> What makes a name proper?
Proper Name is a grammar term. It is someone's name. "John" is a proper
name. "tomato" is not.
> Show 100 students the word Willys, and take a stab on how most of them
will
> pronounce it.
Polling or voting does not mean a thing. It doesn't matter if 99 out of 100
people think something should be one way over the other. There is only one
truth. And in this case it is rather easy and simple to determine how the
company name was pronounced. There exist quite a few films and
advertisements that show beyond the shadow of a doubt that they pronounced
it "Willis". I can't think of a better type of evidence. If you want to
ignore that evidence, then I feel sorry for you...
> Does that mean they are stupid?
No. It means they are either misinformed or would rather use the slang
term. There is nothing wrong with using the slang term.
> Are they wrong for pronouncing it the way they choose?
No.
> Or for that matter- how was Willys pronounced in 1768?
Totally irrelevant to the discussion. John North Willys was the one who
used the name. He is the one who named the company after himself.
> In several
> linguistic studies I participated in, vowels changed over a thirty year
> period at a minimum 3 times. So Mr. Willys may have been wrong.
HE NAMED THE COMPANY! He created the name! The historical derivation of
his name or where he came up with the name is absolutely and totally
irrelevant! The fact is that he used it on his company. UFB. Next we will
be arguing over whether WWII ever occured. Or whether Elvis is alive on
Jupiter......
> If you want to use the sounds of 40 or 50 years ago in your own speech,
and
> claim legitimacy of your pronunciation by virtue of primary sources,
that's
> fine. But realize that the rest of the world is going to pronounce the
> words the way they perceive them, and the way their phonological patterns
> have developed.
They can pronounce it any way they want. They will not be using the correct
pronunciation. They will be using the slang term. Plain and simple.
Todd Paisley
===
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