BackwaterReptiles
Avid Member
Just thought I'd pass along some information I had long suspected. The Oustalet's chameleon is pronounced "ew-stuh-lays." Most folks call it the "ow-stuh-lets."
Pronunciation of Oustalet's
- Thread starter BackwaterReptiles
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nightanole
Chameleon Enthusiast
FlChamMom
Avid Member
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
Just because a car salesman bastardizes his name, doesn't mean that's how it's pronounced. Nobody in sales wants a name that is difficult to read and pronounce.
Don't you remember when Bret Favre simply gave up on pronouncing his own name correctly because American media couldn't get it right? How hard is it to learn to say Favre with the "r" following the the "v"? They manage to type it correctly why couldn't they say it correctly?
America is a melting pot and new immigrants want to blend in. Immigrants don't want to appear as foreign.
How about "wala"? I saw an article by editor from a big national magazine use "wala" in her editorial. It's "voila" with a soft v. It is not tuniket, it is touniquet (tournikay).
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
Pronounciation always depends on the origin of the word.
Foul has a Germanic origin. "Ou" prounced "ew" is French.
The pronounciation of Oustalet will depend on the origin of the name, and each language will have its own exceptions. English has to be the worst for exceptions.
frankpayne32
Avid Member
It's Latin. I believe the "ew" is correct. But not like "ewww" as in gross. If that gets across via type lol.
GCash
Avid Member
I wish it was that easy, but the fact is, I'm afraid, it seems like Americans have been so far removed from the correct pronunciation that you have situations like the namesake family of Camp Lejeune claiming its pronounced le-jern with an "r"?!?! Not sure where the "r" comes from but that's the way it is and was even a story in the news setting everyone straight. I personally know people from deep country that put an r in house, but I'm not saying that's "correct", just dialect. I knew about the "ew" beginning, but never gave the end it's French pronunciation. The first place I heard it vocalized was by Steve Irwin in his Madagascar episode and I guess it stuck, albeit incorrect. Makes since it would actually be "ew-stuh-lay's", but then there's labret which is pronounced the way it's spelled and not "la-bray" just to confuse us that much more. Good luck on this.
Chase
Chameleon Enthusiast
I'm aware of that, however the word Oustalet is an anglicized version of oustaleti, so it should be pronounced English like. And I was being sarcastic about foul and fuel.
It is latin. However, having studied latin for a few years, I xannot remember off the top of my head words with ou in it. Even so, no one actually knows the correct pronunciation of Latin, so who knows how it would have actually been pronounced.
Words that come from another language that are used in English usually aren't pronounced correctly anyway. For example Porsche. I pronounce it "Pour-sh" but my girlfriend and her family say "pour-sha" (correct German pronounciation).
Chase
fluxlizard
Avid Member
It's from the latin, but oustelet's is also the common name. It probably comes from someone's name, like the jackson's chameleon or like the chinese crocodile lizard shinisaurus where shin was after the name of the scientist who named it.
This is true of pretty much any language. I was taking a chinese course where how to pronounce "london" in chinese (sounds kind of like luhwun duhwun) had me laughing at the ridiculousness of having to learn a chinese mis-pronounciation of an english language name. There are many words in Vietnamese that are mis-pronounciations of french.
Probably only in america do we get "highbrow" about mispronounciation of terms from other languages and consider ourselves ignorant for doing it and beat ourselves up over it.
I'll probably never be comfortable with saying oostuhlay's chameleon. Common name for me will always be owstuhlet's.
What we need is a descriptive name like behemoth chameleon and get rid of the old common name.
Now how in the world did meller's become mewlers chameleon sometimes?
This is true of pretty much any language. I was taking a chinese course where how to pronounce "london" in chinese (sounds kind of like luhwun duhwun) had me laughing at the ridiculousness of having to learn a chinese mis-pronounciation of an english language name. There are many words in Vietnamese that are mis-pronounciations of french.
Probably only in america do we get "highbrow" about mispronounciation of terms from other languages and consider ourselves ignorant for doing it and beat ourselves up over it.
I'll probably never be comfortable with saying oostuhlay's chameleon. Common name for me will always be owstuhlet's.
What we need is a descriptive name like behemoth chameleon and get rid of the old common name.
Now how in the world did meller's become mewlers chameleon sometimes?
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frankpayne32
Avid Member
Haha that's true. I took four years of it as well in high school, used to be fairly good at it but that was almost fifteen years ago. So I am definitely rusty.
Lathis
Chameleon Enthusiast
Don't you mean Green HighHats...
Related but somewhat unrelated, my husband has been calling them "dubious" roaches. I don't have the heart to correct him.
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
Oh, no, the French can be super crazy about pronunciation! I can remember sitting with a French woman, speaking English with her heavy French accent, having the nerve to complain about native English speakers speaking French with an English accent!
I get picky about grammar and correct word usage because if we aren't correct, the meaning is truly lost. I find it distressing when people write something and don't know what they actually said. There is a difference between "further" and "farther" but few know it.
jajeanpierre
Chameleon Enthusiast
How the heck did you get the accute accent to show up?
Carlton
Chameleon Enthusiast
One reason may be because the Latin name for the species is F. oustaleti...and folks who are very familiar with the Latin names of species drop the genus name when discussing it among themselves so we ended up with "oustaleti". Then less informed people started dropping the i and add the possessive "s". I hear keepers do the same with melleri, parsoni, willsii, labordi, etc. But you are right!
I'm a biologist and when chatting with other biologists about a familiar species we drop the genus part of the name all the time. Guess we are a little lazy! Biologist slang?
deadhd5
Avid Member
This is the winning argument for me right here. So in French, it is ew-sta-lay? Then again, Oustlet's is possessive.... Can someone who know French tell us how to pronounce the possessive form of Frédéric Émile Oustalet's name?
GCash
Avid Member
I'm a wiki worm(copy and paste). All the talk about it being Latin and I started second guessing myself and had to look it up. I know all scientific names are Latin(and thus pronounced as such) but I was sure it was discovered by Oustalet who I presumed to be French, which sould be reflected in the common name.
