The "U" in BLÜCHER has the two dots above the u....pronounced BLOO ker [A grand-uncle of his was with Napoleon, somehow. Don't ask me how, I'm not a history buff of Napoleon's era]. There are many cultural influences in Corpus Christi...Russian, Bohemian, Spanish, Mexican, French and more I probably don't realize. Blucher is Prussian. Read about his family history in short, here.
This is what I spotted walking the trails this week at Blucher Park.
Part One of the city skyline near the park is one post previously...
the last in the series are Mexican Olives -the white blossoms are on the olive trees in the park.
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Just a rant so to speak. In fact it's about speaking in Texas. I don't get it. They pronounce Corpus Christi with a long 'e' at the end. Yes. It should be! But there are so many words [mostly landmarks, cities, counties, surnames] incorrectly. For instance: Tivoli, Texas ---you'd think it should be TI vol ee...but no...it's Ti VOLE ee. Then, Amarillo, Texas ---in Texas it's Ama RILL oh, but in Spanish, amarillo means yellow and pronounced ama REE yoh. Afterall, it is a Spanish word. Why not pronounce it properly? Another one...Bexar county...in Texas, it's BARE, in Mexico/Mexican it's BAY har. Oh, and one that continues to boggle my mind, the Battle that won Texas' independence after the Alamo...The Battle of San Jacinto. Texas-style San Jah SIN toe. In Spanish, it should be San Ha SEEN toe. I'm sure there are others that I've come across, but I always wonder why they're so badly mispronounced here with all the Spanish/Mexican heritage. As for names...in town, the locals call the park Bluh cher. And in German, with the double dotted 'u' it's formed by making the sound of "oo" with your lips. There, I vented. Thanks for allowing me my time to say my piece...pronounced PEEce. :-)
Wonderful photos from the park and those olive blossoms are so pretty. I don't think I've ever seen one before.
ReplyDeleteI bet you could probably fill a book with all the words that are mispronounced
True...but my take on these Spanish names and with all the Mexican culture & influence ... they'd say them as they are! Spanish!!
DeleteYour pictures are wonderful of the area. And I too wonder how things get pronounced so differently than they should be. Around here we have lot of Native American names that are strangely pronounced. :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, Native American.
DeleteHello, looks like a nice park, beautiful flowers. The Whistling Ducks would be my favorite sighting. They are so darn cute. Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend!
ReplyDeleteI love listening to them!
DeleteI had lived in New Mexico before I moved to Texas and had similar thoughts. Texans are all their own though and are not going to change their ways.
ReplyDeleteIt's mind boggling.
Deletebeing a person born and raised in the SOUTH as in NOT NORTH, it infuriates me when people correct the way i say things. and THE NORTH does that a lot... we all say things differently depending on where we were raised and the persons we lived with.. i say let everyone call it what they think it is. there are no pecons on our trees in GA but peCANS... ha ha
ReplyDeleteOoo, I have to say I'm a guilty Northerner that has said pecons all my life....so sorry, I will try to remember the southern way from now on...(:0) Sue
DeleteAs with some saying ColoRADo while others say ColoRAHdo
DeleteAnd Sandra, I'm ranting about Spanish, not dialects of Southern v. Northern.
DeleteWe used to have a movie theatre in town and it was the Tivoli... pronounced TI-vol-ee. Sometimes I think people start mispronouncing words and the bad habit then passes along. Hubby and I watch a doctor from the UK on YouTube and he pronounces "vitamin" with short i's. We've grown up pronouncing "vitamin" as VITE-a-min. It's still hard for me to hear it the way the YouTuber pronounces it. It just sounds wrong. *lol* Beautiful pictures! Love, Andrea XOXO
ReplyDeleteYa, I've heard it pronounced that way in Britain too.
DeleteGorgeous photos Anni 💮
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if we could all pronounce the written words correctly but I am afraid that I do not always speak them the way they should be.
Have a lovely day Anni ☕🌷
Here, I'm pointing out the Spanish so badly corrupted when the Spanish/Mexican heritage is so prevelant in Texas. (Even it's history)
DeleteHad to look up those olives to see if they were edible. Guess more for wildlife than humans. Still the flower is lovely. I often have to go to Google pronounce to find what I think is the truth.
ReplyDeleteLong ago, I had to look up if they were edible too.
DeleteLove your vent Anni...I guess I'm guilty as charged on many words...Northern all my life...(:0)
ReplyDeleteSue
My point is there is so much influence in Mexican heritage in Texas...why mispronounced such words?
DeleteWhat beautiful posies.
ReplyDeleteAh the localisms...we have news anchors from all parts of the country here in our city.
We get a chuckle out of how they pronounce many cities etc one in particular: Kerr is pronounced Carr, they say the K. City Mebane, they say Mee-bane.
Hugs and happy weekend
Cecilia
Like the actress from long ago...Deborah Kerr (pronounced Carr).
DeleteWell, they say that English is the hardest language to learn, and I believe it! The top right picture, is that a Bluebonnet?
ReplyDeleteThese aren't English names
DeleteAnd the flower it's a type of butterfly bush in the park.
I found it very interesting about all the name pronunciations, thanks Anni. Also thank you for the lovely photos and link to the Prussian Field Marshall Blucher. You live and learn. Hubs recognized the name but this link filled all the blanks and he thanks you for that too. He is actually reading it all out to me now and that's how we learn :)
ReplyDeleteBud is the Napoleon buff here. I like how you two work together to learn things. Awesome.
DeleteBeautiful park! If you go to Alaska you don't feel so upset about Texas pronunciations, they even spell the names wrong as well as mispronounce!
ReplyDeleteLordy...I'd go and. Short trip.
DeleteWell I don't know about Texas but in our area the influence of the native Indians shows up in many town, area, lake and mountin names. They, too are pronounced differently by people who don't live here. We live in Susquehanna County. Sus que HANNA
ReplyDeleteYes, Florida has a lot of Native American I think.
DeleteLovely photos. Sometimes we just need to vent. I had a moment like that this morning and my good friend was kind enough to listen to me.
ReplyDeleteIt irks me that the "butcher" their ancestral tongue.
DeleteWow - what a pretty place!
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of things in Michigan that are pronounced in ways that make no sense too...
....like Mackinaw for one, I bet.
DeleteI am sitting here laughing...I got your point. But I would not have known the correct pronounciation of most of the places you mentioned. And oh, I don't dare admit one word...I pronounce it right, but when reading it, in my mind it is entirely another word. Always has been and why I don't know. I have only told one or two people what it is and how I read it. Though I have been working/correcting myself when reading it and have finally about overcome except I always remember how I read it before...and I am not talking reading out loud.
ReplyDelete