Mispronounced Names

Vesta · Post by **Vesta** » Mon Jan 17, 2005 1:42 am

Makoto--I used to pronouce it "Muh-KATO" like the word "cot" , rather than "Mah-KO-to"

Usagi--Damn, I still think of her as "Yew-Soggy"! Even after I KNOW it's "Ooh-Soggy". Same for Chibi-Usa.

Weirdest of all for me was Naoko Takeuchi's name. For some reason, I always thought of her "Nah-ayko", until I looked at the letters one day closely. O.o

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 5:53 pm

One today I realized I've been doing wrong is Kou, the given name of all Three Lights. I've been saying it "koo." Maybe it should be spelled "Koh"

Hikari · Post by **Hikari** » Thu Feb 03, 2005 10:43 pm

XD;;

Usagi - Oo-say-gee

Chibi-usa - Chibi-U.S.A (o____O;; )

Ami - Amy

Haruka - Huh-roo-kuh

Nephrite - Neh-frit

o_o And many more...

purplefeltangel · Post by **purplefeltangel** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 5:48 am

Kou (the Starlights' last name): Koo, like someone said above

Minako: With a short I as in "with" instead of Mee-na-ko. I don't know why; in the dub it was Mee-na . . . .

Chibi: Short I; same as above. Speaking of the word "chibi," I have a friend who insists that the show George Shrinks (a really bad cartoon about a kid who's like three inches tall) is anime because the characters are "somewhat chibi." Since when did that ever qualify anything as anime? Half the characters in most American shows are "somewhat chibi;" they all have heads twice as big as their bodies.

Takeuchi: Takoochi. This has been rectified. ^^

Tomoe: To-MO, but only because I watched the dub version at the time. ^^; It is now in my head and forever shall be: To-MO-eh. I bet they just took the "EH" off because Optimum is Canadian and they didn't want people thinking it was "Tomo, EH?" or something. ^^;

Usagi: When I was about ten or eleven and I was first starting to "discover" the Japanese version of the show, I had only seen Usagi printed, so of course it became "Yew-SA-gee." Fortunately I didn't make the grave error of softening the G . . . .

Chibi-Usa: I didn't call her Chibi U-S-A, although I did think it was kind of funny that it looked like that. Instead, I sort of run together the "bi" and "u," so it sounds like I'm saying "Chibi-Yewsa" or "Chib-Yewsa," even though that's not what I mean. I don't even reallly have to think about this anymore, as I've taken to calling her Mini-Bunny, which is her French manga name.

Speaking of the French manga, they really need to work on their villain namings. Poor Berthier became "Bertha" (God, it was a French name already . . . .) and Kaolinite became "Elvira." o_O; That makes me think of, you know, that Pinky and the Brain spin-off, Pinky, Elvira and the Brain, with the little girl who killed lots of animals . . . (and those two aren't even the only bad names.

Fortunately they only seem to have this problem with villains; the rest of the characters for the most part either retain their names or get good names. Case in point: The outers are Mylène, Séverine, Olivia and Fredéric. Michiru, Setsuna, Hotaru and Haruka, respectively. I don't call those characters by their French names, but I do think they're pretty much okay. Yes, even Fredéric. It's a boys' name that doesn't sound retarded for a girl, though I do prefer the French anime spelling (Frederique; it sounds more feminine). At first in the French manga she's referred to as "il" (he) but then when we find out her gender, she's a "she" (elle) again. This was taken by some people as the French manga "turning her into a guy," but she really obviously has boobs so that's impossible, and she is referred to as "elle" after we find out she's a sailor warrior. (They also refer to Haruka and Michiru as a couple! Happy wonderful yay. ^^)

Anyway, I'm totally off on a tangent here! Back to mispronounciations . . . .

Kaguya: I still don't get how to pronounce her name. "Ka-GOO-ya," à la the English S movie. It sounds retarded to me, but I have no idea how to say it right.

Helios: I used to say it HELL-ios, when it should be HEE-lee-ahs or something like that . . . I don't know; I should know better 'cause I'm kind of obsessed with Greek mythology . . . .

Youma: YEW-ma instead of Yo-o-ma. (Well, it's kinda "yo-o-ma" because of the lengthened syllable . . . although it's not that distinct, but if I wrote "yooma" it would amount to the same thing as "yewma" . . . but whatever.)

Eudial: YEW-die-ull. My v. knowledgeable mineral-type friend (she's a rock-type Pokemon!) says it's actually you-DEE-all. I had to ask her just now because I was pretty sure I was saying it wrong, but I didn'tk now how to say it right.

