Here's where you can ask how to pronounce exotic band names

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (542 of them)

View Previous Page...

i have a funny story about the moog pronounciation thing but i'm sure i've told it before.

― ethan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Hang on a second, do you really say Krahft?? I mean, I can understand glahse and bahth, but Krahft Cheese Slices?

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Ethan, I'm not in the moog.

Emily, you know that's not what I meant re: Paris. But do you pronounce it the proper French way?

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Emily, isn't Kraft Australian originally? Their pronunciation of it is closer to my poofy southern ways than your hard vowels, isn't it? The Australian accent having originated from Cr-ahfty Cockerne Convicts and all..

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

What about Yoyd Cole? (As in cabellero.)

― Dave225, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

No, I don't pronounce it the French way. I do think that the Germanic preference has something to do with ease (rather than just the fact that I prefer, say, Mouse On Mars to Daft Punk)- it seems natural to me to drop the Js into Y sounds where appropriate, and the same goes for W/V (although I actually can't think of anyone aside from Kraftwerk who I would use that on). Things like changing the way of saying Paris seem a lot more affected...

I don't know about the origins, but saying Krahft just makes me think of the Queen eating plastic cheese.

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

You're not one of those people who says 'Yenga' are you?

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

As in Jenga? Nooo- is it meant to be? If it's something that has become so ingrained in this country as an English pronounciation, I'm not going to be that awkward about it. I honestly thought most people do pronounce it Kraftverk.

I guess what it also partly is, is that is your surname were Jones, then (aside from making rubbish music) you'd probably be a bit pissed off if some guy from Swedinia insisted you were Yones. So if there's some German or Swede or summat, I try to pronounce their name properly. Out of courtesy. And it became a habit.

Nobody complains about people saying Neu as Noy, do they? Why? Because it's the right way of saying it.

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

No obvious way of pronouncing 'Neu' so people are happy to find out the proper way. Jenga is not really pronounced 'Yenga' (as far as I know - isn't it supposed to be some African word?) but I have known people to say it.

I think it's cute when Irish people come here and pronounce the 'th' in Streatham and Thames. But I guess that's a different issue. OK then, I like French people calling me Nicola.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

It says something about my friends that I've never had a conversation about Neu!, and did not know it was pronounced "Noy." It seems so much better to me if its pronounced "New." Is the "eu" always prounounced "oy" in German?

I've never heard that story, Ethan. Moog rhymes with "rogue", right?

― Mark, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

well it's not a very good story, basically a few years ago my friend and i decided moog records were hilarious and went around saying 'fly me to the moog!' and 'in the moog for love!' all the time and we were doing this in this asheville record shop with a surly female clerk who nastily pointed out to us that it's pronounced like 'mogue' and we got really mock serious and said, oh, thanks so much for letting us in on that, and then left the store and laughed at her for her lame (and surely deflected) attempt at making fun of us. only months later did i woefully discover she was actually correct.

― ethan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I must say I would piss off Robert Moog- his machine is a MOOcowG. Not a MOWgrassG.

I actually don't mind that much people saying 'New', but it isn't the right way. I'm not sure if it is always said like that in German -I can't think of any other words with that arrangement of letters, frankly.

Now how do you say Cica?

― emil.y, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I just want to take this opportunity to bring up the best fact ILM has ever brought me; that Joy Division's second album is 'actually' pronounced 'clozer', as in that which closes.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Is the "eu" always prounounced "oy" in German?

Ja.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Do Germans pronounce Jah Wobble 'Yah Wobble'? That would be funny har har har.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

No - better yet 'Yah Vobble' - how could I have missed that?

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Division's second album is 'actually' pronounced 'clozer', as in that which closes.

Is this from a trusted source? I have never heard that... But I don't want to say it as trivia at a party and then find out it's bullshit. So how do you know?

― Dave225, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

My source. Admittedly, Alex, Ally and Mark.S don't rank alongside Whitaker's Almanac in terms of reference material standing, but hey, they're a lot more fun.

