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There are several possible answer to today’s Brain Game. Feel free to comment with any additional ones that you find!
Certain words (like “polish”)
are pronounced differently when
capitalized as proper nouns.
Which ones can you think of?
Click here for some answers.
Comments (28)
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Erm, I think your “answers” link points to the wrong place… unless there’s some regional variation I don’t know about, the word “luminous” is pronounced the same whether or not the L is capitalized.
posted by jeem on 7-11-2008 at 8:09 am
august/August
posted by Erin on 7-11-2008 at 8:23 am
Thanks for the heads up, jeem. Sometimes the update doesn’t always “take” properly from the previous Brain Game. All fixed now!
posted by Sandy on 7-11-2008 at 8:23 am
produce (n) vs produce (v).
posted by Adrienne on 7-11-2008 at 8:29 am
Couch Street in Portland is pronounced “Cooch”.
posted by Rube on 7-11-2008 at 8:30 am
Reading/reading
posted by Bob on 7-11-2008 at 8:32 am
Rodeo(Drive) vs. rodeo and Lima(Peru) vs. lima (bean)
posted by Marty on 7-11-2008 at 8:56 am
Okay, I get job, reading, nice but how else would you pronounce august or guy?
We have a family at church whose last name is spelled M-O-S-S, but they pronounce it “Muss,” with a “u.” I suppose that could be one too.
posted by Heather Dawn on 7-11-2008 at 9:43 am
Man, and I though “I” was a nerd!
posted by N8 on 7-11-2008 at 9:57 am
I don’t know about August, but Guy as a name can be pronounced “Gee”.
posted by Lelah on 7-11-2008 at 10:05 am
AUgust vs. auGUST
PERfect vs. perFECT
close the door vs. close, but no cigar
posted by RT on 7-11-2008 at 10:19 am
August is pronounced with the emphasis on the 1st syllable. august is pronounced with the emphasis on the 2nd syllable.
posted by Shelly on 7-11-2008 at 10:22 am
Mobile?
I don’t get it. Every definition of which I can think sounds like MO-bull.
posted by Nathan Miller on 7-11-2008 at 10:30 am
my hometown of Chili New York is pronounced with 2 long “I” sounds – rhymes with jai-lai, not the peppers
:)
posted by Clotho on 7-11-2008 at 10:32 am
“posted by Shelly on 7-11-2008 at 10:22 am
Mobile?
I don’t get it. Every definition of which I can think sounds like MO-bull.”
Mobile, Alabama, which is pronounced MO-beel
posted by Clotho on 7-11-2008 at 10:34 am
complex (adj.) difficult
complex (n.) eg oedipus complex
posted by Molly Bierman on 7-11-2008 at 11:41 am
How about Bono from U2 vs. pro bono work?
posted by Erika on 7-11-2008 at 11:42 am
There are tons of examples of American cities whose names come from foreign phrases that would fit the criteria (Des Moines, Des Plaines, etc.)
posted by Nathan on 7-11-2008 at 11:45 am
More so where you are from I would suppose. Such as regional tongue I know in all different parts of the US I have heard all of these words pronounced differently regardless of capitilization. Also hearing a british person speaking its all different so this one threw me a loop.
posted by CoZ on 7-11-2008 at 12:01 pm
Here are a few:
Begin/begin
Nestle/nestle
Ionic/ionic
Rainier/rainier
Ravel/ravel
Tangier/tangier
Adrienne & Molly: The puzzle concerns words that change their pronunciation when they’re capitalized. True, produce (n) & produce (v), as well as complex (n) and complex (adj), are pronounced differently, but it doesn’t have anything to do with capitalization.
posted by gmsc on 7-11-2008 at 12:02 pm
Here’s your grammar lesson for the day, free of charge…
This post is talking about heteronyms, and capitonyms in particular. Heteronyms are words that have the same spelling (they are homographs) but different pronunciation (they are heterophones) and also different meanings. This would include excuse(n)/excuse(v), minute(n)/minute(adj), etc.
Capitonyms are words that change their pronunciation when capitalized. Some more are Worms (city in Germany)/ worms (the slimy things) and Male (capital of the Maldives)/ male (dude).
posted by Kevin H on 7-11-2008 at 12:25 pm
Martha Stewart apologists aside, the name Herb vs herb works for me.
posted by Johnny Cat on 7-11-2008 at 12:42 pm
In the world of Make-Believe (Narnia) Animal vs animal
posted by SDK on 7-11-2008 at 12:55 pm
the noun or adj gentile and the Italian name Gentile.
posted by Heather on 7-11-2008 at 1:49 pm
live/live
posted by Todd on 7-11-2008 at 2:56 pm
Weiner/weiner, Job/job, Nice/nice, Natal/natal
posted by elih on 7-11-2008 at 5:33 pm
(Mike) Gravel v. gravel
posted by ThePolynomial on 7-11-2008 at 8:44 pm
Ah, Marty, you’ve gone and mentioned my response. In sixth grade, I was astounded to find out Lima, Peru was pronounced differently than lima beans (which, to this day, I will not eat).
I think Job and job is clever, too, elih.
posted by Reba on 7-11-2008 at 11:57 pm