Please explain the pronounciation of 'Los Gatos.' (San Francisco, Sacramento: rated, place)

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by Wintermomma

LOL. I was thinking maybe it was all the Spanish influence in SoCal that has this silly thing eating me up.

Well, to be fair, in SoCal a lot of folks don't pronounce Spanish-origin geographical locations faithfully to the original Spanish. So if you're a purist for Spanish pronounciation, you may be disappointed.

For example, the city or community of San Pedro - it's most often pronounced San PEE-dro, rather than San PAY-dro.

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

"Loss" would sound the same as Las, the feminine article. Since Gatos is a masculine noun, Los Gatos is correct and both "o"s are pronounced the same as in the word gross.

Only by newbies. I'll throw another one in here with the same vowel pronunciation: Los Banos - "Loss-Ban-Ohss".

[DMenscha]

Originally Posted by CAVA1990

Only by newbies. I'll throw another one in here with the same vowel pronunciation: Los Banos - "Loss-Ban-Ohss".

Excuse me? Newbies? Native Spanish speakers would disagree with you. As do I. My Spanish vocabulary is limited to being able to get around in Mexico without having to ask for the English equivalent most of the time, but my Mexican friends give me high marks for pronunciation.

It's also properly pronounced as Los Bahn Yos

[sjnative]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

"Loss" would sound the same as Las, the feminine article. Since Gatos is a masculine noun, Los Gatos is correct and both "o"s are pronounced the same as in the word gross.

Yeah, but I'm talking about pronouncing it in the incorrect way, which will entail incorrectness.

To quote the Talking Heads, "stop making sense.. stop making sense.. stop making sense making sense..".

They said it, not me.

[bigdumbgod]

Incorrectness is a cool word.

[MorganTrinkaus]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

The way people in LA pronounce Los Feliz is ridiculously wrong if we're going to be true to its spanish origins.

It is NOT pronounced LAWS-FEEliss.

And what about Palos Verdes?

It is NOT pronounced PALACE-VerDEES.

LOL

It's not wrong. It's just the American English pronunciation. Contrary to what some snobs think, there is no rule that requires a place-name of foreign origin to be pronounced the foreign way in English. If you are pronouncing these names the Spanish way, you are the wrong one.

[MorganTrinkaus]

Originally Posted by DMenscha

Excuse me? Newbies? Native Spanish speakers would disagree with you. As do I. My Spanish vocabulary is limited to being able to get around in Mexico without having to ask for the English equivalent most of the time, but my Mexican friends give me high marks for pronunciation.

It's also properly pronounced as Los Bahn Yos

Not in American English - which is what we're conversing in right now. With apologies to your Mexican friends, they probably don't speak American English as well as native speakers here.

[bigdumbgod]

With all the very different populations and dialects in this enormous country, can there really be said to exist a definitive "American English?"

[KC6ZLV]

Originally Posted by Wintermomma

It makes my ears bleed, please tell me there's a good reason people say "Las Gatas" instead of "Los Gatos?"

Thank you. It will help me not stick out like a sore thumb if I can rationalize my head into saying it your way.

Because they are English speakers. The phonetics of the Spanish pronunciation doesn't exist in the regional dialect. Most of our cities with Spanish names aren't pronounced as they would be in Spanish. San Jose, San Francisco, and Los Angeles are among them.

[imcurious]

It would be interesting to understand the original pronunciations and the reasons for them - I grew up in the area and in my mind it is

Laasgatis (one word). There are two new groups that pronounce it either Loahs Gotoas or Loahs Gaytos. But old locals say Laasgatis.

Sanhazay is also one word.