Himeko: Hi-MAY-ko. (Short I, as in "with".) I don't know why; I can pronounce "hime" . . . well, I say it right now and that's all that matters. ^^

I think that's about as much of my stupidity as I can gather up right now! Ta!

Neo Saturn · Post by **Neo Saturn** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 8:22 am

Naoko - Nay-ko. I must of thought the 'o' in the middle was silent or something

Usagi - yew-saggy

Chibi usa - Chibi U.S.A . this ones thanks to a website that spelt the usa part in capitals

Tomoe - Tomo the same way as the dub

Tuxedo Kamen - Tuxedo Kay-Men

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:11 am

purplefeltangel wrote:Kou (the Starlights' last name): Koo, like someone said above

Takeuchi: Takoochi. This has been rectified. ^^

I always thought that was how you pronounced Takeuchi-san's surname. ^^;; You learn something new everyday, but how exactly is it pronounced?

KoiNoVash · Post by **KoiNoVash** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 6:21 pm

Cardcaptor Takato wrote:
purplefeltangel wrote:Kou (the Starlights' last name): Koo, like someone said above

Takeuchi: Takoochi. This has been rectified. ^^

I always thought that was how you pronounced Takeuchi-san's surname. ^^;; You learn something new everyday, but how exactly is it pronounced?

It's pronounced how it looks: Ta-ke-u-chi

TamahomeYuuki · Post by **TamahomeYuuki** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 1:53 am

I first watched the dub of sailor moon and did some research that there was an original Japanese version. I didn't have a clue about what anime was at that time, so I did research on future seasons and names were mispronounced like crap.: Here we go:

Usagi = Yu-sa-gi
Tsukino = Su-ki-no

Hino = High-no

Ami = Amy
Mizuno = Mizuno (Like they pronounced it in the S Dub)

Aino = Ay-no

Michiru = Mi-shi-ru

Chibi-usa = Strangely remained the same

Seiya = See-ya
Kou = Koo

Yaten = Yay tin

Naoko = Nay-oh-ko
Takeuchi = Takoochi

Tomoe = Tomo

Hotaru = Hotaru (Like the way it was pronounced in the dub, however in other dubbed shows that have a character named Hotaru in it - VAs pronounce it worse, like in .hack//Twilight Bracelet, I hated it when Shugo yelled out "Hot-aru")

*Note = The Hot in Hotaru is pronounced like a "Hot dog"

doodlebuguk · Post by **doodlebuguk** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 3:21 pm

I still get stuck on the pronounciation of the word Lemures. Before I started watching SuperS, I assumed it was pronounced like Lemur (you know, the cute little monkey) I thought that made sense since a lot of the Lemures looked animal like. Now I think the correct way of saying it is closer to 'Remliss,' but I'm still struggling since the japanese pronounciation of the word is nothing like the english spelling.

purplefeltangel · Post by **purplefeltangel** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 3:54 pm

doodlebuguk wrote:I still get stuck on the pronounciation of the word Lemures. Before I started watching SuperS, I assumed it was pronounced like Lemur (you know, the cute little monkey) I thought that made sense since a lot of the Lemures looked animal like. Now I think the correct way of saying it is closer to 'Remliss,' but I'm still struggling since the japanese pronounciation of the word is nothing like the english spelling.

Wouldn't it make more sense to pronounce it the Latin/ English way? (Lemures is Latin for ghost.) That's what they were intending. Nobody says Tukushiido Kamen or Purinsesu Surenite. (Is that how you romanize those?) At least, I don't think they do . . . ? Does anybody pronounce the English (and French, and Portuguese . . .) words in Sailor Moon the Japanese way? I sure don't.

Anyway, according to Dictionary.com, it's LEM-yer-eez. ^^ That's why it came out as "remliss" -- it's like remuriisu or something.

~Elizabeth

Butterscotch · Post by **Butterscotch** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 11:07 pm

This is slightly off-topic, but I always thought it was REMless.
REM meaning Rapid Eye Movement, and the -less suffix becuase they had no dreams. ^_^;

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 9:36 am

Such an idea does not significantly explain the significance of the “less” part of “Remless.” The “dreamless” idea may work for the Amazon Trio (because they evidently cannot have beautiful dreams), but nothing shows us whether the four Amazones cannot dream, too. If the “monsters of the days” are “Remless” because they pertain to the idea that they are “dreamless,” we would not be able to explain why the three members of the Amazon Trio not referred to as “Remless” (i.e. “dreamless”).

The katakana characters remuresu usually approximate the Latin term Lemures, which refers to frightening specters from Roman mythology. Ms. Takeuchi and the animators used those characters to write the names of the “monsters of the days” in the SuperS series of the anime. Those monsters are like frightening specters. Furthermore, Ms. Takeuchi and the animators have displayed a tendency to use mythological names. While Lemures is a widely-recognized term, “Remless” is not. So, it is more likely that Ms. Takeuchi and the animators meant the term Lemures.

