"Business takes Vi[z]a"

[Dan Goodman]

Wilson Gray wrote:

> "Visa" as pronounced by their current voice-over guy. I'd been
> beginning to fear that I would never hear the correct, i.e. the one
> that I use, pronunciation, again. BTW, what's up with these
> mirror-image pronunciations?
>
> My wife and probably millions of other Easterners says Vi[s]a,
> Eli[s]e, Li[s]a, We[z]ley, but Le[s]ley, etc., whereas I say, with
> many millions of non-Easterners, Vi[z]a, Eli[z]e, Li[z]a, We[s]ley,
> but Le[z]ley, etc.

I'm definitely an Easterner, but I say Vi[z]a for the card.  I suspect I
first began hearing about the card regularly after I'd moved to California.

In Minneapolis -- which might or might not be considered Western -- I
hear Eli[s]e and Li[s]a.


--
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
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