How do you say my name?And it got me thinking about another pronunciation that I have now heard a few different ways and thought I'd ask readers for their feedback on how they pronounce pileated. You know, that woodpecker that is emblazoned all over this blog. (Depending upon feedback I may make this a long-running poll in the sidebar, but I'm just going to start with this for now.)
The two most common that I hear are:
1- with the stress on the first syllable and a long I (like pie) with the l joining a hard E and hard A: PIE-lee-ate-ed
2- with the l joining a short i at the beginning, a stronger stress on the second syllable, then the same long A: pill-EE-ate-ed
(I apologize to all those out there that are groaning from my poor attempt at providing pronounciation instruction)
Certainly not the variety of pronounciations as some other birds out ther, but I'm curious as to how you say "Pileated"?
6 comments:
I say "PILL-ee-ated."
Hey Christopher. I'm way ahead of you. We presented our Pileated Pronunciation Poll almost a year ago!
64% of respondents agree with Patrick.
I looked in the dictionary when I was kid, it read PIE LEE a ted. It now says both. I say PIE.
Although, when I moved to MN, I found a third way. Many here say PEE LEE a ted woodpecker.
I think we should just call it Big Ass Woodpecker and be done with it.
Not sure if my comment got lost before or if I managed not to submit, but peel-ee-ated which may not be noticably different from pill-ee-ated
Well Patrick, it's you and I and 64% of the other poll respondents....PILL-ee-ated! :)
Thanks for the fun poll, Christopher!
I say PILLeated, despite having studied Latin and understanding the long *i* in latin to have mostly converted to an "eye" as opposed to "ih" sound in English. Because it's all a bit fatuous when the most direct descendants of latin, Spanish, Catalan and Rumanian, got rid of the long Latin *i* well before the 10th century. So they say. I don't know, I wasn't there.
Hey Christopher, looks like we're having a woodpecker invasion in the Central Valley this winter, I am so so hoping to have a chance to paint a Lewis's. There's a red-breasted sapsucker in the UC Davis Arboretum and reports of a yellow-bellied in Davis, which is good for here...
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