Puzzle Description Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

#1: Norma Dee (norm0908) on Dec 4, 2012 [SPOILER]

Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

I bet....people can be stubborn

Nice image Kurt,very well done.:)

thanks, Al :)

Fun puzzle, Kurt. Very nice B image, but it wouldn't save (timed out) so I had to give you an A ;)

lol :)

i take two kurt

hell, why stop there? lol

I don't often do puzzles larger than 20x20, but I really enjoyed this one. Totally line logic, so it was just smooth sailing. Thanks, Kurt.

I used to have neighbors with your last name, but the Czech spelling, rather than the Polish. I don't know if you pronounce it the American way (ko-wal-zik) or the Polish way (ko-val-chik), or even some other variant.

yw, Bruce. glad you enjoyed it!

actually, the last name is more common than you might think, as it translates to "Smith". As for pronunciation, you nailed both of em. so nice someone can say it, cuz it gets butchered... my fam is pretty weird. my father americanized it to (ko-wal-zik). my siblings and I grew up pronouncing it that way. only when we were in our teens and twenties did we find out that it was originally (ko-val-chek)when my dad was growing up....and half of us re-took the original. well it was half(4 and 4), but the 2 sis's married and took their hubbies' names. of the 6 brothers, 2 use the original and 4 the americanized currently

to answer your question(which I never did), I go by (ko-val-chek). dad changed it so others could pronounce it. screw that. your name is your name. don't go changing it to make outsiders have an easier time with it....

I totally feel your pain. My Greek grandfather's last name is Dandalides (LEE-dus). I have one great-uncle who changed it to be pronounced danda-LYE-dus, for no apparent reason.

Vognild (my Norwegian maiden name) is just as bad. Both are short vowels (rhymes with Fog Build), but nobody could ever seem to pronounce it. The most common rhymed the 2nd syllable with Mild, but it was also changed to VonGild on envelopes quite a bit.

I've been mentally pronouncing your name ko-wal-chik, but I'll change that. :)

I always felt that names for people, places or things should be pronounced correctly. Here in the southwest they name a lot of places, etc. with names and words from the Spanish language and then proceed to totally massacre the pronunciation.

you know what? I mis-spoke earlier....I forgot, but 1 sis did NOT take her hubby's last name. she had a boy out of marriage 7-ish yrs before she met her husband who has our surname, so she decided to keep her maiden name. guess she thought it'd be easier that way....

hahaha! thanks, K. since I can't hear how people mentally pronounce my name, I just assumed most of 'em are using some sort of curse word ;)

I hear ya, Norma...we have some French street names and such. but if you say it different from everyone else, they think you're an idiot or something. I grew up off of Bellefontaine Rd, for ex....(pro same as bell fountain by everyone)

We have to make allowances for the fact the after your muscles in you mouth are trained in your native tongue it's difficult if not impossible to master the correct pronunciation of another language.

Since I took French in school, I pronounce French surnames and street names here in Louisiana the French way. I'm on the Petite Amite River, but half the folks around here pronounce it PETtit, not paTEET
.

Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

thanks, Gary...

wouldn't be you anyway. your evil twin, perhaps ;)

Excellent puzzle! Sad moment!

very sad indeed....lol thanks, jota!

Kurt, are you in Ohio (my guess from the pronunciation of Bellefontaine)? I'm in Cincinnati. I'd guess you're somewhere between Dayton and Columbus, if you are in Ohio.

sorry, Bruce. I'm a St Louis boy....not a really good time to be asking though. ever get caught up in memories of the previous year? bad bad stuff comes up

So, the mispronunciation of Bellefontaine is throughout the Midwest!

Comment Suppressed:Click below to view spoilers

Maybe someday they can implant a universal translator with the correct pronunciation in everyone. Living in the southwest the Spanish language gets massacred on a regular basis. I am always surprised when I look at an accurate map of Europe and see that a multitude of cities are neither spelled nor pronounced the way we learned them in school. Tsk tsk.

Mispronouncing foreign words isn't unique to America. In Paris there's a Subway stop called Franklin Roosevelt, but you would never recognize it as such the way they pronounce it.

C'mon, already??

Great pic!!

Near here, in Detroit, there is a street called Gratiot. People pronounce it "GRAH-shit." The city of Milan is pronounced "MY-lahn." And back home in NYC, Houston Street is pronounced "HOUSE-ton."

Show: Spoilers

Goto next topic

You must register and log in to be able to participate in this discussion.