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My niece is Mira.
in reply to a message by -=A=-
And then you've got Mira Sorvino. So...you're going to GET meer-a and NOT my-ra.
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All right, you've all done a fine job of making me hate a family name. Congrats.I guess I am grateful to know that the general population is unaware of the English pronunciation of Mira (derived from Almira, Elmira), so I will keep this one at the bottom of the short list for now.

This message was edited 3/27/2008, 3:50 PM

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And since when - in an exteremly multiculutral country -Is the English pronunciation the correct one? I find that incredibly hard to swallow. How do you pronounce Anthony? I suspect it's with an H, which isn't the "English" pronunciation. And how do you pronounce Maria? Unless it's ma-RYE-a you're not using the correct "English" pronunciation. And as someone who is supposedly from DC I find it even funnier - DC is by far the most multi-culturally city in the US. You would never get Mira because it really isn't an "English" city - it's an American city and American's language is far, far different than English merely because we're such an international country!
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I'm not saying that the English pronunciation is the correct one, just, in my opinion, the most alluring.
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How would you spell MIE-ruh without a y (I really just HATE the y is all)?
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Could Maira work?
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Hmmm. That one looks like MAY-ruh. A different sound all-together. I just don't see why Mira (MIE-ruh) is so inconceivable to some.
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I'd pronounce Maira MIE-ra.
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Huh?Since when is it Siri's fault that the pronunciation you want is completely non-intutive?Almira is al-MEE-rah. Elmira is el-MEE-rah. Ergo, Mira is MEE-rah in English as well as all the other languages. I would never think to say Mira as MIE-rah.
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Elmira is el-MY-raThat's the only way I've ever heard it - A actually does have a point, but you do as well. The way Americans look at names has changed dramatically as immigrants have poured into the country changing our language and the way we pronounce things.
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Really?Whoops, my mistake! Sorry!
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At least in my area.I've known a few elderly ladies who went by that. It's the same way, though, as pronouncing Nina NINE-a.
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Forgive me but I am a bit confused. I've never heard Nina pronounced NINE-ah, so are you saying that it's sort of a regional thing/alternate pronunciation like NINE-ah? I'm not sure what you meant by "the same way".
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It's not regional, it's the way things were done in the pastA 100 years ago Nina would have been NINE-a, Maria ma-RYE-a, Elmira - el-MY-ra, etc. Now it's neen-a, ma-ria, el-mir-aSorry, should have been clearer on those points.
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AhThanks, that makes sense!
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Me either.Never heard it as NINE-ah, but I like that better than NEE-na. *Shrugs*But I don't get why, just because some people might pronounce a name differently half the time, it's such a big deal to correct them and that's the end of that. Or why it changes your (not yours, Julia, but -=A=-'s) opinion of the name. Hardly anyone ever gets my name right the first time (and it's not really that hard imo) and correcting it is automatic, absolutely NOT a big deal to me. Only freaking idiots continue to call me the wrong name after I correct them. Like my professor, but that's a different story.For the record, when I see Mira I think MEE-ra about 80% of the time and MY-ra 20%, but if you correct me I will never call you the wrong thing again.

This message was edited 3/27/2008, 8:47 PM

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I pronounce Nina as NEE-nah, but my friend says she had an aunt Nina that was pronounced NINE-ah. So, I guess it is pronounced a couple of different ways.
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ElmiraThen how do you explain the pronunciations of Elmira as el-MIE-ruh, such as the city in New York State, and my family's pronunciation of Elmira?
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Is it possible it is a variation of the Germanic name Elmeira which would be pronounced el-MY-rah? In German, the second vowel in a set of two vowels is long. If there is only one vowel, it is short. So then, in German it would be Elmeira (el-MY-rah) and Elmira (el-MEE-rah). Just a theory.
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It's el-MIE-rah in Texas tooThat's the only pronunciation I ever heard for the first three decades of my life.AND I think everyone who's trashing -=A=- is being very rude. I don't think he did anything worthy of this kind of treatment -- and y'all should all know I'd be right in there if I did.
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Thank you Lillian. While they could stand to take it down a notch, surely you, as well as I, do enjoy such thrashingly impassioned name discussions by these youthful zealots as much as I do. I have a very hard shell. :)
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See my reply to Siri, sorry!
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Ditto, that was completely uncalled for, -=A=-.
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Actually, you may notice it was not spefically directed at her, just placed under her post. Try to be more observant before eagerly whipping out your referee stripes.
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Oh, I'm sorry, were you talking to me? I don't want to assume that you were, just because you obviously and purposely put your response under my post.
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LMAO! Good one!
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