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

[Muley]

I've read this thread with (yawn) little interest.  However, I think that only those who actually bought and paid for a Norge should be able to answer this delicate question, and whatever the owners of these bikes want to call it is fine by me. ::)

I will simply refer to this model as the Tupperware Bike 8)

[Atavar]

Mine is a Norj ..  you can put whatever faggy name you want on yours..  oops..  did I say that out loud?  

I suppose if you really want to be proper you can follow it all the way back to the Norwegian.. 

World English Dictionary
Norge  (ˈnɔrɡə)
— n
the Norwegian name for Norway

but mine is still a norj

[Bill Hagan]

I've read this thread with (yawn) little interest.  However, I think that only those who actually bought and paid for a Norge should be able to answer this delicate question, and whatever the owners of these bikes want to call it is fine by me. ::)

I will simply refer to this model as the Tupperware Bike 8)

Noted.  You are now officially uninvited to Cross Junction.  "Granny" remains welcome.   ;D

Bill

[Muley]

Noted.  You are now officially uninvited to Cross Junction.  "Granny" remains welcome.   ;D

Bill

Well, I won't sink to your level, you and Kathi are still welcome here, but I'd try to keep that plastic motorcycle parked in the shade at least until November when it starts to cool off a little ;D

PS  Heinz has a new joint in downtown Dublin.  Looks promising!

[Buckturgidson]

Mine is a Norj ..  you can put whatever faggy name you want on yours..  oops..  did I say that out loud?  

I suppose if you really want to be proper you can follow it all the way back to the Norwegian..  

World English Dictionary
Norge  (ˈnɔrɡə)
— n
the Norwegian name for Norway

but mine is still a norj

First of all, I don't care how anyone else pronounces Norge, the most importnant thing is we all "get" what an awesome ride it is.
Personally however, I prefer to pronounce it correctly, just like I prefer to hear my own name pronounced correctly. That is, as Donn stated, the way it's pronounced at Moto Guzzi. I think that is more respectful. Sometimes I get paid to sing Verdi and Puccini in Italian, so I think about diction a lot. That doesn't make me "faggy." Chicks dig it.

[Bill Hagan]

First of all, I don't care how anyone else pronounces Norge, the most important thing is we all "get" what an awesome ride it is.

***

Perfect.

***

Personally however, I prefer to pronounce it correctly, just like I prefer to hear my own name pronounced correctly. That is, as Donn stated, the way it's pronounced at Moto Guzzi. I think that is more respectful.

***

So, I take it that you and Donn say "JAG YOU ARE" as does that effete and affected Brit voice in those TV and radio ad spots?

I ain't about to be that "respectful."   ;

More at http://forums.motortrend.com/70/1075363/the-general-forum/frequently-mispronounced-car-company-names/index.html

***

Granted, I've been paid to sing Verdi and Puccini in Italian, so I think about diction a lot. That doesn't make me "faggy." Chicks dig it.

 :bow  

The only chicks who seem to enjoy my off-key tenor are my grandbaby girls, all 5 and under.  That won't last long.   :'(

As in all things, YMMV.

Best,

Bill

[Atavar]

I guess I must be a little redneck, but if I am speaking American English I will use American English pronunciations.  If I am speaking Italian I will use the Italian pronunciations.  To my ear slipping foreign pronunciations in to American English speech is a little pretentious and ostentatious.  I don't know of anyone who would accent both the first and third syllables of Hayabusa to pronounce it "properly" and I would certainly chuckle if they did.  {HI-yaaah-BOOS-sa}.  Japanese speakers feel free to correct me. 

[Buckturgidson]

It's all good. Now excuse me, I'm going for a long ride on my Norge (insert preferred pronunciation.) :)

[Nick]

Norj or Norjeh, it depends on the audience. Guzzi is always "gootzie", not goozie, guzzie, whatever......

How do you pronounce Centauro? "Cent-o-ro" or "Chent-aou-ro" or "The beast" ?  ;)

Ducati 1198 or "Mille chento novant'ohtto" ? ;D

[rocker59]

How do you pronounce Centauro? "Cent-o-ro" or "Chent-aou-ro" or "The beast" ?  ;)

 

Easy.

"Ce" in Italian is pronounced "Che" in English.

So it's "Chen-tor-oh" / "Chen-tar-oh".

[Nick]

Easy.

"Ce" in Italian is pronounced "Che" in English.

So it's "Chen-tor-oh" / "Chen-tar-oh".

Chent-ou-roh

The "ou" would be pronounced as the "ou" in "ouch". Of course you would roll the "r".

[donn]

To my ear slipping foreign pronunciations in to American English speech is a little pretentious and ostentatious.  I don't know of anyone who would accent both the first and third syllables of Hayabusa to pronounce it "properly" and I would certainly chuckle if they did.  {HI-yaaah-BOOS-sa}.  Japanese speakers feel free to correct me. 

That looks right to me, up to a point.  Japanese or whatever - common practice phonetic transliteration to Roman alphabet - but I don't know, I think you're talking about details that remain ambiguous.  The dictionary advises us to pronounce "motorcycle" with stress on the first and third syllables, but there are a variety of wrong ways to do that.  I understand Japanese is a tonal language, so it's practically guaranteed to change a little on its way into English.

