Pronunciations

Davis is a multi-cultural city, with plenty of words you probably can't pronounce. Can you even count the times you've embarrassed yourself by mispronouncing an unfamiliar food, street, or name? This page intends to list words commonly mispronounced in Davis. You are encouraged to add a new word to the list if you want to know its correct pronunciation.

• Covell - "CO-vull" not "co-VELL" (but "co-VELL" is colloquially far more common)
• Ghirardelli - "Gear-a-deli" not "Jeer-a-deli" not "Gear-arr-deli", a San Francisco based chocolatier
• Gnocci - "nyo-key", an Italian potato based pasta
• Lodi - "low-die", a nearby city
• Nguyen - "noo-win" or "win" (actual Vietnamese pronunciation ŋʷĩəŋ) a common Vietnamese name
• Oeste - "oh-stee" not the Spanish pronunciation. The street is named after a former Fire Chief.
• Pancit - "pahn-SIT" and "pahn-SEET," a Pilipino noodle dish available at Sugar and Spice
• Pho - "phuh" rather than "phoe," a Vietnamese soup
• Regan - "ray-gin" not "ree-gin"
• Sproul - "sprowl" (rhymes with "owl"), according to a comment on the Sproul Hall page
• Wiki - "whick-E" is the preferred pronunciation (not "wee-kee", though that may be more accurate to historical Hawaiian roots).

I would merge this with the Glossary, but that page seems to consist mostly of obscure slang terms of dubious usage. Ideas? —CraigBrozinsky

2006-07-19 14:00:22   The pronunciation of Covell should be co-VELL. I've never heard the pronunciation CO-vull. The point of this page, so far as I can make out, is to learn how to pronounce Davis-specific words so that you're understood by other Davis residents. Proper or not, Covell is pronounced co-VELL in Davis. If you go around saying CO-vull, people will look at you funny and you'll feel silly. —KaiTing

• Sounds like it was yet another Cowell/Covell mix-up! —DukeMcAdow

2006-07-19 14:44:47   How is "Chiles" pronounced properly? Most everyone says "chi-ells" but wouldn't it actually make more sense for it to be "chee-les"? —PhilipNeustrom

2013-12-11 21:15:23   Ah, this is helpful, thanks! Never knew it was "Whick-E" as in "wicked"; I surely would have said: "wee-kee" as in "weakie". :-) —ConstantiaOomen