How we pronounce "aida" -- the results
Di Michelson
Hi all,
I have gathered the data...58 respondents...I should have asked where
you first learned to say the word "aida", but I think everyone did ok.
34 say "Ay-duh"
21 say "Eye-ee-duh"
2 say "Eye-ay-duh"
1 says "Eye-duh"
Worldwide, most people say "Ay-duh": 6 Canadians, 3 New Zealanders,
and 1 Australian. 1 person from Singapore and 1 from the UK say
"Eye-ee-duh".
One person from Hawaii says "eye-ee-duh".
I've broken the rest of the US into regions: southwest, south, west,
northeast, central, and midwest. They are the standard regions.
There seems to be more "Eye-ee-duh" in the three western regions,
and more "Ay-duh" in the eastern regions, but I doubt it would stand
up to a statistical test.
Region Eye-ee-duh Ay-duh
southwest 5 1
south 2 4
west 5 4
northeast 6 7
central 0 3
midwest 2 4
The "eye-duh" was from South Carolina, and the "eye-ay-duhs" were from
Illinois and Washington.
This was interesting I really expected much more "eye-ee-duh" answers.
Thanks for participating. I have questions 4 and 5 from THE xs survey
almost done. I'll post them sometime soon.
--Di
d...@picard.tamu.edu
"eye-ee-duh"
Di Michelson
>From MSMAR...@freh-01.adpc.purdue.edu Wed Apr 12 09:49:09 1995
>To: d...@picard.tamu.edu
>Organization: Purdue University
>Date: Wed, 12 Apr 1995 09:46:10 EST
>Subject: aida pronunciation
>Priority: normal
>X-Mailer: WinPMail v1.0 (R1)
>
>I was just at the I LOVE NEEDLEWORK Fair in Milwaukee. Marion
>Scoular gave us the following story: Aida was invented by a German
>man whose wife couldn't see linen threads very well and still wanted
>to stitch. So he developed the Aida fabric and named it after her - her
>name was pronounced EYE-EE-DA.
>
>Mona
Thanks, Mona! I also forgot to mention that a lot of "eye-ee-duh"
pronouncers said they saw or heard of the opera first. I suppose
that's my reason too. I remember friends from the local stitch shop
going to a show in California and coming back saying it definitely
is pronounce "eye-ee-duh" (we had been pleasantly arguing over the
pronounciation). I think this survey goes to show: whatever floats
your boat! (or threads your needle as the case may be)