In any case, I agree that there is no call to use foreign sounds in English speech.  No one really wants to hear Americans try to roll their Rs, or duplicate the rhythm of Italian's short vs. doubled consonants.  Or their pure vowels - though as I mentioned above, I'd take the liberty of treating the final E as `short', for that reason.

[Lannis]

Interesting.

But reminds me of this:

   

Looks Quebecois ... I think it was their general Frontenac who, upon being asked to parley with the English, said "I have no reply to make to you other than from the mouths of my cannons ....", and made it stick ....

Lannis

[Rotten Ralph]

Yikes! Five pages and 194 responses and I'm still the only one here who knows how to pronounce Norge correctly.  :o :o ;D

How about something new - how to pronounce Puch. ::)

[pebra]

Take it from so

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

Really? With a diphtong at the end?
What would I know. But I'd be surprised.

[radan2]

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

I appreciate the reference. I will download it on my Kindle.

[Pfaff!]

Mostly for our Norvegian kin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXWtP-vzKBo&feature=related

[Sack]

http://imtranslator.net/translate-and-speak/

Well, at least in Italian!  Norway and Norge translate the same way.

[pebra]

Mostly for our Norvegian kin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXWtP-vzKBo&feature=related

Impossible to beat Moltas there!
But here's a little consolation for you to listen to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OXBvY53iwo

[segesta]

So in Italian, "Norge" doesn't fit the language's spelling rules, but it would be pronounced "Norjeh."
In Norwegian, it would be pronounced "Norgeh" or similar.
And in English, "Norj."

Being a smug cosmopolitan hipster, I've always said Norge in the Norwegian fashion (you know, the way NPR announcers proudly say 'Nicaragua' in a perfect Spanish accent in an otherwise flat Midwestern style) but how does Moto Guzzi expect its model name to be pronounced?

Yeah, this is keeping me up at night. That, and pleasure over the Blackhawks' double OT win over the Kings. Your thoughts are welcomed.

[Tom]

I say tomato. :beat_horse

[ejs]

Some one stated in an earlier discussion on this topic " pronounced as in he is neither straight nor gay"  ;D Still get
a chuckle out of that . The Norwegian pronunciation is closer to Nahr i gah , similar to Flor i da . Kidneb would be the expert on this .
 
Dusty

As in "nor gay" if you skip the  y in  "gay" ...Norge ends with the E as the E in Eric .
 :+=copcar

[sturgeon]

In Canada we say norg, eh.

[Bill Hagan]

See my Guzzi list, below, for my vote.

Mojohand -- who felt quite strongly that it should be "NOR-jay" or some similar silliness does not get a vote anymore, as he has gone over to the FJR side of the house ... probably because that Yam is easier to pronounce.   ;D

Bill

[Crusty]

I asked an Italian guy I worked with how he would pronounce it if he were home in Italy. Ejs described it perfectly. I still pronounce it like it was a refrigerator.
It's an Italian motorcycle named for a Scandinavian country that I bought and ride in North America.Pick your own way to pronounce it.
I love to pronounce Audi the same way as I would pronounce Audie Murphie's first name. It bugs the shit out of the snobbish owners who think it should be pronounced ow-dee (they're wrong, by the way; Germans pronounce it like I do).

[donn]

I love to pronounce Audi the same way as I would pronounce Audie Murphie's first name. It bugs the shit out of the snobbish owners who think it should be pronounced ow-dee (they're wrong, by the way; Germans pronounce it like I do).

The wikipedia entry for Audi includes an ogg sound file of someone who sounds German to me, pronouncing it like "OWdee ah kee" (the full name Audi AG) with a German accent.  English vowels like "OW" are subject to a large range of regional variation, but none of them I know of sound like that German guy, and I guess the way he starts it with a far back "ah" might end up sounding more like "AWdee" in more rapid speech, to an English speaking person.  But he'll pronounce Audi and Ahdi quite differently, and in the English rendition we should too.

I never really understood the attraction to the Norge anyway, but to me ... I've heard people say "Guzzi" rhyming with "buzzy", and I suppose back in the late '60s you could imagine there was a slight chance that the name would take on an English pronunciation like that irrespective of its Italian pronunciation.  Like the way we pronounce Sicily, I guess might be a good example.  But there wasn't really any chance it was going to turn out that way, and in the end it just sounds stupid.  It's a little surprising that having seen how that went down, people would want to say "norj".

[segesta]

PS I'm the clown who got this endless discussion started again, and for that, I sincerely apologize.

[Crusty]

If you really want to get a Porsche owner fired up, call it a Porch.  ~;

[donn]

Re the Audi thing , considering that it was originally "Auto Union Deutschland Ingolstadt"

I understand that's a myth, there never was anything with exactly that name.  "Audi" is a translation to Latin, of the founder's name "Horch", when he couldn't use his name for his second business because it was a trademark for his first.

[rocker59]

Don't know about that , the Latin word Audi means sound or hearing . The company was founded in Ingolstadt , and Hitler helped promote their racing efforts , that is all I know for sure .

Dusty

And I thought AUDI was an acronym for Auto Union Deutschland Ingolstadt