What Do You Call People From Italy?

[THUNDER HANDS]

Poll question: What Do You Call People From Italy?

Eye-Talians or EEE-Talians

I usually go with the EEE (like wheeee) so that it comes out Etalians. WHen I here someone say Eye-Talians it just sounds so...so...un-Italian.

What do you go with?

[sui generis]

1. eye-talia ees pronoun-said eeee-talian

mamma mia!

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

9. Gee, let's not play into stereotypes *too* much here...

If I gave a damn, I might actually be offended. Of course, I hate political correctness, so whatever. Don't be surprised if you pissed someone else off though.

[sui generis]

26. gosh, doncha know

I might even be one of those Italians. I am so honored that you don't give a damn, so whatever.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

27. retracted

my original post was retarded.

[sui generis]

29. oy vay let me be Jewish for a moment

Just kidding, it is impossible to give the holier than thou a guilt trip, so instead I prostrate myself at your feet and beg your forgiveness for offending you, now let's please move the fuck on.

[sui generis]

34. retracted too

all is good XOXOXO

[terrya]

2. Eye-Talians is so Archie Bunker. It's EEE-Talians.

Actually, just like you. Etalians.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

3. Ih-talians.

Am I weird?

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. You're not weird

You're right. As usual.

[mrboba1]

10. that's my vote.

oh - not that you're weird, that it's 'ih'.

Oh, wait, maybe I'll vote for the weird thing too...
:P

[Samurai_Writer]

16. Same for me... Ih-tal-yans

Why would anyone turn a short I into a long E anyway? I've never heard anyone say EEEtalians. I've heard people say EYEtalians, but they were mostly from NY or NJ with strong accents.

[Cush]

17. another vote for Ih-talians

[redqueen]

21. If you are then I am too n/t

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. As an Italian,

I frankly hate "EYE-talian".

[MercutioATC]

15. Me, too. My family's not from "EYE-Taly"...

[JVS]

6. IT-talians

first syllable rhymes with bit

[noahmijo]

7. Well actually I call my good Italian friend an eye-talian

just to piss him off but in response he calls me a "Messican"

In general though I say Eee-Talians.

[pocket]

8. wops

just the ones in my family, though :P

[noahmijo]

13. LMAO

I love Italians you guys and your humor. Reminds me of us Mexicans in so many ways.

[pocket]

19. the Mexican wing of my family

is pretty much the same way.

[NewJeffCT]

24. we usually use 'guineas' in my family

Of course, being half Polish, i also got a ton of Polish jokes growing up...which I would then change to Italian when I told my mom (the Italian one)

[On the Road]

11. If They Live Near the Po River

you can call them po' people.

[JVS]

12. Po Folks

like the restaurant

[gpandas]

14. neither is correct-i TAL yen ( i as in if) n/t

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Wrong!

That's the anglicized version. The country is pronounced EEE-Talia. Americans and British say it-alians (short i). It should be EEE-talians.
The Professor

[gpandas]

23. i speak only english...

so i got pronunciation from webster. you need to tell dictionary writers they are wrong, not me. btw, webster pronounces italia the way you suggest. i guess you don't need to straighten them out on that one. and it is not it al ian ,it's i TAL yen

[ProfessorGAC]

25. Hey, Webster's Didn't Post Here, You Did

Sorry, it's a pet peeve, that Brits and Americans anglicize the way other people pronounce their own places.

For instance, why is Rome, not Roma? We're too lazy to add the other syllable, or what? Why is Milan, not Milano? How did we get Venice from Venezia? Or for that matter (to not be too italocentric), Munich instead of Munchen? Or Warsaw instead of Varzhava?

So, i don't much care what Webster's says, because if they say it's a short i, then they're as guilty of triggering my pet peeve as they could be. It's prounounced eee-TAL-ya. (By the way, my caps in the earlier post were for emphasis not for accenting. My fault for causing the confusion.)
The Professor

[gpandas]

30. i understand your pet peeve...

as i often hear people in ohio say ravanna instead of ravenna, or leye-ma instead of lee-ma for two ohio cities. should lima beans be pronounced leema beans? to me, the purpose of language is to communicate with others who speak the same language, and pronunciation and usage are determined by the people who speak that language and recorded in a dictionary so we will all be on the same page. as i said before, webster agrees with eee-tal-ya but not with eee-tal-yen, or eee-tal-eee. i can't think of an english word that uses eee as a form of i. what about mosco or moscow? i love the different nuances of words, but am limited to english only, and will continue to use my dictionary to verify meaning and pronunciation.

[ProfessorGAC]

31. Actually, It Should Be Muskva

There isn't even a "w" in the cyrillic alphabet. (I studied Russian in both high school and undergrad.)

Sorry, but i'm not one to excuse the laziness of american english (and i am obviously an english speaking american too, but i can speak and read in italian) because Webster's prints it. Webster's reports the facts of american english. That doesn't provide any value judgment on the merits of the pronunciations. Merely the frequency and acceptance of use. But, i do understand your POV.

BTW: Some examples of 'i' pronounced as a long 'e':

Carbonium: The positively charged ionic form of an organic carbon atom as an intermediate to a organic chemical reaction.

Iatotropic: A form of cure that is as bad or worse than the disease. The first 'i' is pronounced as an 'eee'.

Hawaii: Pronouncing the final 'i' as an 'eee'. Maybe not fair because not technically an English word.

Floridian: The second 'i' is pronounced as an 'eee'. Same as in Bostonian, or Washingtonian, Philadelphian, Pennsylvanian, etc.

See? There's lots of examples.
The Professor

[gpandas]

35. sure are, but i could not think of them! n/t

[Misunderestimator]

28. Wrong.... eee-TALL-ians

And anglicized i-TAL-ians

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Read The Other Posts

I was capitalizing for emphasis not accent. The whole thread is focusing on the EEE vs. EYE issue. We all know the accent is on the second syllable, for goodness sake.

That being said, when the long "I" is used, it ends up double accenting the word. Think about it. When people use the long "I" form, it ends up being pronounced EYE-TAL-ian. When the short "i" or eee sound is used, it's a clearer accent on the "tal".

But, i wasn't wrong about this. I just created confusion by my use of caps.
The Professor

[Misunderestimator]

37. Ok... got it. :)

[DemOverseas]

18. Italian alphabet

I in Italy is pronounced like an E in the States. So go for e-talean.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. There Is No Such Country As Eye-Taly

It's EEtaly.

Besides, i call them neither. Being one of them, i call us wops. Used to really tick off my grandfather. Probably why i did it.
The Professor

[Donkeyboy75]

33. Lucky.

[Bombtrack]

36. Eye-talian because that's how Space Ghost says it