Need to clarify pronunciation of Hoppe's.

[LRaccuracy]

Thanks! Now I know for sure.

 

[Mr.510]

Hey! You guys forgot NUKE-YA-LUR....

 

[Still Too Many Choices!?]

Didn't read it all but since we appear to be venting about mispronounciation.... This is not pronounced as Guwwer, it is Ga-vehr... A little part of me dies everytime I hear it.

 

[Mini30]

What I find amusing: an entire community, for generations, mangling the name of their town which started as a tribute to some other (foriegn) city.

For example:
San Jose, IL is pronounced as "San Joes"
Moscow, ID does have a "cow" in it.
Bangor WA and Bangor ME are not pronounced the same.
Marseilles, IL being pronounced as "mar-sales"

But hey. If the locals say it is "San Joe's", well then, it IS their town

 

[inSight-NEO]

Man...this thread is STILL going strong? Good enough, I guess.

Note to self: Call Hoppes tomorrow and suggest they alter the pronunciation to "hopps."

After all, doing the "man thing" (cleaning guns) while having images of cute little bunny rabbits bouncing around in my head (Hoppies) feels a bit...weird.

 

[searcher451]

FWIW, the state capitol of South Dakota is pronounced Peer, despite the French spelling. Across the river is Fort Peer, also spelled Pierre.

No wonder we are five pages long and still going strong on Hoppe's.

 

[NoAlibi]

Tale, er...name of two cities

Two from Alabama:

1. City named after Frenchman Lafayette (Laf-ay-ette) = La-fay-ette

2. City of Bayou La Batre (By-you-la-bot-rah) = Bay-ola-battrey

You don't even want to know about Opelika!

 

[NoAlibi]

Almost forgot...

Another one from Alabama:

Arab which the good citzens call Ayy-rab.

The best part is that wasn't even name of the town! When the mayor petitioned the Postal Service to put an office in their town, it was granted and incorrectly named it the Post Office of Arab, Alabama.

Rather than have the error corrected they elected to change the name of the town!

Lest anyone think that I am besmirching the names of the good folks of Alabama, let me just say, "Perish the thought!" If my many friends and former neighbors thought I was doing so, my life wouldn't be worth a plug nickle!

All just in good fun.

 

[Publius1688]

Holy Cow. i've been using this stuff for twenty five years! and saying it wrong! Well, now I know.

 

[Oro]

Dang, I hate to rock the boat, but I don't think "Hopp' - ees" is correct. That's a German/Dutch name and that's not how a German would pronounce it. Even if the current folks at the company mangle it, it doesn't mean you need to do so, too.

First, it's possessive. So loose the "s" at the end and get the root pronunciation correct. The name is "Hoppe" That would be:

"hop' - eh" roughly. The final "e" in a German word is pronounced, and the "e" is short unless it's "ie", then it makes a long "e". Think of the German word most of us can relate to "Bier." "Beer." Just like an English pronunciation (guess where we got it from?). If it were to be "Hopp-ee", you would have to spell it "Hoppie." German is very literal in spelling and pronunciation.

So an English speaker would mangle it to "hop' - ee" because we are trained to do that, but that doesn't make it correct. The argument that "this is how the company pronounces it" cut's no ice with me. Just because they are mangling it, too, doesn't mean you need to.

As the unfortunate owner of a German surname, and having been a German language student for years in both high school and college, I know how German/Dutch names are mangled in the US. Among my immediate cousins in the US with same German surnames, there are three different pronunciations in common use and no one even thinks about it.

I am going to bet that Frank August Hoppe, born 1875 had a good knowledge of how his German name was pronounced (he might have even been German or Dutch born; that was still a time when there were waves of central European immigration coming to the US, but I don't know where he was born). I would lay money it was "hop' - eh." Now if there is a native German speaker here who can verify there's a dialect quirk that makes it "hopp' - ee" from wherever his family was from, then I could see it.

 

[NoAlibi]

Tit for tat

Oro
The argument that "this is how the company pronounces it" cut's no ice with me.

I'll bet that the way you say it cuts no ice with them either.

I'm sure that they would be polite enough about it and even agree with you as long as you buy their product.

You do use "Hop' - eh's" don't you?

 

[nitetrane98]

A man gets to pronounce his name however he damn well pleases. Ice cutting notwithstanding.
I give you Bret "Favre" Farve.

 

[toivo]

A man gets to pronounce his name however he damn well pleases. Ice cutting notwithstanding.
I give you Bret "Favre" Farve.

That one has always bugged me. If he just said "Fahve" (just skipping the 'r' altogether), it would be closer to the original French pronunciation. Either that or change the spelling to the way he pronounces it.

The "it's his name and he can pronounce it however he wants" thing only goes so far. My name could be spelled J-O-N-E-S and I could tell people it's pronounced "Smith," but life would definitely be difficult.

 

[Threeband]

There's an old Monty Python sketch where John Cleese says, "My name is spelled ('Smythe'), but it's pronounced 'Throat-warbler-mangrove'!"

And Oro,

Sie haben recht, aber was koennen wir tun darueber? "Das kueste mich auf Deutsch, und sprach auf Deutsch, (man glaubt es kaum, wie gut es klang!)"

