Final burning question of the year
How do you pronounce "bougainvillea"?
posted by fortuna at 10:49 AM
"It's absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." --Oscar Wilde
posted by fortuna at 10:49 AM
10 Comments:
I've heard a very rough-and-ready bow/gan/ville/ia. American vets of WWII called the Island by that kind of pronunciation, with no attempt at a French vowel or consonant.
I believe BOOganVILLea is correct. I, however, seem to have gotten the idea that vill-AY-a was the way. I blame this on a South African I once knew.
I have never pronounced it nor heard it pronounced.
I'm often teasing a certain significant person about the way he pronounces things. This may be payback.
BOOganVEEya is how I've heard and said it, although I was surprised to hear a five syllable version in the Philippines: boo-gan-vil-i-a.
Oh right, the "ll" question. I hadn't even thought of that.
I am in the teofilo camp.
Anyway, ta ra. The dictionaries seem to punt the multiple pronunciation issue completely so I think you're off the hook. Significant person will have to seek revenge elsewhere.
Those results also raise a "bougainvillea"/"bougainvillaea" question, which I suppose is really a "bougainvillea"/"bougainvillæa" question, but we can swiftly lower that question back down.
Well, looking more closely at the results, it does seem that there is some consensus that your original pronunciation is WRONG WRONG WRONG. Maybe I should be more concerned that I have no idea what bougainvillea is, beyond "some plant."
Ooh, pretty.
I was saying the word while describing how pretty the flowers in Jerusalem were.
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