Pronunciation (Spokane: places, history, compared)

[Infidel]

and "Spokompton".

[Infidel]

A pronunciation hint: the local humane society is called "Spokanimals".

[mistyriver]

Here are the western names my easter relatives love to mispronounce:

Ore-GONE
Nev-AH-da
Color-AH-do
Boizhee (Boise)
and of course...Spo-KANE.

[Walkaboutcda]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

Idaho people can be unfriendly.

Sorry to hear that. I try to be friendly and welcoming to visitors to my town no matter where they are from.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Walkaboutcda

Sorry to hear that. I try to be friendly and welcoming to visitors to my town no matter where they are from.

Just a tongue-in-cheek observation. I appreciate your friendliness.

[elousv]

HAHA, I was just in the Denver airport and heard numerous instances of "cane" bandied about as well as different levels of emphasis on the individual syllables to "Spo" and "cane".

[Canadian Genius]

As far as the English language goes there are all sorts of exceptions. Most Americans horribly mutilate the language and in fact extra spellings are being added to the dictionary just to satisfy them. After all, if everyone in the world is wrong, doesn't that make them right?

Now to the question. Ending words with 'e' can both sometimes be silent and sometimes be enunciated. Usually adding the 'e' at the end will change the pronounciation of the letter preceeding it. A few examples;

-Paste, waste, chase, case, lace, mace, face, taste, live, give, strive, flame, dame, name
These words without the 'e' would sound more like;
-Pahst (past), wahst (rhyming with fast), chas (closer to Chaz), lack, mac (or mak), fak, (exception here, it would sound the same - tAst), it can go two ways -Liv or l-eye-v, .. .you seeing any patterns?

So in short, the way it is spelled (not spelt), it would be pronoucned Spo-caine. As a previous poster mentioned, Spokan would be the proper spelling in English. However, I've known English folks that have French last names that simply do not pronounce their own names correctly. That said, it IS their name and can request being addressed any which way they so desire.
I'll go on pronoucing it as Spocaine until they decide to change their names and all the locals there can go on happily thinking I am the ignorant one. I will also still pronounces it Aluminium (note the extra 'i') and spelling colour with a 'u'. As they are meant to be.

Another pet peeve for me is the pronounciation of the word "roof" by Americans. Go ahead, use the same syntax with "boot" "tooth", "spoof". Sounds mutilated!
Or "box" often spoken as "bax"... /facepalm

[skinem]

Concerning the pronunciation of Spokane and non-silent/silent e's...There was a time when Spokane was called Spokane Falls and often spelled Spokan Falls...

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by Canadian Genius

As far as the English language goes there are all sorts of exceptions. Most Americans horribly mutilate the language and in fact extra spellings are being added to the dictionary just to satisfy them. After all, if everyone in the world is wrong, doesn't that make them right?

Now to the question. Ending words with 'e' can both sometimes be silent and sometimes be enunciated. Usually adding the 'e' at the end will change the pronounciation of the letter preceeding it. A few examples;

-Paste, waste, chase, case, lace, mace, face, taste, live, give, strive, flame, dame, name
These words without the 'e' would sound more like;
-Pahst (past), wahst (rhyming with fast), chas (closer to Chaz), lack, mac (or mak), fak, (exception here, it would sound the same - tAst), it can go two ways -Liv or l-eye-v, .. .you seeing any patterns?

So in short, the way it is spelled (not spelt), it would be pronoucned Spo-caine. As a previous poster mentioned, Spokan would be the proper spelling in English. However, I've known English folks that have French last names that simply do not pronounce their own names correctly. That said, it IS their name and can request being addressed any which way they so desire.
I'll go on pronoucing it as Spocaine until they decide to change their names and all the locals there can go on happily thinking I am the ignorant one. I will also still pronounces it Aluminium (note the extra 'i') and spelling colour with a 'u'. As they are meant to be.

Another pet peeve for me is the pronounciation of the word "roof" by Americans. Go ahead, use the same syntax with "boot" "tooth", "spoof". Sounds mutilated!
Or "box" often spoken as "bax"... /facepalm

I think I may be feeding a troll here, but I'm all for education:

You use your first post to revive a 2-year old thread and rag on Americans and the American language? Everybody (south of your border) knows that the way Spokane is spelled, it would automatically require a "caine" pronunciation. That where the confusion comes in, and it doesn't make the "caines" right. Languages are living entities. There is no such thing as "meant to be," in an etymological context, only convention. The American language absorbs words from other languages and, according to the time and place, either adapts them to a traditional American pronunciation (such as: LaBoeuf becomes LaBeef), or adopts the pronunciation of the other language (Spokane becomes Spokan). Spokane is the name of an Indian tribe, calling themselves SpoCAN, written Spokane.


Big Sky Developments > Communities

Spokane >> The city was settled in 1871 as "Spokan Falls" (without an 'e' at the end), drawing on the Native American tribe known as the Spokane, which means "Children of the Sun.”[6] The city's name is often mispronounced "Spo-CAIN", while the correct pronunciation is "Spo-CAN". Spokane's official nickname is the 'Lilac City', named after the flowers that have flourished since their introduction to the area in the early 20th century.

[Count David]

It seems incomplete without the "e" imo.