Democratic Decision on Pronunciation of Coues

[Big Tub]

8:1 margin ==> WOW is that a landslide so far. Randy Babb take that!

[Maverick351]

His name was pronounced Cows just like the actual pronunciation of Prescott is Prescott not preskit but the guy both are named after means nothing if no one chooses to say it correctly. I personally think it's hilarious. if you go somewhere and someone pronounces your name incorrectly you always correct them the but when we pronounce someone else's name incorrectly its okay

[elkaholic]

I'm just glad this is one the least, of any of my things I have to worry about

[billrquimby]

"His name was pronounced Cows just like the actual pronunciation of Prescott is Prescott not preskit but the guy both are named after means nothing if no one chooses to say it correctly. I personally think it's hilarious. if you go somewhere and someone pronounces your name incorrectly you always correct them the but when we pronounce someone else's name incorrectly its okay "

 

Maverick: Is there something written somewhere that says how Elliott Coues pronounced his name?"

 

Bill Quimby

[billrquimby]

"His name was pronounced Cows just like the actual pronunciation of Prescott is Prescott not preskit but the guy both are named after means nothing if no one chooses to say it correctly. I personally think it's hilarious. if you go somewhere and someone pronounces your name incorrectly you always correct them the but when we pronounce someone else's name incorrectly its okay "

 

Maverick: Is there something written somewhere that says how Elliott Coues pronounced his name?"

 

Bill Quimby

[AverageJoe]

Like someone posted on a different thread. Elliot Coues did not know how to pronounce his own name correctly. What an idiot

[billrquimby]

I found thie following when I searched for the origin and proper pronunciation of the name Coues. To me, it says "Cooz" is more correct than "Cows." The corruption the author mentions easily could have gone the other way. (The quote below is from a very early 20th century review of one of Elliott Coues' papers on birds.)

Bill Quimby

"It's too easy to make fun of Coues's theosophical besottedness, but the Check List is full of wonderful insights and facts available nowhere else, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in birds, words, and birdwords. It is also, now that no living soul has had the advantage of actually speaking with him, the authoritative source for the pronunciation of its author's name. In 1880, Robert Ridgway described a specimen of Rock Sandpiper as Arquetella couesi, and the human possessor of the patronym tells us in a footnote that:

"The name of this person is Norman-French, and is still not infrequently found in the north of France, pronounced in two syllables, with the grave accent on the last : Cou-ès — Coo-ayz. On the removal of his ancestors to the Isle of Wight, the pronunciation naturally became corrupted into

Cowz

. ... The meaning of the word is unknown to us."

[Maverick351]

http://www.knowhunting.com/article.php?id=204

 

http://www.westernwhitetail.com/whitetail/coues-whitetail/

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Coues

 

pretty simple to find if you have google. it comes down to simple slang and how people speak. most have learned one way and will continue to say it that way even if its incorrect. most people pronounce words how they feel they should sound rather then how they should be. either way is fine because most people are stuck saying it one way. I just choose to say it how it should be and let them say it how they wish

[AverageJoe]

http://www.knowhunting.com/article.php?id=204

 

http://www.westernwhitetail.com/whitetail/coues-whitetail/

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliot_Coues

 

pretty simple to find if you have google. it comes down to simple slang and how people speak. most have learned one way and will continue to say it that way even if its incorrect. most people pronounce words how they feel they should sound rather then how they should be. either way is fine because most people are stuck saying it one way. I just choose to say it how it should be and let them say it how they wish

As i do the same...cooz

[wildwoody]

the way i understand it the man who named them was prononced cows but peolpe said it sounds ugly, i just like eating them. who cares why dont we rename mulies CARP

[Maverick351]

Avg joe I don't say it cooz

[AverageJoe]

Avg joe I don't say it cooz

Well then you are saying it wrong

[Maverick351]

That's why they have difference in opinion sir. Do you pronounce your name Jo or joey?

[Edge]

Ya'll wrong, there should've been a third and correct choice in the poll. It's pronounced Coo as in Cuckoo. Like all silly French words, the last syllable is silent.

[JLW]

if it's pronounced cows maybe people got tired of explaining to them it's not a moo cow.

when you have heard cooz ever since you remember cows sounds stupid.... no disrespect to the guy who documented it but I'm sure the natives had a name for it and it was roughly translated to GREY GHOST!

 

 

James