And I still say the cartridge should be called "thirty-NAUGHT-six", rather than "thirty-AUGHT-six." (Ha! Gun-related!)

 

[Oro]

'm sure that they would be polite enough about it and even agree with you as long as you buy their product.

You do use "Hop' - eh's" don't you?

Hehe - I bet they would. And yes, I've been a loyal customer since the 70's, actually! They need to do nothing to keep getting my business for the occasional bottle I buy!

And Oro,

Sie haben recht, aber was koennen wir tun darueber? "Das kueste mich auf Deutsch, und sprach auf Deutsch, (man glaubt es kaum, wie gut es klang!)"

Sehr wahr. I can only retort with my favorite German idiom for giggles (pardon the course Bavarian dialect) - "Wan mann ein gut radieren kotten kann, dann kant er gut tanzen."

Which translates literally as "When you can cut a radish well, then you can really dance!" Colloquially, it means, "Hey, there you go!"

It just always makes me laugh to even think about that gibberish.

Ice cutting notwithstanding.

Actually, I used that phrase intentionally because according to one history I read, that's another trans-language abomination. Apparently, the Iroquis (I think it was) had an expression in their language that was phonetically like, "Kot nah eis vizme." Which literally translated in their language meant, "I am not impressed." But the English/American colonists just took the same meaning, and since it made an intelligible statement in English, flat out just stole it. "It cuts no ice with me" = "I am not impressed" in American English. I can't recall where I read that etymology, but I recall it was from a reputable source.

 

[NoAlibi]

Bridge for sale?

Oro
I can't recall where I read that etymology, but I recall it was from a reputable source.

Who cares who or what your reputable source is? Your seemingly erudite presentation has me accepting what you say at face value!

In these tight financial times I would not consider buying any bridge you might want to sell me, but I would certainly would consider a few shares! Ja?

 

[JohnBT]

"I know how German/Dutch names are mangled"

My grandmother is descended from a family that moved from Pennsylvania to the Charlotteville, Virginia area in the 1700s. My father remembers apple crates of German textbooks in the old homeplace smokehouse when he was a child in the early 1930s. The family name as it turns out was Mayer back then.

For 200+ years now it's been Mawyer.

John

 

[ChCx2744]

Hmm...Seems, still, nobody knows the correct pronounciation for "Steyr."

 

[TOTC]

mm...Seems, still, nobody knows the correct pronounciation for "Steyr."

I always pronounce it 'Steer' as in to steer a car. I guess it could be Stire, rhymes with fire.

 

[cavman]

I was just informed by a shootiing associate while at Camp Perry (great fun, hope you can all make it) that the M1 Garand pronunciation is

not ga-RAND' but rather GAIR'-und.

based on the man's name's correct pronunciation.

ps bought my first one (thanks THR, my bank account continues to curse you while there! Special Grade. Now I have to decide on how to finish the new stock. boiled Linseed Oil? Boiled Tung? Decisions, decisions.

 

[Threeband]

Steyr is pronounced SHTEYE-er. Notice the initial "St" is "sht", and the "ey" is "eye", or "aye": a long "i".

Then it's just a quick "er" to finish up. Very easy. (Go easy on the final "r"- it's not a Delmarva r!)
Mannlicher Schoenauer is a little trickier.

 

[Oro]

Who cares who or what your reputable source is? Your seemingly erudite presentation has me accepting what you say at face value!

He he, I was a history major in college and though gave it up as a profession, still try to be thorough and logical about evidence (plus I later was a stock broker/trader, so I learned a bit about the art of the sale ).

Threeband has "Steyr" spot on. Now the think that cracked me up I think the most in VT, which has a significant population of French descent because of French settlement centuries ago. There was a prominent local area named after a family name, "Charlebois." "Shar-le'-bwah" for anyone with a passing knowledge of how to pronounce French (I think it means "Charles' Forest/Woods - but anyway. Everyone locally pronounced it "Charley Boys." I mean, I know French is a lot harder than German to pronounce passably if you don't know some rules, but that was just too funny.

Our squadron motto: "Non Conjuge Nobiscum"

old USAF TAC saying, wasn't it?

 

[NoAlibi]

A rose by any other name...

Oro
old USAF TAC saying, wasn't it?

You are the historian - you tell me!

All I can pass on is that when I came on board the motto was hanging over the Marine Corps pilot's briefing/debriefing room at Da Nang in 1969. If it didn't originate with us it really doesn't matter. Good things need to be served up again and again.

It's always interesting to find someone who can appreciate the significance of the motto.

Semper Fi -- NoAlibi

 

[Oro]

You are the historian - you tell me!

That's where I heard it came from but I can't proove it. My uncle was a SAC pilot in Viet Nam and told me about it originally (not THEIR motto, just the motto). His Air Force experience also made him insist that when I wanted to join the service to fly, I go Navy. (Full disclosure - I did follow his advice and got into the USNA so I could fly, but then my left eye fell off to 20/40 so they wouldn't let me fly. This pissed me off to no end so I never ended up flying in the Navy).

 

[ChCx2744]

ahhh shhhh tie errrr...lol