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Tuesday, 04 September 2018

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I believe that, early on, Nippon Kogaku was sued by Zeiss over the use of the name Nikon for its cameras, because they (Zeiss) though that it was too close to Ikon, which may well have been the intent. As a result the cameras were, for a time, sold without the Nikon name in Europe. (I think that the name Nikkor may have been used, but I can't put my finger on that detail).

Is Ikon ever pronounced "Ickon" or "Eyekon"?

David

I’m not actually in Scotland but I’m close enough to hear then chanting FOO-JEE!

Eamon, LOL, well done.

Don't know how Scots pronounce Nikon, but we do know how they pronounce "eleven" in an elevator. Wrong! ;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMS2VnDveP8

When I was working on archeological digs in Israel, we could get only one English-language television station, and during the Tour de France, the tour was the only thing on. The commentator was some Scottish guy, and when things got exciting, he'd start shouting in the Scots version of English, which nobody understood, except, maybe, another Scot -- but we didn't have nay of those on the digs. So I know all about bicycle racing except the exciting parts.

Oh no - mystery solved? What fun is that? Or perhaps the larger picture is that of the world against Scotland! I once worked an event of Scottish games and fantastic bagpipe playing and was near many participants and rarely could understand a word.

I really don't care how you pronounce Nikon, however this column was worth reading just for introducing me to the word portmanteau!

Popular Photography published a list of camera company pronunciations back in the 1970's. I wonder how they listed it at the time. The most controversial at the time was "Minolta" (or the most tongue-in-cheek).

LOL

Would love to hear an Austroylian say it. NOY-cun, perhaps?

I wonder if Eamon has ever heard of the terms "honne" and "tatemae"...

And what about "Zee" vs "Zed"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7Yp2L6c2KM

“If it’s nae Scottish, it’s craaaap!”

I'm Scottish, born and bred! Sadly I will be of no use in providing a sound file as I am cursed by having almost no accent.

No accent to a British ear that is.

For a few years while I was working as a commercial photographer I got in with a client who had Language schools as clients. We had many days working together, and we got into a habit it of getting the people I was photographing to guess where I came from. It was a great ice breaker and gave everyone a laugh when they found out I should speak with the accent of Billy Connoly. That was until the day we came up against a native German speaker who was teaching at a school. She said please just talk to me for a bit. She listened, though for a moment and said "The structure of your language points to you coming from the West of Scotland"

I was gobsmacked, and to this day I am still not sure how she managed to pinpoint my home, when no British person can!

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