MRR English--> Esperanto

I always thought that "J" was sounded out as a "H" such as Mojave, CA that is pronounced as Mo-ha-ve. But then again the people that live there may be mis-informed.

On 5/27/2009 1:00 PM Norvin spake thus:

That's true in Spanish, but many more languages (German, Hungarian, and lots more) use "j" for our "y" sound. That's why Zamenhof (the creator of Esperanto) chose that letter for that sound.

Except for the rednecks here in Texas, where the "J" in Mexican words is often pronounced like the "J" in Jack. Every time I hear someone around here pronounce "San Jacinto" I cringe. Even people on radio and TV here in Houston do it. I lived in Southern California for

50 years and am used to the proper pronunciations, like Mojave, La Jolla, and San Jose.

On 5/27/2009 4:52 PM Rick Jones spake thus:

There's one pronunciation 'round heah that drives me nuts: Vallejo.

People around here (Northern California) get it *half* right: "va-Lay-ho". It should be "vi-Yay-ho".

They might as well be consistent and just call it "Valley Joe".

And then you've got Los Gatos right next to San Jose. Say "Los Gahtoes" and they act like they don't know what you are talking about. To the locals, its "Los Gat-os" (Gat like cat). Five miles North, if you say the J in San Jose like the J in Jack, you might get slugged.

When I'm in the area, I of course take Caltrain to "Frisco. never San Francisco". :)

On 5/28/2009 12:53 PM spsffan spake thus:

Maybe you know about that whole frowning-upon-"'Frisco" thing up here. The late great Herb Caen used to write about that, about how it was considered gauche to call The City that. Well, Caen later actually recanted and said it was OK for non-locals (touristas) to say "'Frisco". So there.

And while we're on manguage (mangled language), first prize has to go to the absurdly redundant "The El Camino".

Actually, my favorite Bay Area place name is Alameda de las Pulgas: the tree-lined avenue of the fleas.

Ah, yes, Caltrain; nothing like those ancient Nippon Sharyo double-decker gallery cars, with ride like unto a bucking bronco. (Haven't had the pleasure yet of riding in the new Bombardiers, which might actually bring that line into the late 20th century.) But hey, at least you can (usually) bring your bike aboard.

Not to mention you get your water via the temple of the fleas.

On 5/29/2009 1:48 AM Steve Caple spake thus:

Hey, thanks for reminding me of that: I'd forgotten about the Pulgas Water Temple.

Actually, the Bay Area is bracketed by water temples, Pulgas on the Peninsula, and the Sunol Water Temple down east near Niles Canyon. Great examples of WPA/CCC public-works architecture, something we'll never see again in our lifetimes.

The Rio Grande river. The Big River River. At least it's not The El Rio Grande River...

Ybor City in Tampa. Heard it called (by a native) "WHY-bore."

Ummmm I at least asked a native how to pronounce that area Whybore properly, and no, it's NOT like the French Quarter no matter how much Tamps people whish it was.

On May 31, 12:50=EF=BF=BDpm, "C.O. Jones" wrote= :

One day, on a job in Palo Alto, a guy I was working with said, "I'm sure glad they didn't name this place Palo Pulgas! Otherwise, there'd be all these big bugs around here."

On 5/31/2009 5:11 PM Special Agent Melvin Purvis spake thus:

I used to live in East Palo Alto (aka "East Paly Alto"), and we used to refer to that city over the county line next to us as Shallow Alto.

Reminds me of the billboard Redwood City put up next to 101:

"Redwood City--Palo Alto Without the Attitude"

On a different direction, exactly what does Los Guanos mean ? ( a town on the layout also nicknamed "the armpit of the earrth" but I was told that it actually means 'batshit ? )

"Los" is Spanish for "The", and "Guanos" can mean any of several fertilizers, so "batshit" would be a very loose translation indeed. (Note double entendre.)

In any case, the real armpit of the Earth is a small railroad town right here in the southern California desert, and it's proper name is "Trona".

"Los" is Spanish for "The", and "Guanos" can mean any of several fertilizers, so "batshit" would be a very loose translation indeed. (Note double entendre.)

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Who can forget Major "Bat" Guano?!

Hmmm - and all his time I thought it was the town called Lard.

I believe the phrase for "oh crap I dropped a small detail part on the floor" translates the same in all languages.

On 5/31/2009 11:48 PM Steve Caple spake thus:

You mean Manteca, right?

Close: I used to drive through there regularly, going from the Bay Area to visit my girlfriend in Bishop, over Hwy. 120 through Yosemite.

The really scary town to me was the one just past Manteca: Escalon. I always was relieved when I didn't break down there, as it seemed like the kind of place where the locals might just lynch you if you weren't a church-going white supremacist.

Visit Trona some time. (Even just passing through town at speed with the windows rolled up will be enough.)

The smell from the chemical plant that the railroad serves is pervasive, nasty, and unhealthy; green things do not exist unless they're indoor house plants, and the San Bernardino County Sheriff uses it's Trona office as punishment duty for officers who have screwed the pooch in ways such as issuing parking tickets to Presidential motorcades, or who have, -literally- screwed their pooch. And been caught at it. Repeatedly.

The local football team (the Trona Tornados) play on a dirt field - only one in California- because grass literally will not grow in the soil. Read it and weep: