Oregon/Ukraine/Beijing

[Kathy Paxton]

Thanks to Loren Billings for posting the message about the pronunciation of
"Oregon" re: Ukraine minus the "the"!  This message, more than any other I've
seen to date on this subject will help me in getting used to hearing "I'm
from Ukraine" without wincing, or thinking to myself "THE Ukraine."  What
Keith said was absolutely correct: Oregonians forever wince when people from
other parts of the U.S. (it is not limited to east coasters) pronounce Oregon
like "OreGONE".   If Ukrainians want to call their country (in English,
anyway) "Ukraine," then I can abide by their wishes.  And, in the future, if
anyone's curious about how to say "Oregon", the "gon" is pronounced as it is
in the word "wagon."

--Kathy Paxton

>>I sent out a comment on "Peking" a few days ago.  A few of my details were
in error.  As it so happens, the original poster of the thread knows Chinese
well.  Here is Keith's correction, which he sent to me.  I post it to the
list with his permission and my apologies for the inaccuracies.

Before doing so, however, I should point out that Max made his point with me.
 While it *is* grating to my ear to do without _the_, it does matter to many
people that I omit it.  As a native Oregonian I really hate it when people
from the Eastern United States pronounce the last syllable in _Oregon_ as
homophonous with _gone_.  I recognize as a linguist that this
is due to the differences in vowel reduction in these versions of English.
Most journalistic organizations specifically prescribe reduction to _...g at n_
(where @ = schwa).  Of course, this pronunciation is not a matter of syntax;
nor is it pejorative to "mispronounce" this place name.  Still,
there is something about respecting those who live or come from there by
pronouncing it as they desire.  The same goes for Ukraine.<<