-I found that argument at Dies Gaudii.

doodlebuguk · Post by **doodlebuguk** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 1:03 pm

purplefeltangel wrote: Wouldn't it make more sense to pronounce it the Latin/ English way? (Lemures is Latin for ghost.) That's what they were intending. Nobody says Tukushiido Kamen or Purinsesu Surenite. (Is that how you romanize those?) At least, I don't think they do . . . ? Does anybody pronounce the English (and French, and Portuguese . . .) words in Sailor Moon the Japanese way? I sure don't.

Anyway, according to Dictionary.com, it's LEM-yer-eez. ^^ That's why it came out as "remliss" -- it's like remuriisu or something.

~Elizabeth

I looked at the japanese way of pronouncing it because I couldn't work out from the english spelling how it should be said.

I don't usually do that, I was just a bit stuck. ^-^ Cool, I didn't realise the word came from Latin, that's really interesting!

purplefeltangel · Post by **purplefeltangel** » Tue Feb 08, 2005 4:32 pm

Rainbow wrote:Such an idea does not significantly explain the significance of the “less” part of “Remless.” The “dreamless” idea may work for the Amazon Trio (because they evidently cannot have beautiful dreams), but nothing shows us whether the four Amazones cannot dream, too. If the “monsters of the days” are “Remless” because they pertain to the idea that they are “dreamless,” we would not be able to explain why the three members of the Amazon Trio not referred to as “Remless” (i.e. “dreamless”).

The katakana characters remuresu usually approximate the Latin term Lemures, which refers to frightening specters from Roman mythology. Ms. Takeuchi and the animators used those characters to write the names of the “monsters of the days” in the SuperS series of the anime. Those monsters are like frightening specters. Furthermore, Ms. Takeuchi and the animators have displayed a tendency to use mythological names. While Lemures is a widely-recognized term, “Remless” is not. So, it is more likely that Ms. Takeuchi and the animators meant the term Lemures.

-I found that argument at Dies Gaudii.

Sheesh, Ian really overanalyzes things . . . does anybody actually believe that the lemures are called "remless" (to the point of arguing in its defense)?

~Elizabeth

doodlebuguk · Post by **doodlebuguk** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 11:20 am

purplefeltangel wrote:
Sheesh, Ian really overanalyzes things . . . does anybody actually believe that the lemures are called "remless" (to the point of arguing in its defense)?

~Elizabeth

I don't believe they are called 'Remless' but that is the spelling that Geneon/Pioneer use on their SuperS subs, but they also used the spelling'Daimohn' for Daimon and 'Peruru' for Perle. (From the S season and the SuperS movie, respectively) So it makes it more difficult to work out the correct spelling.

Artemis Lover · Post by **Artemis Lover** » Wed Feb 09, 2005 3:25 pm

Wow. Only now after reading this do I realize that I have a horrible American accent and have been pronouncing most of the names grossly wrong. Will have to work on that.

crazydiamond · Post by **crazydiamond** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:28 pm

While waiting for my ride today on campus, a Chi Omega walked by and it reminded me that I *always* used to pronounce Chi and Phi's names "chee" and "fie" or "fee." Crazy Greek alphabet.

peachvampiress · Post by **peachvampiress** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 11:42 pm

crazydiamond

While waiting for my ride today on campus, a Chi Omega walked by and it reminded me that I *always* used to pronounce Chi and Phi's names "chee" and "fie" or "fee." Crazy Greek alphabet.

How do you pronounce their names anyway? *has been calling them that*

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 6:58 am

Phi and Chi rhyme with English "eye" or Japanese "ai." I know this because a friend of mine is in a fraternity with a Phi in the name and because there is a statistical distrobution called Chi-squared.

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 7:32 am

Having taking a wee bit of Greek when I was in high-school, I can tell you that the frat and the stat are pronouncing the characters wrong ^^;; Phi and Chi are pronounced "fee" and "chee". The "ch" in "Chi" is very nasal, almost sounding like the "ch" in "loch", or the Spanish "j" in "Jorge". On a side note, I know I'm guilting of pronouncing Chi-squared as "Kai-squared", but technically, it's wrong =P

EDIT: Hmm. On further review, it seems that Phi (and possibly Chi) can be pronounced the way you illustrated, Asteroid. Since the number "pi" has been pronounced "pie" in the US and UK (and perhaps elsewhere), Phi can be pronounced "fai", as well. I'm assuming the same holds for Chi, too. Interestingly, pi is pronounced "pee" in the original, classical Greek, too.