― N., Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I agree with Emily that it's only right to try to pronounce foreign names as the people would wish the to be pronounced. My Krahft-work anecdote was about a german anglicising a german name for my benefit, which I didn't really need. The question, for me, though, is how far do you go in front of your mates. Do you bother with the full-on French pron of Francoise Hardy, with proper back-of-the-throat r sounds? It sounds a mite strange in the middle of a sentence in English to suddenly go all pouty and shruggy just to pronounce one name! And do you pronounce Cornelius /cor-neary-arse/? I guess not.

― Daniel, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Sarah doo-ger is correct (hard g)

Neu! and Swefn G Endlar?

― Graham, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Svefn G Englar is pronounced "sig your ross SEC-und AL-bum"

― Mark, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Svefn G Englar is pronounced "sig your ross SEC-und AL-bum"
I thought it was "fa-LOE up EE-PEE", since Agaetis Byrjum was actually their 2nd album already (3rd if you count the remix album). Woo boy, I am the life of the party.

― Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Neu is just "new" aren't they?...

― jel, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

NEU! = "noy", not "noo".

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Isn't Sigur Ros not any of the exotic "See-gure Roase" people come up with, just Sigger Ross?

― Graham, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Neu! should be pronounced Noy. Kraftwerk should be pronounced Kraftverk

That is all.

― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Einsturzende Neubauten = EYEN-shtur-tsuhn-duh NOY-bow-tuhn. ("bow" rhymes with "cow") If someone can find me a webfont of IPA symbols, I will be eternally grateful.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"bow" rhymes with "cow"

...as in enivob nez

― Dave225, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I once got corrected for pronouncing the Helvetica Neue typeface as "noy", not "noo". Is that what the extra "e" does?

― Curt, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

In German, "Neue" would be pronounced "NOI-uh", not "NOO". So, no.

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

How do you pronounce The Strokes?
Sort of like Linda Blair in the Exorcist

― helenfordsdale, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Dan, your German pronounciation is OTM. Where did you learn those pronounciation syllables from? They include stress (capitals), hyphenation (-) and sound, don't they?

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Also, doesn't Einsturzende Neubauten mean "the sound of new buildings falling apart?"

― nickn, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Dan, some of the international phonetic alphabet can be found by clicking insert then symbol on Word. I presume that's what you meant by IPA.

― Daniel, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

nickn: yes. einstürzende neubauten rule!

― alex in mainhattan, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I say "Kraftverk" and I pronounce Francoise Hardy the French way, but I don't try to sound Japanese when talking about Cornelius.

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

but 'neu' means 'new' in english, right? I've seen it on candy bars. NEU!

― A Nairn, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

How 'bout Sukpatch? Is it "Sook" or "Suck"?

― electric sound of jim, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Technically, Einsturzende Neubauten means "collapsing new buildings". Which is pretty much the same difference anyhow.

― Sean Carruthers, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I've heard "suck patch" from just about everybody, including bands that have played shows with those guys.

― Mark, Tuesday, 22 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

"Gus Gus" or "Goos Goos"? (Not that I'm talking about them all the time or anything.)

― felicity, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Where did you learn those pronounciation syllables from?

They're the closest approximation I can come up with to a phonetic spelling you might find in a dictionary. (BTW, Daniel, thanks for the tip.)

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

The Gerogerigegege, anyone?

― Nate-o, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Googoogoogle to the rescue:
"Gerogerigegege is a Japanese onomatopoeia for vomiting and shitting diaharrea at the same time. 'gerogeri' refers to a rumbling/spewing colon and 'gegege' refers to the sound you make when you vomit..." (so you, um, figure it out)

― Jeff W, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I am betting Gerogerigegege is Noise, not J-Pop. Or maybe J-Poop? hah!

― helenfordsdale, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I've always pronunced it with hard g's.

― Kris, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Gerogerigegege
Geh-roh-geh-ree-geh-geh-geh. The r should actually be sort of between a rolling r (french r) and an l.

― helenfordsdale, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

sigour Ros, translates to victory rose...but that sounds like some pub goth band.

― jel, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Gerogerigegege is a Japanese onomatopoeia for vomiting and shitting diaharrea at the same time.

And I'll bet there's a web site devoted to it.

― nickn, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Candi Staton.

Is it "state-on", or more like Stanton Warriors without the "n"?

― Mind Taker, Wednesday, 23 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Skipping 442 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.