The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-22
HOW TO PRONOUNCE THEM.
Names That Puzzle Our lsOys i'm the
PHILIPPINES.

Manila Letter in Chicago Record.
The fact that the soldiers and sailors out
here are struggling with the pronunciation
of Philippine names suggests that possibly
few examples will interest Americans who
are reading up on our newly-acqu1red pos
sessions in the East Indies There are hum
dreds Of men here who are struggling with
the name "Cavite." although they have been
here several weeks. A prominent, oflceT
calls it Cavity, as If it were a hole, and
those who stick to Ca-veet are numbered
by the hundreds. Occasionally man is
found who, refers with familiarity TO the
place as Cavity But the real way, the
way the old settlers pronounce it, is kay
Veety," with the accent on the Yeet Cor
regidor. the island at the entrance to the
bay, which played a star part in the ac-
counts of the battle in May, is another hard
one A good many dodge it and refer to It
as that island out at the end of the bay.
But others sail in boldly. and call it Ker-
ridgey-dor. Kor-redg -a-dor is a favorite,
but the Spanish way is Kor-reck-i-dor, with
the ''reck" softened q little bit as II you
started to say ''reck' but quit on second
The Spanish say Philippines as if the last
syllable were pronounced poems" but the
English call it pines" Mariveles does not
rhyme with steals" but with ''fellies," and
Malacanan, the suburb where the governor
general lived in Manila, sounds like Mala-
doesn't rhyme with "boozin'." Linganyan
is pronounced as if it were rhyming with
'sighin'." Bolinao, where the cape is, and
for which the admirals fleet sailed when it
left China last April, is Bolinow, like how
beast of burden here, ends. the same way
that is, Carlow. Callao, the captured gun
beat, whose captain hadn't been reading the
''extras'' and didn't know war had been de-
cared, sounds as if 1t were spelled
Cal,yow, the, Cal rhyming 60 with
Mindanao belongs to the same class. lust
as if 1t had always been spelled "MindenoW
and there had never been an 40 to it
islands that are queer in the way they spell
their names Negroes" the great sugar
isanG, is easy, the one pronouncing it keep
ing in mind the simple fact that the me" is
spoken as if it were may" Panay, the
home of hard words to pronounce, is called
Pa nigh, with the accent on the nigh
Leyte is "Lay-ty," and Guimaras is Gim
er-as. with the accent on the end Blu
tuan, in Mindanao, where the gold comes
from, is very much disguised. Little would
one think that in everyday life in these
parts it is called "Boo-too-an with the
cent on the too" Ilgan, also in Mindanao,
is Ilegan, strongly suggesting bad health
Why such a name was selected is hard to
imagine, when there are such charming
names as Roselawn KeniWorth, Bellevue
and Englewood to choose from. 1t was evil
IDENTIFY named by q person devoid of imagin
alton and ingenuity, and who was further
afflicted with the misfortune of suffering.
Camarines is Cammar-eenies. and Albay is
"Al-buy," the latter suggesting request
made to a man named Al.
Malate and Masbate are in the same
class, the former being Malatty, and the
latter Massbatty: Antique, one of the prov
u1cGS OF Ranay,. IS CalleU 'AnUcky, ana II
was appropriate that in that particular
place the insurgents should play such havoc
with the gallant Castilian host of two hum
dred men who sailed forth to stay their
progress.
Benguet, in Luzon, is just plain Benget,
evidently the friendly adrnonition of a
proud Tagala father who objected to the
young man sitting on the front porch too
late with his daughter. Bayambang is By
un1-bang, very charming name indeed
Tagalas and Vasayas, the two great tribes
Of the Philippines, are Tag-ollas and Viss-
eye-us.
The great volcano of Taal, in Bantanges,
is called Towel and the big lake in Luzon
is ''Lay-goona de Buy, although it is cor
rectly written Laguna de Bay.
There are lots of names that can't be
pronounced, and should be changed to
Deweyville, Schleyborough and SIMPSONS
Rest, or other catchy names. Let the Span
iards and natives wrestle with name like
Schleyborough for a while and they'll be
sorry scr they picked out such names for the
ambayang.