Pronunciation

xmacro

While the internet is great for learning about cigars, how to smoke 'em, how to find new ones, etc - one thing it's not good at is teaching you to talk like you're not a noobie. In short, it fails at teaching a person how to pronounce their favorite brands. Case in point - I walk into my B&M and ask for an Oliva, Series O - store owner has no idea what I'm talking about. It took a few minutes until he figured it out - turns out I had been pronouncing it A-LI-VA, when it's actually pronounced OH-LEE-VA.

So anyone else have any good stories, or just feel like sharing the proper pronunciation of some names that are typically mispronounced?

lilwing88

Took me a while to figure out that CAO was an acronym. I kept saying "cow". Also, Tatuaje was tough to get the right accento on the right syllable. I think it's tat-tu-AH-hey. Partagas is funny too. I've heard that pronounced 10 different ways.......

sightunseen

Pepin is pronounced Pep-een. I've also had trouble with Tatuaje and I'm sure I've pronounced CAO as "cow" more than once. At least I didn't pronounce Padron as pad-ron

ljl

Mine's 5 Vegas. I know this sounds dumb but my buddy and I keep arguing. He insists I should say cinco. I keep telling him if they wanted me to say cinco...they'd put cinco. Now every time I say "five" I keep waiting for someone over my shoulder to shout me down!

jlmarta

lilwing88:

Took me a while to figure out that CAO was an acronym. I kept saying "cow". Also, Tatuaje was tough to get the right accento on the right syllable. I think it's tat-tu-AH-hey. Partagas is funny too. I've heard that pronounced 10 different ways.......

You're right..it IS tat-tu-AH-hey - - Spanish for 'tatoo'. And, of all the ways I've heard Partagas pronounced, I think PAR-ta-gus is the right one. But, hey, I've been wrong before....

And 5 Vegas IS Cinco Vegas. I've been corrected enough times on that one that I now accept 'Cinco' as being correct. And CAO? It's the guy's initials - C. A. Ozgener but I haven't yet learned how to pronounce his last name.

Marty

kuzi16

ljl:

Mine's 5 Vegas. I know this sounds dumb but my buddy and I keep arguing. He insists I should say cinco. I keep telling him if they wanted me to say cinco...they'd put cinco. Now every time I say "five" I keep waiting for someone over my shoulder to shout me down!

both are acceptable

dennisking

so answer me this is Ligero
Li-GARE-oh
or
Li-HARE-oh

sightunseen

dennisking:

so answer me this is Ligero
Li-GARE-oh
or
Li-HARE-oh

Answer B.

ironhorse

I was doing this with Avo Cigars. This was CCom's fault for a while because they had it listed for as AVO so I kept pronouncing it as an acronym. I still have trouble with it!!

Krieg

when I first started out, I had trouble saying Macanudo, LOL

Hays

Well I found a couple things after looking around (I've seen better lists before).

Fuente - Fuen-Teh
CAO - See Aay Oh
Tatuaje - Tattoo Ahh Hey
5 Vegas - Sinko Vegas
La Vieja Habana - La Vee Aay Ha Habana
Camacho - Kah Ma Cho
Cusano - Ku San Oh
Avo - Ah Vo
Carlos Torano - Carlos Tor Ahn Yo
La Aurora 100 Anos - La Ah-Roar Ah See-En An Yos
Padilla Miami - Pad dee ya Miami
Padron - Pah Drone
Partagas - Par Tah Gus
Romeo y Julieta - Rome-ay-o ee Hoo-lee-eh-tah
Anejo - Ahn-yay-ho
Joya de Nicaragua - Hoy-ah-day-Nicaragua
Ramon Allones - Ramone-ah-yone-ez
Cabaiguan - kah-bei-gWAHN
por larranaga - por la ron ya ga
Palio - Pal-ee-oh
Pepin - Pe-peen
Xicar - Zy-car
Illusione - Eh Loo-Zee-Own-EE
Davidoff - Dah Vid Off

Also, go Here for audio recordings of several brands.

jlmarta

In the case of Cusano, I think it's pronounced "Q-Sano' and I'll tell ya why.......If I remember correctly, Mike spells his last name Chiusano which I believe is a good ol' Italian name and the 'Chiu' part I think is pronounced like a "Q".

