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How do you pronounce Hardinge?

If you call them you’ll hear the correct
pronunciation when they answer the phone.

It’s NOT Harding NOT “DING” like ding dong NO.

It’s Har”dinge” Like in “dingy dirty”
 
Hinge
Whinge
Binge
Singe
Impinge

Ping
Fling
Wing
Cling
Exasperating

Seems pretty obvious to me.

Hi Peter:

I always thought so, too-but recently I heard someone pronounce it rhyming with "ping", and it made me think that, being someone's name, it could really be pronounced either way.
 
Yes, obvious to us because we've heard it for 30 or more years. Hard to know sometimes when you've only read it.

Take Fanuc, for instance.;)

Funny you should mention it-that's the other one I wanted to ask about. I've heard "Fe-NOOK", and also 'FAN-ook".
 
The general rule for pronouncing names, given only the written form, is that you still need a vocal demonstration to hope to get it right. And you still may not get it.

One of my favorites is Chalmondeley, an English family and place name. It looks like a mouthful, but the answer is simple enough: CHUM-lee.

Marquess of Cholmondeley - Wikipedia

I knew a guy from Vietnam whose family name was Nguyen, a very common name there. I had him say his name several times and gave up.

How to pronounce Nguyen: HowToPronounce.com

Then there is our local English orchestra conductor, Andrew Constantine. Americans are often familiar with the Roman emperor and assume the conductor's name is said the same way. Wrong. He uses a long i and it rhymes with nine.

I won't even get into pronouncing my name except to say it is Dutch and dates to 1652 Nieuw Amsterdam. The Dutch were not really happy when the Brits arrived in 1664 and announced that it was now called New York and Charles II, the English king, had just gained a whole bunch of Dutch-speaking taxpayers and some nice land with lots of potential for increased value once the subways and skyscrapers were built. My ancestors were still speaking Dutch among themselves in the 1790's and probably never thought of themselves as English citizens. My great great grandfather changed the spelling of our name to be "American" after licking the Brits in the second war of independence at New Orleans on 8 January 1815. That may have been when he stopped being Dutch and became American. Every family has history and it is a privilege to know some of mine.

Larry
 
My wife's English father was looking at my small lathes and we got talking about U.S. makes and I mentioned Derbyshire and he raised an eyebrow and corrected me darbishure.

I and everyone I know stateside says Hardinj.
 
My wife's English father was looking at my small lathes and we got talking about U.S. makes and I mentioned Derbyshire and he raised an eyebrow and corrected me darbishure.

I and everyone I know stateside says Hardinj.

Derbyshire's only USA competition in expensive small precision lathes is Levin, once called Louis Levin & Son. I once talked to a guy who had met the son and he corrected my pronunciation. He said it is leh-VIN.

Larry
 
Derbyshire's only USA competition in expensive small precision lathes is Levin, once called Louis Levin & Son. I once talked to a guy who had met the son and he corrected my pronunciation. He said it is leh-VIN.

Larry

I would say Leh-Vin naturally. You would say Lee-Vin?
 
I would say Leh-Vin naturally. You would say Lee-Vin?

I had been putting the accent on the first syllable: LEH-vin. There is a person who supports some PBS TV shows and gets the name announced in that way at the beginning of programs. I do not recall ever hearing a different pronunciation until the guy who had met the lathe maker corrected me.

Larry
 
I had been putting the accent on the first syllable: LEH-vin. There is a person who supports some PBS TV shows and gets the name announced in that way at the beginning of programs. I do not recall ever hearing a different pronunciation until the guy who had met the lathe maker corrected me.
Larry

Ahh, I see, the accent. I would expect the VIN to be weighted if it were of French origin. Then again, the French might pronounce that Le-VAN.
 








 
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