Author Topic: 'Concours' or 'Concour'  (Read 24455 times)

Offline Cholla

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #60 on: February 12, 2014, 02:23:10 PM »
It's actually Sh and that is the way they pronounce their S's whenever they precede a consonant.  I guess you could say they are pronouncing a letter which isn't written there, which is the opposite of the French who frequently neglect to pronounce many letters which are there.  When an S precedes a vowel it sounds more like a Z to us. 

I'm certainly no language expert, German, English or otherwise.  Just trying to reason why I seem to insist on pronouncing Concours incorrectly, even though I know the correct way.  I do always say Porsh-ah.
The is a warehouse up the street from here that used to have the "Spar" company logo on it complete with the crooked S.
I was with a friend who was born and raised in Germany and that's how I found out how it was really pronounced. Sch or sh they both sound the same.

And forte pronounced "fortay" does not mean what you do best. It means loud.
The proper word is pronounced, "fort".
I bet we could come up with a bunch.
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #61 on: February 12, 2014, 02:24:50 PM »
Actually a sound that the Germans cannot make is 'sch'. A Dutch friend of mine used to revel in getting them to say the name of the main airport in The Netherlands, in Amsterdam.... which is Schiphol. English speakers have no problem with the sound (like 'school) but native German speakers cannot say it quite correctly (usually, we are speaking generically here). Pe used to laugh and laugh when they said it (no love lost between the Dutch and German people). While on the same subject, Germans generally do not pronounce the letters 'or' correctly in English either- they have some multiple syllable for the English word "work" which is kinda' funny. I hope everyone understands here that I am speaking generally and not bashing anyone- I am actually a bit of a Germanphile but some of the linguistic nuances are pretty funny. It cuts both ways too- I have had more than a few smiles, chuckles and outright shakes of the head aimed at my German pronunciation too.

There are about 100 sounds a human can make. Most languages use about 40 sounds strung together. Once a human hits about 13 years old or so, he / she cannot readily learn anymore sounds. So when that person learns a new language, he / she does not learn any new sounds and so applies the 'closest wrong' sound they know how to make. That is the very basis of what an accent is, and why they run in families.... a native Spanish speaker speaking English sounds nothing like a native German speaker speaking English. We pick up on the accent by hearing the wrong sounds being used. A very common one is the sound 'th'; common in English but apparently absent in the Slavic languages. Listen to a Polish native speaking English and you will hear things like 'I went to the store wiff....' and so forth.

Then there is the whole confusion regarding incorrect spelling. Listen to a German pronounce "iron" and it will sound like 'I- ron',  exactly like it <should> sound. How we ever got 'i- ern- out of it I do not know.

Brian (I wonder if Concours ends in 'ski' in Poland?)

So why is the German store "Spar" pronounced, "Schpar"?

Concours pronounced with no s or e. And spelled with no e. Look right on the bike, fer cryin out loud!
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #62 on: February 12, 2014, 02:29:30 PM »
Careful with the y'all there 'cause a lot of us ain't y'all. You may not be able to tell us apart but we can certainly tell each other apart :-)

Some words just get their own pronunciation and it does not follow any rules. Pico and Micro, which one is pronounced incorrectly? Turbine and carbine, again one of them is a little off too, at least in common pronunciation.

The next question should be: 'how many syllables in 'New Orleans' '?   ;D   English has a lot of rules but apparently, not nearly enough.

Brian

Hey!...While we're on the topic of the "e" being silent....

I just got back from some training in the US, and how come y'all drop the "e" on the word turbine?

Or is the "turbin" pronunciation strictly a southern thing?...

Considering I was the only guy there from north of North Carolina....and I'm not even an American!

In any case, we pronounce it "Turbine", like the word "incline".

Wait a darn second...

Do you guys pronounce the word "incline", like "Inclin"?...hahaha. Ok, ok....J/K.

Didn't mean to get so off topic...
But, while we're on the topic of Motorcycles....how about all the variations in Shoei, Ohlins, and Akrapovic?

I know, I know....It's "Oh-Leens"....but I still pronounce it as Oh-Lins.
Shoei?....I pronounce it like "Shoo-ee"...always have.
A friend of mine says "Show-EE".
Whatever...lol.

Silly Vernacular....it is what it is;)
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #63 on: February 12, 2014, 02:34:17 PM »
I worked in Remschied for a while and after a fashion, learned how to pronounce the name on the sign of the company down the street- Krupp Stahl. But I never quite got the hang of an 'oe' combination with an umlat on the 'o', at least according to the shaking of the head of Herr Loewer.

Brian

The is a warehouse up the street from here that used to have the "Spar" company logo on it complete with the crooked S.
I was with a friend who was born and raised in Germany and that's how I found out how it was really pronounced. Sch or sh they both sound the same.


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Offline blue14

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #64 on: February 12, 2014, 05:42:44 PM »
Brian (I wonder if Concours ends in 'ski' in Poland?)

No it ends in "Toboggan"....
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Offline blue14

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #65 on: February 12, 2014, 05:48:06 PM »
Yep, that is why I said 'tend', not 'do'.

Some French words we use exactly as the French do- debris (like this thread) comes to mind.

