Monday, December 15, 2008

This just in: SOW-na

According to my dad:

"You got it exactly right. And we got the pronunciation from the Skarbakka family (Finlanders across the street on Missouri Ave who had their very own SOW (rhymes with cow) na)."

I'm not saying the SAW-na people are wrong. I'm just sayin', it seems like anyone named Skarbakka is probably right.

Also, I have a craptacular - or rather, mucustacular - cold. And however you prounounce it, a sauna sounds pretty awesome right now.

9 comments:

  1. I fully believe it's SOWna but I still say SAWna. Much like I fully believe it's Porsh-ah and I still say Porsh for Porche.

    My husband aims for proper pronunciations. I am for popular ones. :)

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  2. Either way you say it it sounds good. I think you and I have the same cold. Whole body thing and a fever just for added fun.

    Felt. Like. Crap. Today.

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  3. Has it written out both ways, but if you click on the 'Hear' button the dude is definitely saying 'SAW':

    http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sauna

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  4. I grew up around a Swiss-German who always pronounced it "sa-how-na" but I'm not sure if that was just the accent or what. I think "saw-na" is just Americanized.

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  5. My favorite Finnish last name: Sievilainen. I think I spelled that right. It probably has an umlaut in it somewhere.

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  6. That settles it! I'm in the saw-na camp. Intriguing!

    Do you have a cold or your Dad? Either way, get well soon! More crazy weather in Austin, 79 yesterday and 32 today. I'm sure I'll have a cold soon.

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  7. My girlfriend is from Missouri.

    She pronounces it SAW-na.

    You guys are just nuts.

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  8. lacochran - It's OK. I don't fault you for going with the crowd.:)

    FoggyDew - Sorry it's you, too. It's pretty dreadful.

    Anonymous - I know, I know. I'm in the total minority.

    J - I was going to opine on that and then realized I didn't really have anything to say about Swiss German pronunciation.

    Dr. Bad Ass - That's a pretty excellent name. And umlauts are so compelling, aren't they?

    HKW - Ha! Settled! We all have colds, but I am about a week behind my parents. I've been trying really hard to give it to Nick but he seems to be resisting quite well.

    Arjewtino - We are nuts. You don't know the half of it.

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  9. With a name like "Skarbakka" -- ha ha ha! So I was relating your story to my brother (PhD Linguistics) last night, and he has a much, much bigger dilemma. His new son-in-law pronounces the word "bagel" as though the first syllable sounds like "bag." I could tell that this is driving my brother crazeeeeeee!

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