The first time I heard a human call Chile - Chilay was when those underground miners were stuck down the whole for 2 months. Now I don't really care what they say in Chile but here its Chile not f%^&*(&^ Chilay.

They dragged that one out again during all the Chile earthquakes in 2014. I think they think it makes them seem worldly, intelligent...

On a related and/or rhyming note what about Varlay? (Vale)

In my day it was plain old R.I.P. Now every time someone croaks it's "Varlay "

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djt91184 said..
The first time I heard a human call Chile - Chilay was when those underground miners were stuck down the whole for 2 months. Now I don't really care what they say in Chile but here its Chile not f%^&*(&^ Chilay.

Its weird. I used to call it 'Chilly' the same as everyone else here.

Then I learnt to speak Spanish (poorly), and its now very hard for me to call it Chilly instead of 'Chilay'. The pronunciation is just different in Spanish and compared to English, a lot more straight-forward. Most pronunciation in Spanish is consistent versus English where it changes a lot, and sometimes for no obvious reason.

It opens your eyes a bit as to why people who don't speak English natively make certain common mistakes in the way they speak, with grammar and pronunciation.

I used to think it was funny when foreigners called things he or she, or put the noun and adjectives in a different order. Now it makes a lot more sense to me.

The variable pronunciation and phonemes is because English is a mish-mash of a variety of languages and has a bunch of foreign morphemes. The weird stew was mainly caused by various nations conquering Britain back in the day.

And the European royals historically marrying each other.

Six phonemes for the "ss" sound (if my memory is correct) is just silly. Then there are all the other sounds. No wonder it's confusing.

It's also ironic that the word pronunciation is often pronounced incorrectly.

I sometimes call it "Chilay" by accident because I can speak spanish, and that is how it is pronounced there.

When Skippy media people with no idea insist that it is called "Chilay", it is a bit of a wank.

Like all the foodies (who know no spanish) insist that Paella must be called Pay-esh-sha,

Or someone who went to Barcelona for a day trip says they have been to "Barthelona".

Maybe it is to make up for the fact that Skippies are some of the most culturally illiterate people in the world.

Clarence

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clarence said..
I sometimes call it "Chilay" by accident because I can speak spanish, and that is how it is pronounced there.

When Skippy media people with no idea insist that it is called "Chilay", it is a bit of a wank.

Like all the foodies (who know no spanish) insist that Paella must be called Pay-esh-sha,

Culturally illiterate? You can sort of understand that, as we are on an island. Its not like we can just jump on a ferry and go to France for a weekend.

Still, people using the correct pronunciation is not a bad thing. I am sure there are many examples where we pronounce something that isn't spelled the way you would think. When I come from a place called Wollongong, I can hardly complain about pronunciation matching the spelling.

'Pay-esh-sha'? From Argentina?

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FormulaNova said..

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Culturally illiterate? You can sort of understand that, as we are on an island. Its not like we can just jump on a ferry and go to France for a weekend.

When I come from a place called Wollongong, I can hardly complain about pronunciation matching the spelling.

If you come from Wollongong you don't even need to hop on a plane to go overseas.

If you want to go to Italy take a drive to Fairy Meadow; for Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia etc try Coniston; for Lebanon take a drive up Cringila; for Malta head to Warrawong any day.

No excuses for cultural illiteracy there mate.

Clarence

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clarence said..

FormulaNova said..

Culturally illiterate? You can sort of understand that, as we are on an island. Its not like we can just jump on a ferry and go to France for a weekend.

When I come from a place called Wollongong, I can hardly complain about pronunciation matching the spelling.

If you come from Wollongong you don't even need to hop on a plane to go overseas.

If you want to go to Italy take a drive to Fairy Meadow; for Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia etc try Coniston; for Lebanon take a drive up Cringila; for Malta head to Warrawong any day.

No excuses for cultural illiteracy there mate.

Clarence

I think you misunderstood my mention of Wollongong. Most people pronounce it incorrectly, so I can hardly criticise someone for calling it 'Chilay'.

As for culture in Wollongong, I think we are more ethnically diverse than Sydney. Surprisingly so. My opinion is that with a lot of immigration into Wollongong for the steelworks, and a relatively small area, it has left us with a very mixed population. At least in my upbringing, there wasn't much racism as everyone was mixed together. Whereas in Sydney it seems like it was big enough where immigrants kept to 'their' area so you ended up with pockets of cultures, just not mixed in.

Having said that, a work colleague the same age as me, years ago insisted that there were "race riots" in his 'Wollongong' Catholic private high-school. Weird that, as I went to a public high school in one of the rougher areas and there was none of that. Maybe you only get them when you are wealthy enough to go to private schools?

Your suggestions of where to go for different ethnic groups in Wollongong is very dependent on when you did this. My understanding is that each wave of immigrants would start out living near the steelworks, and as things got better financially for them, they would spread out. I think that in my grandfather's day it would have been Italians in Coniston and Cringila. Now, I am sure its mixed even more.

Most people get Chile wrong - Chilli - Chilay - Chillhey!!

I've been there. Lovely people. Great food and the women are stunning - sun bathers at Valparaiso.

They do have a hot spicey sauce that blew my nuts apart - They call it Bevre... which means Brave... yep you have to be very brave to try it. Believe me it's hot!

I don reckon it about being culturally insensitive. in Bahasa Indonesia all the vowels sound different to English. Fair enough I don't come back from indo talking pidgin English birdsong that Australians cant even understand.

Who's having sooshee for lunch then?

Sue she

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djt91184 said...
The first time I heard a human call Chile - Chilay was when those underground miners were stuck down the whole for 2 months. Now I don't really care what they say in Chile but here its Chile not f%^&*(&^ Chilay.

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