And never forget, the "e" in 'douche' is silent.  ;)

Brian

There is an "E" in Douche, I always thought it was an "A"...Who knew?
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Offline tweeter55

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #66 on: February 12, 2014, 06:41:04 PM »
I can't wait for the next 'tar' and 'ole' threads. Ought to be a little more interesting.
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Son of Pappy

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #67 on: February 12, 2014, 07:21:01 PM »
I can't wait for the next 'tar' and 'ole' threads. Ought to be a little more interesting.
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Did you mean "Tyre"? ;D

Offline Stephen.G.Fiddes

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #68 on: February 12, 2014, 08:45:22 PM »
Well this thread went off the deep end... Should have figured knowing you guys... Hahahahaahahaha

As far as the extra R in waRsh or WaRshington:

At least the S being pronounced in Concours is actually there!!!  Hahahahaha
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Offline Tremainiac

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #69 on: February 12, 2014, 09:10:24 PM »
My bad German is good Yiddish.
As far as I can tell... :o
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Offline Nosmo

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #70 on: February 12, 2014, 09:56:34 PM »
I believe that New Orleans has two syllables:  Naw and Lins  (But I'm a Yankee so I may be wrong.) ;)

The "e" is silent in douche, but not in touché.

Does anyone want to take a stab at some Northwest names?

Puyallup
Sequim
Esquimalt (In British Columbia)
Stillaguamish
Kalaloch
Cle Elum
Pend Orielle
Humptulips  (OK you can pronounce it, but just try to say it without laughing.)
Geoduck (Possibly the most mispronounced word in the world. Don't try to cheat by Googling it, the internet has it wrong.)
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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #71 on: February 12, 2014, 10:31:48 PM »
You left out Quilcene.  Home of the infamous Quilbillys.

Puyallup-Puppylips
Sequim-lets go fishing to get squeamish
Esquimalt (In British Columbia), eh?
Stillaguamish-stillsqueamish
Kalaloch-think smoked salmon.
Cle Elum-indian for great place to start a ride
Pend Orielle-another great riding area
Humptulips  (OK you can pronounce it, but just try to say it without laughing.)  Porn town
Geoduck (Possibly the most mispronounced word in the world. Don't try to cheat by Googling it, the internet has it wrong.)  Long necked bottles were invented after patterning the oversized clam ;)

Offline blue14

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #72 on: February 13, 2014, 04:31:10 AM »
Puyallup is pronounced P-I-L-E-U-P at least it was at the MX track... 8)
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Offline Conrad

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #73 on: February 13, 2014, 04:41:13 AM »
Hey!...While we're on the topic of the "e" being silent....

I just got back from some training in the US, and how come y'all drop the "e" on the word turbine?

Or is the "turbin" pronunciation strictly a southern thing?...

Considering I was the only guy there from north of North Carolina....and I'm not even an American!

In any case, we pronounce it "Turbine", like the word "incline".

Wait a darn second...

Do you guys pronounce the word "incline", like "Inclin"?...hahaha. Ok, ok....J/K.

Didn't mean to get so off topic...
But, while we're on the topic of Motorcycles....how about all the variations in Shoei, Ohlins, and Akrapovic?

I know, I know....It's "Oh-Leens"....but I still pronounce it as Oh-Lins.
Shoei?....I pronounce it like "Shoo-ee"...always have.
A friend of mine says "Show-EE".
Whatever...lol.

Silly Vernacular....it is what it is;)

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Offline twowheeladdict

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #74 on: February 13, 2014, 05:27:48 AM »
Come on Spring!  We just got 4" of snow on the TN, AL border.  More the further south you go.  Sure looks purty though.
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #75 on: February 13, 2014, 07:23:29 AM »
Looks like  :censored: to me, he says after nearly getting a heart attack getting it off the drive and that's with a snow blower...
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #76 on: February 14, 2014, 08:50:53 AM »
Me too- about 6 inches here (easy boys!) but it was the wettest snow I have ever seen. Even the blower didn't like it much and I was exhausted by the time I was done with the place. The temps. here are hovering right around freezing too so some of it is melting but tonight it will all free when the temps. drop to 20. And tomorrow they are calling for 1-3" during the day, and 1-3" tomorrow night..... I guess if you break it up that way it sounds better.

Brian

Looks like  :censored: to me, he says after nearly getting a heart attack getting it off the drive and that's with a snow blower...
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Offline Stephen.G.Fiddes

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #77 on: February 14, 2014, 07:39:12 PM »
Me too- about 6 inches here (easy boys!) but it was the wettest snow I have ever seen. Even the blower didn't like it much and I was exhausted by the time I was done with the place. The temps. here are hovering right around freezing too so some of it is melting but tonight it will all free when the temps. drop to 20. And tomorrow they are calling for 1-3" during the day, and 1-3" tomorrow night..... I guess if you break it up that way it sounds better.

Brian

After the snow and ice melted here, all we have left is flooding and gravel... Gravel everywhere... which I completely forgot about till I hit a pile mid-corner and almost washed the front... Thankfully I wasn't going very fast, but it got my attention quick!
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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #78 on: February 14, 2014, 11:30:12 PM »
So, is the "s" currently silent, as in "now"?

Just trying to get back on topic ya know ;)  Wait, is the "K" silent?  I'm confused.  Or is it "cornfused" in parts of the country?

Never mind, feel free to igsnore me 8)  I still believe the "word" came from the British acronym "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" :doh:

Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: 'Concours' or 'Concour'
« Reply #79 on: February 15, 2014, 06:14:21 AM »
As far as ignoring you, there's another thread going on that topic... ;)
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