Pronouncing KAPEX

Kev

Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2011
Messages
7,698
Is that really how all of you Americans pronounce KAPEX ??

BTW, I still haven't forgiven you for torturing the name for Aluminium [mad] [big grin]
 
Kev said:
Is that really how all of you Americans pronounce KAPEX ??

BTW, I still haven't forgiven you for torturing the name for Aluminium [mad] [big grin]

So, how do you all Down Under pronounce it?  I didn't know it was possible to pronounce Kapex another way.

On a side note, I ran into a girl from England at the local dog park.  She was laughing because the clerk at a convenience store did not understand her when she asked for a bottled water.  The English girl said that Americans say “wodder”, while Brits say “WAH-ta.”
 
RLJ-Atl said:
Kev said:
Is that really how all of you Americans pronounce KAPEX ??

BTW, I still haven't forgiven you for torturing the name for Aluminium [mad] [big grin]

So, how do you all Down Under pronounce it?  I didn't know it was possible to pronounce Kapex another way.

On a side note, I ran into a girl from England at the local dog park.  She was laughing because the clerk at a convenience store did not understand her when she asked for a bottled water.  The English girl said that Americans say “wodder”, while Brits say “WAH-ta.”

[size=14pt]
Yes, apart from A L U M I N I U M [sound it out boys and girls in NA  [smile] ], I could not make out what Kev was on about. Take away her accent and Kayleen basically pronounced KAPEX like most people I know.
 
Untidy Shop said:
RLJ-Atl said:
Kev said:
Is that really how all of you Americans pronounce KAPEX ??

BTW, I still haven't forgiven you for torturing the name for Aluminium [mad] [big grin]

So, how do you all Down Under pronounce it?  I didn't know it was possible to pronounce Kapex another way.

On a side note, I ran into a girl from England at the local dog park.  She was laughing because the clerk at a convenience store did not understand her when she asked for a bottled water.  The English girl said that Americans say “wodder”, while Brits say “WAH-ta.”

[size=14pt]
Yes, apart from A L U M I N I U M [sound it out boys and girls in NA  [smile] ], I could not make out what Kev was on about. Take away her accent and Kayleen basically pronounced KAPEX like most people I know.

That pronunciation difference is easy to explain.  We spell aluminum without the second "i."    [wink]
 
My Father's side of the family is French. It was his first language.

I've long wondered if the Queen's subjects wished they were half French the way they spell... That is, if they can spell at all. The way they speak??? Can someone from Cornwall really converse with someone from SE London? What about a Scot?

The Dutch and Germans, and Scandinavians, and even southern Europeans that I've spoken with in English were much easier to understand than most of those I've met from the British Isles.

Incidentally, leaving out superfluous letters in words or superfluous words in speech is an efficiency move...

Oh! I just edited this to leave out superfluous letters...

Let's go with:

Incidentally, leaving out extra letters in words or extra words in speech is an efficiency move...


On the radio this morning, there was a report about a scientific discovery while gene sequencing large swaths of individuals from various countries and categorizing the results from country-to-country.

The researchers discovered that there was a common genetic trait that led to inhibition of serotonin in certain individuals. Serotonin is considered by many scientists to be responsible for "centered behavior" and mood. Lack thereof can attribute to mood swings, like grumpiness and crazy behavior in bars or football matches.

Further, they discovered that the Brits, as a population, had statistically more people who had a genetic predisposition to low serotonin than most countries. The one significant country that was more pronounced was France!

When I learned about this new research, I immediately told my wife that I wasn't responsible for occasionally being grumpy because it was in my genes. Furthermore, if I'm pleasant more than half the time, that means I'm overcoming genetics.

Tom
 
Tom,  You like cooking with gas? haha 

I'm sure when our UK friends wake up tomorrow they are going to have a few comments for you.

I've talked with Alan from Scotland before, and I noticed he pronounced Kapex differently, but don't recall it now.  I don't think any of us can claim to know how it's said---it's a made-up word anyway, isn't it?
 
Rob Z said:
Tom,  You like cooking with gas? haha 

I'm sure when our UK friends wake up tomorrow they are going to have a few comments for you.

I've talked with Alan from Scotland before, and I noticed he pronounced Kapex differently, but don't recall it now.  I don't think any of us can claim to know how it's said---it's a made-up word anyway, isn't it?

I'll always defer to the Germans for their pronunciations, Rob. Considering your background, I don't think you'd ask a Brit to pronounce a German word???

I always like to learn something and have a little fun every day. This might incite some of both... Actually, I've done both with this post. I had to learn a little to make it accurate and I thought it was fun because it was meant largely in jest...

Tom
 
Tom, agreed!  I personally love accents and think they make things more interesting.  Of course, given that my family is from the Midwest, I have no accent...totally neutral !  It's everyone else who has an accent....
 
Even tho my (then to be) wife had been in this country for seven years before I met her, she had lived mostly with German families.  There was no question but that she was true German.  Her English was not very good from where I stood.  And what little she had learned, she had learned from an English teacher (as in "the teacher came from England") that made her doubly undecipherable.

every now and then, she would be trying to tell me something and i had no clue what she was talking about.  I would ask her to repeat, which she did.  But, she would try to speak with a little clearer diction, which only made it worse.  I would ask her to repeat, but try with a little more relaxation.  Again, she was not speaking with any thing in her words that was even understandable in any way.  With each attempt, it would just get worse. 

Finally, i would tell her to just relax and say it in German.  "Don't try to talk slow, but just say it naturally."  I knew nothing about German as the spoken word, but I knew that English is a Germanic language, for whatever that meant.  Within seconds, I picked up a word or two and knew exactly what the subject she was trying to relate.  Once I knew what she was talking about, I could figure out all that she had been saying.

