Tagged: Halifax Commons
Rhymes with ‘understand,’ Chuckie – feedback
Contrarian reader PC responds to our annoyance at our future king’s mispronunciation of the name of Canada’s 10th province:
I am more troubled by the many Canadians west of the Atlantic Provinces who use the same mispronunciation, including Carol Off on As It Happens just a few nights ago. How can someone who works for the CBC, where every national program announcement finishes with “half an hour later in …,” not say the name correctly without hesitation? For that matter, what excuse does anyone have for this mistake 60 years after Newfoundland joined Confederation?
(And, of course, the correct way to say a place name is the way the locals say it: “The Commons” in Halifax, “L’Ardoise” and “Port Mouton” elsewhere in NS, and “Etobicoke” in Ontario.)
Not sure which recent AIH episiode contains Off’s purported unpardonable, but in fairness, she pronounces our easternmost province more or less correctly in the closing credits of this recent show.
Contrarian’s personal favorite placename pronunciation remains, “Harve Boucher,” rhymes with tushy.
[UPDATE] Jeff from Halifax demurs:
I am with you on pronuncing local place names (e.g.: Trafalgar) the way those who live there pronounce them — EXCEPT when the pronounciation is just a misreading of the correct name. It is the Halifax Common. Period. No “s” at the end. Different word. If we keep going with the chopping up of the Common, then maybe we will have a plural version, but right now, I believe the lands are still contiguous, albeit smaller than the original version.
That’s a pretty big “if,” Jeff. The prescriptivists would say local usage rules, no exceptions.
Rhymes with ‘understand,’ Chuckie – updated
As the final chord of “Paint it Black,” opening number in the Rolling Stones’ 2006 Halifax Commons concert, faded into the distance, Mick Jagger thanked the crowd for coming out despite foul weather.
“We hear there’s even a group that came all the way from Newfoundland,” he said. The remarkable thing is that Jagger, the consummate professional, took the trouble to pronounce the name of Canada’s 10th province correctly.
So after 60 years as heir to the throne, is it too much to ask the presumed future King of Canada to show the same care and respect?
[Update] Contrarian readers have leapt to His Royal Highness’s defense. First, CC:
Maybe he’s doing it in quiet protest against the constant mangling by Canadian tourists of such place names as Berkshire, Edinburgh and Leicester Square.
Sure he is. Next, John DeMings:
I doubt most Canadians pronounce Newfoundland properly, and I know schools must have given up trying to explain that Saint John isn’t St.John’s. Leave Chuckie alone. At least he went there.
