What's in a name?
mgmorden:
Never go by what the word looks like though. Tons of people who know a little French have insisted that the legendary guitar the "Les Paul" should be pronounced "lay-pawl", only to find out that it's named after a musician, and Les is short for "Lester", so it really is pronounced like "less pawl"
You're talking about folks who know very little French and
zip-zilch-nada about guitars!
When it comes to French pronunciations, we can take a cue from our English cousins. One thing they like to do, just to drive Frenchmen nuts, is to pronounce French words
as if the words were English.
For example, a couple of French words that have been adopted into English, "claret" (a wine) and "valet" (a manservant) are pronounced by the English to rhyme with "carrot".
This might also be why we say "Paris" instead of "Pa-REE".
But if your snowmobile says "Bombardier" on the side, do you pronounce it "bom-ba-DEER" (the way Americans have always pronounced that word) or "Bom-BAR-dee-AY" (the way the snowmobile company wants it pronounced)?
One thing's for sure: If you ever find yourself in Versailles, Missouri, you'd better pronounce it "Ver-SALES" (although the jury's still out on whether it's "M'ZOOR-ee" or "M'ZOOR-uh"). And if you're down in the Volunteer State and you're visiting Dollywood, remember that the nearby town (and the home of Smoky Mountain Knife Works) is pronounced "SEVERE-ville".
P.S. I love my FAL (which I pronounce "Eff-Ay-El"). I don't think it's "clunky" or that it "kicks too hard"; .308 is a hard-hitting round -- what do you expect?
But since "FAL" stands for "Fusil Automatic Legér" (Light Automatic Rifle), and mine is no longer selective fire, I just call it a "G-1".
