In the garden centre where I worked, most customers requesting Weigela asked for "Why-jee-leer".
I think its logical pronunciation must be "Vi (not "vee") -ge-la" (hard g, obviously) - assuming it's German in origin; german "die" meaning "the" is pronounced "dee", whereas "deine" ("your") is pronounced "diner".
Not that I'm a pedant or anything...
"The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life." Rabindranath Tagore
Although my pedantry is now well established, I don't think anyone should be chastised for not knowing how to pronounce plant names when they're not English in origin.
I love words and have always taken great delight in learning the proper names for plants - but I can understand why the gen. public want a common name for everything they grow, and prefer, for instance, Dawn Redwood to Metasequoia glyptostroboides or Busy Lizzie to Impatiens walleriana. But how do we distinguish between all those different bamboos without learning that the one with the yellow stripe on the canes is Phyllostachys aureosulcata f.aureocaulis??? Very few have common names, and anyway, a common name in one country (or even one part of Britain) will often vary from the common name in another.
Obviously we need the botanical names. I've told the story before of customers at the garden centre asking for "Black-eyed Susan", and having to establish whether they wanted Thunbergia alata or a Rudbeckia. But perhaps I should be a bit more tolerant of those who are less fascinated by the "proper" names than I am...
"The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life." Rabindranath Tagore
Posts
I diddun break it! If you'd all care to check the pagination it's in Italics too. It's clearly a wonky page and was not me!
You can't blame Wonky ... she's not been here today
What a great discussion!
In the garden centre where I worked, most customers requesting Weigela asked for "Why-jee-leer".
I think its logical pronunciation must be "Vi (not "vee") -ge-la" (hard g, obviously) - assuming it's German in origin; german "die" meaning "the" is pronounced "dee", whereas "deine" ("your") is pronounced "diner".
Not that I'm a pedant or anything...
And although I'm clearly not a pedant... as a musician I'm totally in agreement with Hosta over the misuse of the word "crescendo".
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Last edited: 17 September 2017 16:06:26
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If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
I remember working in a GC, straight out of school and doing my best to lean plant names.
I was mightily relieved to hear someone say " co tone ee aster" I'd rather assumed it was "Cotton Easter."
I remember a friend who worked for an opera company asking a colleague to check emails whilst my friend was at lunch
" Any sales over lunch?"
" Yes: 4 for Eugene One Gin."
I'm sure the OP is rather livid this thread has turned into something so interesting and witty.
Ma called it Cotton Easter for years ... until she joined the WI in her forties and made some gardening friends.
Although my pedantry is now well established, I don't think anyone should be chastised for not knowing how to pronounce plant names when they're not English in origin.
I love words and have always taken great delight in learning the proper names for plants - but I can understand why the gen. public want a common name for everything they grow, and prefer, for instance, Dawn Redwood to Metasequoia glyptostroboides or Busy Lizzie to Impatiens walleriana. But how do we distinguish between all those different bamboos without learning that the one with the yellow stripe on the canes is Phyllostachys aureosulcata f.aureocaulis??? Very few have common names, and anyway, a common name in one country (or even one part of Britain) will often vary from the common name in another.
Obviously we need the botanical names. I've told the story before of customers at the garden centre asking for "Black-eyed Susan", and having to establish whether they wanted Thunbergia alata or a Rudbeckia. But perhaps I should be a bit more tolerant of those who are less fascinated by the "proper" names than I am...