Pronunciation thread

[devder1]

oh lol and i say polypterus as poly-pert-us

 

[krichardson]

The latin names for the thinbar and the silver dats have always given me trouble.

 

[Retuks]

Dovii-dough-vee to me
Umbee-I pronounced it as "am-bee". Strange as it may sound though.

And here are some for goldfish:
watonai-"wa-town-eye"
tosakin-almost close to "toesucking"
ryukin-"ra-yu-kin"

bichir-"bee-sheer" or "bee-cheer"

am bee? why? lol

and just to cover correct pernunciation side:

watonai = wa-ton-eye
tosakin = toes-ah-keen (or toes-ah-kin if it pleases you)
ryukin = ree-you-keen (again "keen or kin")

i have never heard anyone say "bee cheer" before and if i did id probably laugh no offence to anyone who says that though.

i think some of the problems have to do with accent too. usually neutral accents will be more prone to correct pronunciation. while european/ north american southerners are more prone to pronouncing it within their accentual limitations. and also people with valley girl (coastal?) accents can get some things pretty twisted aswell. as most north Americans have trouble pronouncing anything foreign correctly.

spanish, greek, etc. latin forms of accents will also be more likely to correctly pronounce fish names (especially the latin part lol).

 

[Retuks]

oh lol and i say polypterus as poly-pert-us

but the "P" comes before the "T"?? where did the "ert" before the "us" come from? lol

"polip-ter-us" is the correct pronunciation. sorta sounds like a type of dinosaur.

 

[Retuks]

For me its:
Pleh-co
Pah-coo

Ok the reason none of us should call it PLEE CO or PLAY CO is because you don't say "PLAYCOSTOMUS or PLEECOSTOMUS"

"Pleco" is short for "Plecostomus" and therefore should be pronounced like a short version respectively as "Pleck-Oh"... of course you say "Pleck-cost-um-us" and NOT "Pleck-Oh-Stum-us"

we say "Oh" because its a slang in the first place. like when we say "hes a sicko" meaning pervert.

Pacu is correct. "Pah-Coo" because that is as the natives who made the name say it.

Piranha is like scissors and pronounced "Pee-rah-Nya" (rolled R) natively though the english correct pronunciation is "pah-Rah-Nah"

Dovii is NOT Dough-vee-eye because it was not originally named with "scientific latin" intention (like in that theory) nor is it a plural (which is what is required of it before it can scientifically have that "ee-eye" sound). Nor is it "doughv-eye". it is "Dough-vee" because it is simply the native pronunciation for the word. the scientific name does mean "king of cichlids" but the name itself just means "king" period.

 

[makoshoemaker]

How is jardini pronounced? I always say Jar-dee-nee

 

[krichardson]

How is jardini pronounced? I always say Jar-dee-nee

Me too as well as everyone else I know who talks about them....What about Kelberi,I say kel-ber-eye and others say kel-beer-ee?

 

[pi-eyed]

Me too as well as everyone else I know who talks about them....What about Kelberi,I say kel-ber-eye and others say kel-beer-ee?

I pronounce it kel-bear-ee

--Chris

 

[geronimo69]

I know it's not fish related, but how do you Americans pronounce roof?

Ruff? or Roof as it's spelt?

What I mean is does it rhyme with aloof, or does the "oo" take the same sound as in the word "book". (ruff)

LOL, that makes me smile more than anything. No offense intended at all.

 

[NatashaAliza]

I'm not American but I've lived here most my life, I say roof. Ruff is the sound a dog makes :]