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Bill 5 said:
…[W]hen I went to college in West Lafayette, Indiana, we had lots of students up from Louisville. We were taught to pronounce it what they considered “properly”. Without vowels, it's nearly a nickname — “LLVLL”. I like it a lot — just “LLLL” with a little lip flip in the middle.
That's awesome.
Also, check this out.
Yes, having grown up there, I'd say "LLVLL" is pretty much correct if you want to sound like a native.
LLVLL's an odd mix, though. It was a divided city during the Civil War, and folks in the southern part of the county tend to speak with a MUCH stronger Southern accent than those of us who grew up in the northeast section.
Sorry to comment so late, but I'm working through a backlog of podcasts.
Glad to see somebody mention the Fort Worth "Startlegram." My household calls the Dallas paper the "Dallas Morning Snooze." When we lived in San Diego (aka Sandy Eggo - a waffle pun if I ever heard one) we read the "Onion Trib" instead of the Union Tribune. Other city names: I've heard "Indianoplace" for Indianapolis, "Eusless" for Euless (Texas), and "Austintacious" for "Austin, Texas." I have a terrible time when typing the name of the city where the Alamo is: I can't stop my fingers in time and usually end up with "San Antonion."
- CI
Gulliver said:
Like the “Dilemna Dilemma” caller I was taught the “silent n” spelling in grade school. There's a part of me that still thinks that's correct — a part of me that is still sulking about Martha laughing out loud over this spelling. (I'm sure I'll get over it. Eventually.)
Yeah, I have to say that I was offended that they laughed at the spelling - I was born in 1976 and was, until today, still under the impression that dilemna was spelled in this manner. I don't think it indicated any kind of obsession that he wanted to discuss the spelling - the man obviously had a curiosity and came to the alleged experts on the subject of word-related nerdiness for help with his little issue. I think it showed a distinct insensitivity toward the target demographic of this show. But what do I know - I spell dilemna with an "N".
Galveston, TX is an island to on which is a number of top notch universities. It is also home to many run down houses, abandoned buildings and unpleasant native inhabitants. The drive to "civilization" is about 20 minutes, so many of us elect to stay on the island for daily shopping at the Awful-mart (Walmart) here on this prison island of Galvetraz.
A popular nickname for the Toronto newspaper "The Globe and Mail" (which touts itself as Canada's 'national paper') is "The Mop and Pail".
A somewhat local nickname for an institution is for a college in Montreal named "Marianopolis" (actually this is the Latin form of the original French name for Montreal - Ville Marie, city of Mary): students have lovignly referred to it as "Mary monotonous".
Gulliver and Rachael: My apologies — I only just now caught up with this thread. Clearly that laugh that you heard was the laughter of ignorance. I honestly had never heard that spelling before and saw no evidence from a quick look at several dictionaries that “dilemna” was ever accepted. It appears that's not the case, at least not according to the many people who've since written us to say that it was definitely the way they were taught as well! We were fascinated by this. Just goes to show that we can all learn something from each other, which is one of the reasons we love hearing from folks who listen to the show.
Question: Were you also taught that dilemma/dilemna meant specifically “a situation in which one has to choose between two things” or more generally “a situation in which one has to make some kind of choice”?
ConstantIrritant said:
"Sorry to comment so late, but I'm working through a backlog of podcasts..."
- CI
I just discovered A Way with Words by way of Grant's "Crash Blossoms" piece in the NYT (I laughed so hard, I cried) and am thrilled. Talk about working through a backlog, ConstantIrritant - I've got a couple years' worth to catch up on!
Re: nicknames, it's rather timely for me to have found the "Nicknames" episode since I wrote about this very topic on my blog a few days ago. I get a kick out of the ones that I find to be very creative, funny, and/or apropos (e.g. "Dead Lobster" for the restaurant chain), and I often marvel at the spontaneity with which they can come about. Then there are the ones that, upon first hearing them, I wasn't sure if I should laugh or feel offended, e.g. an area of Atlanta that has a high concentration of Asian restaurants, in and around Chamblee-Tucker Rd - is known as "Chambodia." (I got over it.)
Thanks, Grant and Martha, for your terrific shows. You have a new and devoted fan.
In response to the new term for retirement: When I was studying in Spain, I lived with a Spanish family and my pseudo "Spanish father" was a recently retired man. When I asked what he did for a living, he responded with "Estoy jubilado." I was confused, having never heard the term, but clearly the word looks a lot like "jubilant." Finally he explained that he didn't work anymore, and I thought the irony of being "jubilant" in retirement was just awesome.
Also, I wanted to mention something about the "white hat" slang question... I have heard the term "white hat hacking" many times before in reference to someone who breaks into a computer system in some way and then later on alerts the administrator as to how they did it in order to help them secure their system better. I was under the impression that this wasn't exactly the goal in the first place though, and more of a courtesy (and a personal challenge)... more like someone letting the shopkeep know that the bathroom is out of toilet paper after leaving the restroom (I doubt there are too many people that scope out establishments to track down empty toilet paper rolls). Just my two cents!
In response to the new term for retirement: When I was studying in Spain, I lived with a Spanish family and my pseudo "Spanish father" was a recently retired man. When I asked what he did for a living, he responded with "Estoy jubilado." I was confused, having never heard the term, but clearly the word looks a lot like "jubilant." Finally he explained that he didn't work anymore, and I thought the irony of being "jubilant" in retirement was just awesome.
Rather than being ironic, might it be referent to the "Year of Jubliee" from the Old Testament when every 50 years the fields were to lie fallow an extra year? Also, debts were to be forgiven, land returned to tribal heirs, and Hebrew slaves were freed.
Emmett
martha said:
Yes, having grown up there, I'd say "LLVLL" is pretty much correct if you want to sound like a native.
LLVLL's an odd mix, though. It was a divided city during the Civil War, and folks in the southern part of the county tend to speak with a MUCH stronger Southern accent than those of us who grew up in the northeast section.
My experience was that one could take careful instruction from a native on the proper pronunciation of Llvll, and even with years of tutelage the first public try at pronouncing the name as taught would result in a nod, smile, and correction. I've come to believe that every single person there has a specifically nuanced pronunciation. I honestly do think that a non-Louisville accent creates an assumption and perception that the name is being mispronounced. Perhaps I'm being a tad harsh - my pronunciation, a learned northern version, is sometimes considered admirable if imprecise.
I can't say as I have ever heard 'llvll' or any variation of it. Up here in central Indiana we do get two fairly distinct pronunciations. Among the northerners the city is called 'Louie-ville', while those with southern roots call it 'Lo-ville'.
and just in case someone is collecting the other nick names that came up.
Monkey & banana (Muncie, Indiana), is also sometimes called Balltown. (Muncie is the origin of the Ball Jar)
The area around here is referred to as East Central Indiana. Abbreviated as ECI it is called either ecky or icky dependent on the approval or disapproval of the area at the time.
The local university, Ball State University (aka testicle tech) has some wonderful nicknames for some of the buildings. The dorms Nunley and LaFollette are called 'the nunnery' and 'laugh-a-lot'. The Student Center, L.A. Pittenger is known as 'La Pit'. And finally, the signature statue named 'Beneficence' is referred to as 'Bennie'
Martha Barnette
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