Have a lil bet goin.. Thanks..

I used to work with a guy whose last name was Lilja. Same spelling. No relation to the barrel maker though.

He pronounced it just as it's worded. lil-ja (as in lilly) not lie-ja if that's where you're you going.


fish head

Prezactly...

Forward video to around 0:53 and hear Dan say it himself...

Looks like we win.... THANKS!

Friend Dan Lilja pronounces it LIL-ja (rhymes with "bilge-ah").

Long-ago friend Kermit Lilja pronounced it LIL-ya (rhymes with "BILL-ya").

I s'pose KL's was the original (Swedish?) pronunciation.

My friend Inge Henrikson in Sweden speaks American English with no accent other than the usual Swedish lilt � and when he was here, always drank orange "yuice."

Friends of my father gave-in to local yokels' mispronunciation of their name (Taliaferro) and adopted the locals' "Tolliver" rather than spend generations correcting everybody.

I grew up the token of German ancestry in a Swedish enclave. At that time, there were many who had come over from Sweden. One old fellow that I remember was so proud of the way that he had Americanized his speech. When first he came over he called that fruit spread for toast "yam", but now, after sixty-odd years here, he called it "yelly".

My whole life, Whooping Cough was (Hooping Cough - Silent W)
And Herbs were Herbs not "erbs" - silent "h"
and Colour was spelled (spelt) as such, not without the "u"
and a million more I can't recall on the spot

When in Rome I guess you do you best you can but some drongo always comes out with, "are you English"? or "are you from New Zealand"? and if you are lucky, "are you an Aussie"? pronounced Ozzie as in "Ozzie and Harriet" not "Orssee", which I never heard until I moved here, to which I reply, what gave it away?

Where is the bar?

JW

JW - the local librarian will catch me and ask me to read and give her a reaction to new books from time to time. The last one was written by an Englishwoman and was about jigsaw puzzles and children's play. I could not finish it due to the fact that I am not good with foreign languages.

An Englishman asked a prominent American thinker (John Kieran, IIRC) why we pronounce schedule "skejule" and they pronounce it "shejule."

"We're the products of different shool systems," the American said.

Early French immigrants were the first to transcribe the Indians' word (piquanne) for the popular American tree and nut, and their word eventually morphed into pecan, with the broad French a ("ah") on the accented last syllable. Later immigrants looked at the written English word and pronounced it "pee-can," with the heavier accent on the first syllable.

"Pe-CON" is older, truer to its origin.

"PEE-can" is later but more widely established.

So which pronunciation is "right?"

Take your pick.

I grew-up eating peCONs from my grandparents' peCON orchard and other local sources. As far as I'm concerned, a pee CAN was the vessel that my grandfather kept under the edge of his bed.

Kaw-Liga...

....... and then there's the word "garage" in all it's variations.

One I found down here in the east sounds like gararge.


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In Ireland it's gare'-edge. Some places it gurawzhe, but up here, it's graj.

i have heard "gay-rawge" but that sounds like something kinky.

cellar works too but my grandparents said "the book i am looking for is down-cellar" meaning it was in the basement.

mostly it's garage, like garbage without the B.

That's hilarious. In Louisiana, if a man says pee-can he is not to be trusted. It's like a wave of understanding comes over everyone within earshot.

Up in WI it sounds more like kratcch. Damn Finlanders.

During the time I spent in Canada, I learned to pahk the car in the garadge, fill my camera with fillum, and eat tarts off a serviette while sitting on a chesterfield. I also learned not to call my friends' children smart little buggers. I do miss those days.

My wife's maiden name was Kjar, which they pronounced "care". Apparently the older way of pronouncing it was Kyar.

"Man, all these years Dan Lilja has been sayin his name wrong."

Quote from a friend who swore it was Leela until he watched that video.

Well, my Dad is from Texas, and my Mom was from England, and they both said, peCON. That oughta cover it.

One of the great thrills of my life (not really!) was having my English-as-a-second-language Swedish in-laws ever so condescendingly "correct" my pronunciation. I don't know how many generations (several!) of my family have been exceedingly careful with their use of our ages-old language � English � while also well acquainted with Greek, Latin, French, German, and other languages.

My in-laws settled in Minnesota, and I was born in Alabama, so it's understandable that they were automatically vastly superior to me in all ways. They certainly made that clear at every opportunity.