Marty

urbino

I'm inconsistent on some of these, because I go back and forth between thinking I should pronounce them properly, and thinking it's a bit silly, since I'm not of Spanish descent, don't know Spanish, and because the English language is constantly borrowing words from other languages and Anglicizing them, anyway. (I once heard it said that English doesn't just borrow from other languages, it chases them up an alley and steals their wallet.)

So, fer instance, I'll go as far as pronouncing Padron as "Peh-DROHN," but rarely as far as pronouncing Romeo y Julieta correctly, or saying "cinco" for 5 Vegas. And no trilling of r's. I draw the line at r-trilling. It works for some people; me, I just sound like a fathead.

And now, we come to the Old Joke portion of our post:

Mexia -- Meh-HAY-uh
Dairy Queen -- DEH-ree Kween

Hays

jlmarta:

In the case of Cusano, I think it's pronounced "Q-Sano' and I'll tell ya why.......If I remember correctly, Mike spells his last name Chiusano which I believe is a good ol' Italian name and the 'Chiu' part I think is pronounced like a "Q".

Marty

The thing is, Chuisano intentionally changed the name for the company so that it would be easier for the public to pronounce. Either way, I think "Q-Sano" and "Ku-Sano" would be pretty equivalent when you actually verbalize them, wouldn't they?

Hays

urbino:

I'm inconsistent on some of these, because I go back and forth between thinking I should pronounce them properly, and thinking it's a bit silly, since I'm not of Spanish descent, don't know Spanish, and because the English language is constantly borrowing words from other languages and Anglicizing them, anyway. (I once heard it said that English doesn't just borrow from other languages, it chases them up an alley and steals their wallet.)

So, fer instance, I'll go as far as pronouncing Padron as "Peh-DROHN," but rarely as far as pronouncing Romeo y Julieta correctly, or saying "cinco" for 5 Vegas. And no trilling of r's. I draw the line at r-trilling. It works for some people; me, I just sound like a fathead.

And now, we come to the Old Joke portion of our post:

Mexia -- Meh-HAY-uh
Dairy Queen -- DEH-ree Kween

Lol this is a good point Urbi - I never say Cinco for 5 Vegas either, despite the fact that I know that's what it's "supposed" to be. As far as your version of Padron, I pronounce it the same way. Trilling r's, well I can't do that anyway, so I don't even worry about it lol..

Unthought_Known

urbino:

I'm inconsistent on some of these, because I go back and forth between thinking I should pronounce them properly, and thinking it's a bit silly, since I'm not of Spanish descent, don't know Spanish, and because the English language is constantly borrowing words from other languages and Anglicizing them, anyway. (I once heard it said that English doesn't just borrow from other languages, it chases them up an alley and steals their wallet.)

So, fer instance, I'll go as far as pronouncing Padron as "Peh-DROHN," but rarely as far as pronouncing Romeo y Julieta correctly, or saying "cinco" for 5 Vegas. And no trilling of r's. I draw the line at r-trilling. It works for some people; me, I just sound like a fathead.

I agree. I use the english pronunciation instead of using the latin pronunciation for most of them, just like I pronounce the country "Mex-ih-coh" instead of "Meh-hee-coh".

On thing I used to get wrong was Robusto. I thought the middle syllable sounded like a school bus until homer simpson pronounced it as sounding like a 'moose'.

dennisking

i also call it 5 Vegas not Cinco Vegas.

urbino

Unthought_Known:

On thing I used to get wrong was Robusto. I thought the middle syllable sounded like a school bus until homer simpson pronounced it as sounding like a 'moose'.

I try not to sound like that talking pothole in the car insurance commercial, but I don't make it as far as rhyming with "moose," either. I get to something in the neighborhood of "push," and then I have a martini and call it a day.

xmacro

wait . . . so Padilla isn't pronounced PA-DILL-A, but rather PA-DEE-YA?!

mrpillow

Yup.

