phonetics poll

[gusl]

Poll: do "Columbia" and "Colombia" sound the same to you? "Columbia University" is too long and saying "CU" sounds like a terrible idea.

Comments

[altamira16.livejournal.com]

You say Columbia because CU is the University of Colorado. ;)

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

CU is also very unflattering in Portuguese! http://www.wordreference.com/pten/cu

[jcreed.livejournal.com]

In my dialect they are pronounced the same, yeah. In context, if you say something like "I'm a student at Columbia", "I go to Columbia", etc., I think it's a well-known enough school that most americans will know what you mean at least.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_wirehead_/]

yeah, everyone at Columbia just says Columbia, though it sounds the same as Colombia (at least to English speakers). usually clear from context.

[nibot.livejournal.com]

yup, agreed

[edanaher.livejournal.com]

No, CU is Cornell University.

Though only in writing internal to the University, mostly clubs... anything outside or spoken is always "Cornell".

And yeah, I pronounce them the same.

[jenarael.livejournal.com]

Yeah -- this seems to be a native-English-speaker thing. I think ColOmbia and ColUmbia sound very different, but English is my second language.

Most Americans in your city would likely assume you're talking about the uni and not the country, though.

PS. Gustavo; if it's a problem just downplay the second syllable -- Colombia has an emphasis that Columbia doesn't. ;)

[verzoeking.livejournal.com]

Here they sound very slightly different - Kahl-uhm-bia vs Kohl-ohm-bia.

But you shouldn't trust me as I have a pronounced Minnesotan accent.

:-)

[gfish.livejournal.com]

I would pronounce them the same. But I'm really sloppy with vowels sometimes...

[qatar.livejournal.com]

I'm often the odd man out in these phonetics polls because of having bits and pieces of a British accent left (e.g., I don't think cot and caught are homophones, or merry and Mary), but in this case I agree with the other posters -- I pronounce Columbia and Colombia the same.

[infryq]

I use this pronunciation. I have no idea why the change in the second vowel changes how I say the first vowel, but it does. The 'i' in Colombia also changes to a more spanish-y 'i' sound.

[darius.livejournal.com]

The same, unless I'm speaking Spanish.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

maybe if I say "Clumbia", it will be unambiguous.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

where is "here" for you? And why is your username a Dutch word?

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

<< I have no idea why the change in the second vowel changes how I say the first vowel, but it does >>

I can totally see that.

I think that the word "Colombia" triggers associations with less schwa-ized languages, Portuguese (in my case) and Spanish (in your case).

If one ate the first vowel, and said Clumbia/Clombia, I suspect almost every native speaker would think of the university.

[chrisamaphone]

yeah. it works this way for me too. i say kuh-luhm-bia vs. coh-lohm-bia.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

The problem is when I say: "Currently I'm at UBC but now I'm moving to Columbia". More than half have either interpreted this as Colombia or asked me to clarify whether I meant the university or the country.

One went a step further with "eres Colombiano?"... to which I said: "Newyorkiano, Harlemiano!"

And jokes about British vs American Columbia seem to confuse people further. Afterall, Colombia is part of the Americas too...

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

do you speak Italian natively?

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

alright! There are 3 of you now! :-)

[jcreed.livejournal.com]

I would say something like "Currently I'm at UBC but I'll be at Columbia in the fall". The choice of preposition subtly disambiguates. I can't imagine saying that I'm "at" a country. And actually come to think of it "to move to" is a verb that I expect not to take an academic institution as a complement. Like, "I'm moving to Columbia [University]" doesn't sound outright ungrammatical to me, but just a little unusual.

[qatar.livejournal.com]

The lead CNN story on Prop 8 currently includes the sentence "Same-sex marriage is currently legal in five U.S. states and in the District of Colombia, while civil unions are permitted in New Jersey." Apparently the writer of this piece also pronounces them the same, since (s)he is unaware which spelling to use for DC. :-)

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

I find it appalling that this sort of thing happens in major media. :-p
But it's been fixed already.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_tove/]

No no, Colombia. It's the capitol.

[qatar.livejournal.com]

lol!