28 replies to this topic

[Shadowomega1]

Lets google this.

Gauss and googles audio clips says /gous/

Checking Karl Friedrich Gauss wiki which has this audio file of the name being said in what sounds like an attempt at german.

https://upload.wikim...edrichgauss.ogg

So yea it does sound a lot like house. Guess it comes down to how you stress the ous.

Edited by Shadowomega1, 10 December 2018 - 07:03 AM.

[Sjorpha]

Betty's pronunciation is culturally accurate, in the sense that americans almost never bother to pronounce German or Nordic words correctly.

[Y E O N N E]

Sjorpha, on 10 December 2018 - 08:31 AM, said:

Betty's pronunciation is culturally accurate, in the sense that americans almost never bother to pronounce German or Nordic words correctly.

Nobody does, though. Not the Americans, not the Russians, not the French, not the Brits, and not the Latin Americans. The less said about Chinese or Japanese attempts, the better. Mispronunciation of foreign words is a world-wide phenomenon. You ever hear Russian immigrants to Germany speaking German? Yikes.

Edited by Yeonne Greene, 10 December 2018 - 04:22 PM.

[Snowbluff]

Sjorpha, on 10 December 2018 - 08:31 AM, said:

Betty's pronunciation is culturally accurate, in the sense that americans almost never bother to pronounce German or Nordic words correctly.

Everyone I know does.

[Shadowomega1]

Well if you think about how people are taught english it would be clear why it is said differently. In english A is usually enunciated /aw/ or /ah/ so when you see gauss your going to think it is enunciated as /guh aw ss/ . Only some words in the english language the /A/ is silent but most of those words come from French or German origins. It is due to this we have words spelled differently over the years, example American english Armor, Color, British English, Armour, Colour; American english dropped the u to cut cost on printing back during the colonial era as the u was silent, and it stuck around.

To be honest though /guh ow ss/ doesn't sound a great as /guh aw ss/. One is tiny pain the other leaves you awestruck.

So you could say it is Gawesome.

I will see myself out.

[Jables McBarty]

Kunato Developments, on 10 December 2018 - 02:12 AM, said:

While i'm german, i have no problem with how betty is pronouncing gauss. It's weird when an english speaker is tossing differently pronounced words into the sentence. Having the same pronunciation throughout the sentence feels much more natural and consistent.

Especially since the incorrect pronunciation is more common in english then the correct one.

I mean, noone is complaining how rifle is pronounced. Although it's most likely not an english word. Noone is complaining it's not pronounced in french / dutch or proto germanic..

Curiously, according to the etymologies on dictionary.com, "rifle" comes to English through French *twice* - once in the 1300's from O. Fr for pillaging (the "rifle through") definition, and again in the 1600/1700s for the groovings in a gun barrel (eventually to apply to the entire gun). For both instances, the French word came from German!

I would say there's a significant difference between a language shift that occurred 300-600 years ago, and one that is going on right now. English-speakers aren't "misprounouncing" the word rifle, they are speaking an English word. The Gauss question is similar - technically as a name there is the German pronunciation, but as a word is used more and more, it becomes a part of the language and is no longer "incorrect" to pronounce one way or another.

For my part, I learned the German pronunciation in my high school physics class (after learning "Goss" from MW3) and don't care one way or another.

[Gaussfather]

So what sounds better?

1) "Goss"father
2) "Gouse"father
3) "Goose"father

I'm voting on 1... all you gousers can grouse all you want

My take away from this whole thread is that old video games had better in-game actors! lol

[Bloodwitch]

Shadowomega1, on 10 December 2018 - 07:02 AM, said:

So yea it does sound a lot like house. Guess it comes down to how you stress the ous.

Similar but not the same, gauss is pronounced a lot sharper then house. The G is pressed and the aus is very fast and sharp.
Take the G from "great" and the aus from "aussie". Press the G and speak the aus without delay. You can't really press the H in house since it just sounds like coughing or an attempt to bark.

100% german aproved, this is how you would pronounce it (although, rather slowly spoken)

[Shadowomega1]

Kunato Developments, on 11 December 2018 - 05:04 AM, said:

Similar but not the same, gauss is pronounced a lot sharper then house. The G is pressed and the aus is very fast and sharp.
Take the G from "great" and the aus from "aussie". Press the G and speak the aus without delay. You can't really press the H in house since it just sounds like coughing or an attempt to bark.

100% german aproved, this is how you would pronounce it (although, rather slowly spoken)

Still sounds like /ow ss/ to me instead of /aw ss/.