Heavy

Somebody help me out here - wasn't there an old SNL skit where the news anchors were going crazy overboard with trilling 'r's and generally butchering any spanish sounding words during a news broadcast skit? Like they would be speaking normal English and all of the sudden they would say "Neeeeecurrrrrrrrrraaaggua"? I can't for the life of me remember who the actors were or the exact premise. I hope I'm not the only one that (sort of) remembers that.

Anyway, that's how I feel about pronouncing some of these names/terms. I try to stay somewhat true to the origins of the words without overdoing it by trying to be some sort of psuedo-latin speaker.

After all, I speak freakin' AMERICAN here. Mexico has an "X" in it. Not a "HE" (i.e. Me-HE-co).

alienmisprint

lilwing88:

Took me a while to figure out that CAO was an acronym. I kept saying "cow". Also, Tatuaje was tough to get the right accento on the right syllable. I think it's tat-tu-AH-hey. Partagas is funny too. I've heard that pronounced 10 different ways.......

Seriously, I really have heard Partagas pronounced at least 5 different ways at various shops.

Flashpoint

I try to use my *basic* Spanish-speaking skills to pronounce names as best I can.... without over-doing it and sounding ridiculous. Of course, I'm Virginia by way of Tennessee with the generic military accent that comes with living all over the country. I'll never forget my first trip to the local B&M... when I pointed to a CAO Gold Maduro... and pronounced it "Kay-O" (thought I was being fancy, I guess). I've mispronounced Oliva forever, favoring the pronunciation "OH-liv-uh" over "oh-LEE-vah". Partagas still gives me trouble. Is it "PAR-ta-gus" or "par-TAY-gus" or "par-TAH-gus"or "par-tah-GAHHS"

j0z3r

Partagas should be pronounced par-ta-gahs with stress on the last syllable so it sounds more like gas but with the "a" still making the short "ah" sound.

SaVas

Hays:

Well I found a couple things after looking around (I've seen better lists before).

Fuente - Fuen-Teh
CAO - See Aay Oh
Tatuaje - Tattoo Ahh Hey
5 Vegas - Sinko Vegas
La Vieja Habana - La Vee Aay Ha Habana
Camacho - Kah Ma Cho
Cusano - Ku San Oh
Avo - Ah Vo
Carlos Torano - Carlos Tor Ahn Yo
La Aurora 100 Anos - La Ah-Roar Ah See-En An Yos
Padilla Miami - Pad dee ya Miami
Padron - Pah Drone
Partagas - Par Tah Gus
Romeo y Julieta - Rome-ay-o ee Hoo-lee-eh-tah
Anejo - Ahn-yay-ho
Joya de Nicaragua - Hoy-ah-day-Nicaragua
Ramon Allones - Ramone-ah-yone-ez
Cabaiguan - kah-bei-gWAHN
por larranaga - por la ron ya ga
Palio - Pal-ee-oh
Pepin - Pe-peen
Xicar - Zy-car
Illusione - Eh Loo-Zee-Own-EE
Davidoff - Dah Vid Off

Also, go Here for audio recordings of several brands.

Did you by chance look at the humidors that were auctioned off at the events? WOW, now those are a work of art, literally!

firetruckguy

OK, someone tell me how this one is pronounced..........Paradigm.

j0z3r

firetruckguy:

OK, someone tell me how this one is pronounced..........Paradigm.

Pair-ah-dime

firetruckguy

j0z3r:

firetruckguy:

OK, someone tell me how this one is pronounced..........Paradigm.

Pair-ah-dime

Well thats better then what I was saying......Pair-a-digem...... Thanks Joe

Unthought_Known

j0z3r:

firetruckguy:

OK, someone tell me how this one is pronounced..........Paradigm.

Pair-ah-dime

To me it's "Pah-ruh-dime"

Alex Williams

Unthought_Known:

j0z3r:

firetruckguy:

OK, someone tell me how this one is pronounced..........Paradigm.

Pair-ah-dime

To me it's "Pah-ruh-dime"

I think it is pear-uh-dime.

j0z3r

Well, whatever. If you guys want to split hairs over how best to break the word up into syllables, knock yourselves out. I know how to say the word and hopefully firetruckguy does too now.