Lego vs. Legos: Americanism? Regionalism?

Beverly Flanigan flanigan at OHIO.EDU
Mon Jul 30 21:19:54 UTC 2007


Legos are plastic blocks with interlocking sides for stable
constructions--very popular with kids for at least 40 years, I
think.  They're a Danish (or German?) product, hence the original European
pronunciation of [lego] and the only pron. we heard when we first bought
them for our son about 35 years ago.  Over the years I gradually heard the
pron. change to [lEgo], a normal English shift probably boosted by the
waffle ad.  I was just curious to see if anyone still said [lego]--not
because I'm judgmental about it but simply because it's my 35-year habit.

Beverly

At 04:52 PM 7/30/2007, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Lego vs. Legos: Americanism? Regionalism?
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I've heard only [lEgo] (<sigh!> Yes, I do remember "Leggo my Eggo"). I
>had no idea that [lego] was a possible pronunciation. Before I heard
>the [lEgo] pronunciation, I said [ligo] in my mind and I'd since
>assumed that [lEgo] was a foreign pronunciation of some sort, since it
>doesn't match the spelling. I've never had occasion to discuss Lego in
>real life and I'm not even really sure what it is. A game of some
>sort, I suppose.
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 7/25/07, Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at ohio.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Beverly Flanigan <flanigan at OHIO.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Lego vs. Legos: Americanism? Regionalism?
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I've never heard anything but "Legos."  But more interesting to me is the
> > shift in pronunciation (understandable in AmEng) from [lego] to [lEgo], as
> > in "Leggo my Eggos" (remember that one?).
> >
> > At 02:56 PM 7/25/2007, you wrote:
> > >---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > >-----------------------
> > >Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > >Poster:       James Callan <james.callan at COMCAST.NET>
> > >Subject:      Lego vs. Legos: Americanism? Regionalism?
> > >-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
> >
> > >
> > >On his blog, Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings recently discussed what one
> > >reader considered an error in his book Brainiac: Lego vs. Legos. Jennings
> > >says "Legos," which LEGO (the company) and many Lego fans don' t care for.
> > >As Jennings says:
> > >
> > >Some households say "Let's play with Lego." Others (a majority in America,
> > >I'm guessing) say, "Let's play with Legos."
> > >(http://ken-jennings.com/blog/?p=496)
> > >
> >
> > >I say "play with Legos" -- born in '70, raised in Wisconsin's Fox Valley
> > >and Milwaukee suburbs.
> > >
> > >How does the Lego vs. Legos issue break down elsewhere? National
> > >boundaries? Regions?
> > >
> > >  -- James Callan
> > >
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> >
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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>
>
>--
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>-----
>                                               -Sam'l Clemens
>
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