Of course, she tried to teach me a little German to make her life a little easier.  She taught me to say "ya" long before she taught me to say "nichte" or "nine", whatever the opposite of "ya" is. Big mistook. We have been married for nearly 50 years now.  We understand each other somewhat. ::)  Even now, tho, if she tries to read something to me, there is absolutely no way i can find a clue to what she is reading.
Tinker

 
Strange ... screw up a brochure and spell a word wrong across an entire continent for life ...

Take a perfectly simply word and pronounce an extra "y" in it ??

[huh]

I could understand if it was written KAPE-X, but no - so to me the "popular" US pronunciation doesn't work. I'm happy to be wrong and/or in the minority - but I'm not confused about it [wink]

I'd be really curious about how Americans would pronounce ZAPEX and FAPEX ... "zay pex" and "fay pex" ??
 
The only way I've ever heard it pronounced here in the States is, "KAY-PEX ."
 
Kev said:
Strange ... screw up a brochure and spell a word wrong across an entire continent for life ...

Take a perfectly simply word and pronounce an extra "y" in it ??

[huh]

I could understand if it was written KAPE-X, but no - so to me the "popular" US pronunciation doesn't work. I'm happy to be wrong and/or in the minority - but I'm not confused about it [wink]

I'd be really curious about how Americans would pronounce ZAPEX and FAPEX ... "zay pex" and "fay pex" ??

[size=14pt]

So Kev are you saying the A should be sounded not named? Ie. K. - APEX?

[size=12pt]

Moderators may want to consider spinning off this discussion on pronunciation to a new thread, as we seem to be no longer discussing Kayleen's work or the video.
 
Kayleen's very relevant to this thread ... not the least because of her name ...

Kaleen and Kayleen sound very different !

To be totally honest ... I'm just familiar with what I've heard in the past and my "real people" (yeh - you're all real people, I suppose I should say face to face) expose has been to a small set and it's been called a "cap x" not a "kay pecks".

When I think of other forms I'm familiar with "capex" comes to mind ... short for capital expenditure and I'm pretty certain that's universally pronounced with a "cap", not a "cape" sound. Plus the "cat" and "kat" sound are pronounced the same. I don't get it. [huh] [blink]

 
I could be persuaded to change my mind thinking about the SHINEX, etc ....

Shine "X"

Kape "X"

Carve "X"

... blimey it's hot and sticky here - I've got nothing better to do than ponder pronunciations and wait for beer o'clock - and I actually think it's way past beer o'clock already [big grin]

 
Kev said:
I could be persuaded to change my mind thinking about the SHINEX, etc ....

Shine "X"

Kape "X"

Carve "X"

... blimey it's hot and sticky here - I've got nothing better to do than ponder pronunciations and wait for beer o'clock - and I actually think it's way past beer o'clock already [big grin]

Kev, if you guys can't even drive on the right side of the road, how can you be expected to get a simple thing like pronunciation correct?

[poke]

Actually the one that always gets me is the brand 'Ryobi'. Everyone in the US seems to pronounce it RYE-obi, while the rest of the world (correctly) pronounces it REE-obi. Drives me NUTS...

...but the wife says that's a short trip anyway. [tongue]
 
wow said:
Kev, if you guys can't even drive on the right side of the road, how can you be expected to get a simple thing like pronunciation correct?

[poke]

Actually the one that always gets me is the brand 'Ryobi'. Everyone in the US seems to pronounce it RYE-obi, while the rest of the world (correctly) pronounces it REE-obi. Drives me NUTS...

...but the wife says that's a short trip anyway. [tongue]

Don't blame me - blame Mother England [embarassed]

stats are against the left drivers ...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/32/Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg/1600px-Countries_driving_on_the_left_or_right.svg.png

We'll drive on the right if you guys go metric.
 
Hey Kev

Does it take us yanks to teach you guys how to speak English?

Its pronounced Kay-pex.

Shine-X

Roe-tex

I think you ought to come to my BBQ and give us english lessons.

Ill provide the black board and chalk....

 
Interesting thread.

Tom Bellemare said:
I've long wondered if the Queen's subjects wished they were half French the way they spell... T

Actually, England has been under French rule for quite some time. Essentially, since 1066, the battle of Hastings, the Normans from the French province of Normandy ruled for a couple of hundred years. They introduced French and it became the language of the upper class. Even later, under the Tudors like Henry VIII and Elisabeth I, while they were in constant war with France, French remained to be the language for the upper class, and if you didn't speak it, you were a nobody. This explains why there are so many French influences in English and they keep insisting on writing Liter as Litre. 

Tom Bellemare said:
Incidentally, leaving out superfluous letters in words or superfluous words in speech is an efficiency move...

English sure becomes crazy when they keep writing "Gloucester" and pronounce it "Gloster", same with "Leicester" and "Lester".

Rob Z said:
I don't think any of us can claim to know how it's said---it's a made-up word anyway, isn't it?

There are always rules about how words are prononounced in a language. It is of course not set in stone, but if enough people use them they become the rule.

That way, Kapex should be pronounced KAY-pex in English. Only thing that makes sence.

Kev started this thread, but I haven't seen him say yet how Australians pronounce the word.

When I say "rules", they of course fly out of the window when the English are involved, see my above examples of Gloucester en Leicester.
 
The word Kapex is made up in Germany. The German pronounciation is simple, KAH-pex, with a long A. That particular A sound is not used in English, for us you pronounce the A more as we say the E. If people in other countries want to follow the German prononciation, they are free to do so, but generally people in other countries start to pronounce it in their own way because that suits their tongue and jaw muscles better.

By the way, that Aluminum thing is retarded, the whole world says the i in -ium, but I guess that's what you get when you try to say it with a mouth full of Freedom Fries.  [poke]

 
Back
Top