Accent on first syllable, slight roll of R is correct.

[Bill Hagan]

Take it from someone who knows italian diction:
Nor'-jay.
Accent on first syllable, slight roll of R is correct.

When in Rome, perhaps ... but in Milan (Illinois!) or, as was the case in Buffalo, Iowa, this a.m., "Norj" will do.   :D

Bill

[Buckturgidson]

I'll be in Genoa tomorrow, Nevada that is.

[Bill Hagan]

I'll be in Genoa tomorrow, Nevada that is.

Wayne Orwig, Georgia's MGNOC Duce, did a "tag" event a few years ago.  Had us "collect" all the little burgs scattered around Georgia named after Italian towns.  Amazing how many there were. Milan was, tho, unlike its Lombard namesake, way south.

Bill

[donn]

Take it from someone who knows italian diction:

That's the same mistake as the "norj" crowd is making.  Take it from someone who knows Italian, take it from someone who knows English, take it from someone who knows Norwegian.  Take your guess, and go round and round.

Rather, take it from someone who knows how to pronounce the name of the motorcycle.  What do they say at Moto Guzzi?  Read the thread and find out.

[Bill Hagan]

That's the same mistake as the "norj" crowd is making.  Take it from someone who knows Italian, take it from someone who knows English, take it from someone who knows Norwegian.  Take your guess, and go round and round.

Rather, take it from someone who knows how to pronounce the name of the motorcycle.  What do they say at Moto Guzzi?  Read the thread and find out.

If I read your post correctly, why should we necessarily pronounce it as they do in Mandello?  They call that region's capital city, "Milano." Here, in Illinois, we call that city -- and the town here -- Milan.

I am, actually, in some state of disbelief that I am even "contributing" to this thread.   ::)

Think I'll pour some bottled corn and look at pix from today's ride.   ;)

Bill
NORJ rider   ;D

[radan2]

ghoti , pronounced like fish
You pronounce the 'gh' in 'rough' as 'f'
You pronounce the 'o' in 'women' as 'i'
You pronounce the 'ti' in 'nation' as 'sh'

In English, words beginning with "gh" are not pronounce as "f": ghetto, gherkin, ghillie (Scottish), and ghost are all pronounced with a hard "g". If "ghoti" is an English word, whatever may be said about the rest, the first sound is a hard g.

Yes, English is a language with a very unusual spelling system. Our spelling reflects, not just the pronunciation of a word, but its history, origin, and meaning. So I'll, aisle, and isle mean entirely different things, and no competent English speaker confuses one for the the other in print. George Bernard Shaw invented "ghoti" and its rationale as part of his campaign for spelling reform. But it's an arbitrary collection of letters: "gh" is not used as "f" at the beginning of English words, and when "ti" is pronounced "sh" it is part of the suffix "-tion."

However, nothing about this tells us how to pronounce "Norge." Around here, I would pronounce it "rare."

[Bill Hagan]

In English, words beginning with "gh" are not pronounce as "f": ghetto, gherkin, ghillie (Scottish), and ghost are all pronounced with a hard "g". If "ghoti" is an English word, whatever may be said about the rest, the first sound is a hard g.

Yes, English is a language with a very unusual spelling system. Our spelling reflects, not just the pronunciation of a word, but its history, origin, and meaning. So I'll, aisle, and isle mean entirely different things, and no competent English speaker confuses one for the the other in print. George Bernard Shaw invented "ghoti" and its rationale as part of his campaign for spelling reform. But it's an arbitrary collection of letters: "gh" is not used as "f" at the beginning of English words, and when "ti" is pronounced "sh" it is part of the suffix "-tion."

However, nothing about this tells us how to pronounce "Norge." Around here, I would pronounce it "rare."

You appear to be a professional, or serious amateur, etymologist ... or, at least, a practiced linguistics geek.   :D

This is, then, probably something more for a PM, but I'll start it here, anyway.

Am in middle of Joshua Kendall's biography of Noah Webster, "The Forgotten Founding Father: Noah Webster's Obsession and the Creation of an American Culture."  Presume you know it, but I have it now in paperback, as I missed its release.  Fascinating stuff about a remarkable (and weird) guy who -- if the book is accurate -- had an amazing impact on us.

I am pretty sure that Noah Webster would have pronounced "Norge" as "NORJ."   ;D

Bill

[donn]

If I read your post correctly, why should we necessarily pronounce it as they do in Mandello?  They call that region's capital city, "Milano." Here, in Illinois, we call that city -- and the town here -- Milan.

That's different.  Look it up, in an English dictionary.  My MacBook here comes with a little OED, which works:  "Milan ... blah, blah ... Italian name Milano."  Milan is an English name, for the city the Italians know as Milano.

Norge is not an English name for the motorcycle that the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Moto Guzzi named "Norge".  It is rather the very name they gave it, and they are the authority for how it's to be pronounced.

[Bill Hagan]

That's different.  Look it up, in an English dictionary.  My MacBook here comes with a little OED, which works:  "Milan ... blah, blah ... Italian name Milano."  Milan is an English name, for the city the Italians know as Milano.

Norge is not an English name for the motorcycle that the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Moto Guzzi named "Norge".  It is rather the very name they gave it, and they are the authority for how it's to be pronounced.

Interesting.

But reminds me of this:

   


:D

You say "potato" ... I'll say "NORJ."

Back to sipping my Selvaggio Tacchino.  ;)

Bill