Butchering Pronunciations

[Gail]

Now, I know that I am one of those people who, although I know a lot of "big" words and what they mean I can't spell them for s*** and often mis-pronounce them as well. I knew I was killing the pronunciation of the scientific names of spiders but didn't know just how bad until I went to the ATS links on how to actually pronounce them. Good Lord, I sure was speaking some language OTHER than latin LOL!! I wasn't even saying theraphosidae right! Maybe I should have paid more attention in latin class in HS.

Mine - thera-FOE-sid-eye
Theirs - ther-uh-Fo-suh-dee

Hum, I wonder if that's like tomatoe and tomato?

Gail

 

[Immortal_sin]

Ha! you should have heard me at the ATS convention...I'd say a scientific name, and nobody knew what I was talking about
I am the QUEEN of mis-pronunciation!
But what I was told is that is doesn't really matter, since how often do we actually speak those names out loud?!
An example:
I was saying Bray-kee- pel-ma instead Braa-key-pel-ma and was saying smithy, instead of smith-I
I can't even tell you how I was saying Pterinochilus LOL!
I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, the only people that will notice are fellow hobbyists that already know how to pronouce them properly anyway....and unless you live near alot of them, it doesn't matter!

 

[Code Monkey]

I'd take it one step further and say that *within reason* there are few ways to genuinely mispronounce a lot of scientific names so long as your pronunciation actually is using all the letters in the name and following basic conventions. What I personally think happens is that the biggest people in the field have a way they pronounce them and that is "obviously" the right one, and they teach their students who become big wigs, etc. and that gets maintained as the "right" way to say the word. I mean, Latin hasn't been spoken actively in a natural sense for several hundred of years, and hasn't been truly a natural living language for more than a thousand. In an objective sense, we're probably one and all butchering things.

I took a really good mycology course a little over a year ago from one of the greatest taxonomists in the field. When we go to the most well known genera amongst the students, Psilocybe and Paneolus, we were all shocked to find that no one had a clue how to pronounce them 'properly'. Turns out that sillow-seeb is really si-la-si-bee, and Pan-ee-olus is rally Pa-neelus. I actually do pronounce these genera correctly now since I had the chance to be exposed to one of them trend setting experts, but the fact that as hobbyists we never have an opportunity to hear them in use by actual experts definitely puts at a disadvanatage for knowing the right way.

 

[conipto]

Originally posted by Gail

Mine - thera-FOE-sid-eye
Theirs - ther-uh-Fo-suh-dee

Hum, I wonder if that's like tomatoe and tomato?

Gail

Uhh.. mine is tear-uh-foe-zid-ay?

And smithi is prounounced smith-I? I've never heard that one before.

Now tell me how to say poecilotheria?
I've heard it Po-ess-la-thee-ree-uh, Poke-uh-lo-thee-ra, and a zillion other ways

 

[Gail]

Poecilotheria = pee-suh-luh-THI-ree-uh
you don't want to know how I thought it was pronounced

Gail

 

[Immortal_sin]

well, supposedly, it's Poe-see-lo-theer-ee-uh....but don't quote me on that....I think that's one that even the 'experts' don't agree on!

 

[Chris]

Why can't the damn egg head taxonomists just name the spiders bob or george or something else simple?

 

[Gail]

Originally posted by Chris
Why can't the damn egg head taxonomists just name the spiders bob or george or something else simple?

BECAUSE, Chris, they all want to be special little flowers
My second guess would be that they are just egg headed taxonomists LOL Seriously, the scientific name game is as convoluted and riddled with scandal and smear campains in it's history as any political campaign. Seems that scientists can be rather competitive folks with a mean streak and a serious pride issue if you read about the accounts of how such and such a spider got it's name, who discovered it, etc. Sometimes these accounts read like a cheap dime store novel

Gail

 

[Henry Kane]

Re: Re: Butchering Pronunciations

Originally posted by conipto


Now tell me how to say poecilotheria?
I've heard it Po-ess-la-thee-ree-uh, Poke-uh-lo-thee-ra, and a zillion other ways

It's pronounced...Pokie! ;P

I believe it's like Puh...sillo...theeria. At least that's the way I've heard everyone pronounce it. Guess that's no guarantee either but if it's wrong, at least I'm not the only one looking like a fool. =D


Atrax

 

[LaRiz]

Some of those are pretty hard to say. For me, for some reason, I cannot say coloratovillosus (Nhandu) elegantly. Some others that are hard for me are Tapinauchenius, Phlogiellus, schioedtei, and whole bunch more.
Regarding Poecilotheria, in a past article of the American Tarantula Society Forum magazine, "A key to the Pronunciation and Meaning of Scientific Names of Popular Species", Poecilotheria is pronounced, Pee-suh-luh-THI-ree-uh. Doesn't sound out, huh. Looks more like Pee-see-LO-thair-ee-ya.
Poecilotheria (Latin + Greek), FYI, means "colored beast".
Don't have that Issue (Volume 6, nos. 5 and 6), and wonder what some Genus and species names literally means? Just ask.
john

 

[Tangled WWWeb]

I can't say that one either! It always comes out sounding like "Colorado-village-below-some" LOL

 

[Vys]

'Brah-chyy('ch' as in some would say ch of 'chateau', namely further back on your tongue than sh of ship)-pell-mah'
would be my pronounciation of Brachypelma. I'm a tad surprised alot of you yanks(not insulting, all the world say yankees meaning americans in general. Hmm, makes me wonder if jacen was insulted by that..oh well ) seem to learn latin. I don't think I've ever had the oppurtunity before college. Definitely interesting language though.

 

[veronyka]

Ya know.. I have been told that smithi is pronounced smith-I too but when I was on the ATS site it says it's smith-ee instead of smith-I... so now I'm confused :?

 

[Lost_Tarantula]

Originally posted by Gail


Mine - thera-FOE-sid-eye
Theirs - ther-uh-Fo-suh-dee

Gail

Well, I was with you on that one. You paid enough attention in Latin class; -ae is pronounced "eye". Hmm. Maybe I should go look up all the other names in that ATS article to see how weird I've been sounding.

 

[Tranz]

Originally posted by Immortal_sin
I was saying Bray-kee- pel-ma instead Braa-key-pel-ma

Don't tell my pelma, my achy bray-kee-pelma.

 

[Kenny]

hi

Hi all..

Well in Swedish all Latin names are just read the way they are spelled, pronounce every letter in the word and that would make a mess if I tried to translate that into English..

Kenny

 

[Vys]

Precisely, I kind of noticed that..

 

[Valael]

If the C is pronounced as an S sound, why are they called Pokies?

 

[conipto]

Originally posted by Valael
If the C is pronounced as an S sound, why are they called Pokies?

Perhaps in regards to their temperment, and what they do with their fangs.

Bill

 

[schlinkey]

Re: hi

Originally posted by Kenny
Hi all..

Well in Swedish all Latin names are just read the way they are spelled, pronounce every letter in the word and that would make a mess if I tried to translate that into English..

Kenny

Yup, as I'm norwegian most of the words are pretty easily pronounced.. Funny listening to most americans talking latin on i.e movies ;P =D