St. Gaudens pronunciation?

BillyKingsley

I was watching a TV show recently...I want to say Aerial America but perhaps not. In it, they showed a monument that was sculpted by Augustus St. Gaudens and they were pronouncing it as Gow-dens. Like "ow" when you stub your toe. I always read it as St. Gawe-dens, as in the "awe" you are in while admiring his work.

Which is correct?

ms70

Seems there's a lot of words over the last 10 or 15 years that make people feel so fashionable and trendy by intentionally changing the pronunciation.

One is "leisure", pronounced "lee zure". But if you're hip, it's pronounced "lez sure".

It all started way back when with Uranus being pronounced with a short "a".

Anyway, I pronounce it like you do- St. Gaw-dens.

ricko

According to this pronunciation website.....http://www.pronouncenames.com/pronounce/Augustus Saint-Gaudens - You were correct... Cheers, RickO

BillyKingsley

Thank you both. Sometimes when you just read stuff in books you don't know how it should be said. Names included.

jedm

I know what you mean... years ago I asked Ambro how to pronounce the name of that guy that made those "German silver"
three cent pieces.... what was his name? Feuchtwanger??? He obliged and told me it was: Foikt' -vhang- ger.

TommyType

When you do yer learnin' in books, (where most of our numismatic information comes from), pronunciation really is an issue!

Toss in "Fugio" as one I always mess up, even after hearing it correctly. My brain just naturally goes back to when I first read it....incorrectly.

Onastone

Awe. Don't say Ow. It's like around here on Cape Cod, Massachusetts...Scallops are pronounced Scawl-ups not Skal-ups.

astrorat

Irrespective of the pronunciation, his name is not Augustus St. Gaudens. It's Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

ricko

@Onastone....And you 'pahk the cah in the yahd' as well.... Cheers, RickO

RogerB

Approximately ---

In US English: "saint - Gaw'denz"
In French: "s'an - ga-Dan"

Onastone

The proper pronunciation is........ GOLD.......

BuffaloIronTail

They're doing that a lot these days. "Genghis Khan has become JANG-ISS instead of GANG-ISS.

When He heard how we pronounce the name now.....The Wrath of Khan became a movie.

Pete

topstuf

"Sahn Godawn" will make you an instant friend at a coin shop.
They have special prices for the pretentious.

keets

to the pronunciation of names, most of it is the fault of the United States and the insistence of our superior nature to give our interpretation, translation, to a proper name. names can't be translated. they are what they are in the language they are given from.

a good example is the Spanish name Juan --- in old school America we wanted to say it meant John. it means what it is, Juan. so it is with the OP's dilemma and I think Roger gave the best answer if the chap is actually a Frenchman, which he appears to be, born to a French father and Irish mother.

1630Boston

Interesting, I have wondered that pronunciation also, thanks all for posting and responding

JBK

@BillyKingsley said:
I was watching a TV show recently...I want to say Aerial America but perhaps not. In it, they showed a monument that was sculpted by Augustus St. Gaudens and they were pronouncing it as Gow-dens. Like "ow" when you stub your toe. I always read it as St. Gawe-dens, as in the "awe" you are in while admiring his work.

Which is correct?

I'll bet the person who pronounced it "gow" is basing that on his General Gau's chicken from the local Chinese restaurant. I have always pronounced it the other (correct) way....

Justacommeman

Try Dahlonega on for size. That gets butchered all the time

mark

BillyKingsley

@Justacommeman said:
Try Dahlonega on for size. That gets butchered all the time

mark

As a NASCAR fan that one's easy, hometown of 1988 champion Bill Elliott

BillyKingsley

@astrorat said:
Irrespective of the pronunciation, his name is not Augustus St. Gaudens. It's Augustus Saint-Gaudens.

Thank you for the correction. It's been a while since I read anything about the hobby and was going off memory. Never reliable.

ColonelJessup

There's usually a bit of dismay about this at Bray-zher family gatherings.

Coinosaurus

"Au" in French gets the long o sound. "En" is similar to "aw" in English. So it would be go-daw ("ns" will be silent, unless there is liaison involved........)

But American speakers will understand a lot better if you just pronounce it the way it is spelled. Never mind the correct French way unless you are conversing with a French speaker about U.S. $20 gold pieces. I know that happens everyday........

My favorite French speaker in the business is Bob Merrill who loves nothing better than to call "half dizmees" from the auction podium. That's almost as funny as John Kraljevich telling dirty jokes in French ("deux pretres entrent le bar.....", etc.)

The story is told that Walter Breen once used the phrase "piece de merde" (French for "POS" in forum-parlance) in a Coin World article and was thereafter banned from writing for them.

mr1931S

Years ago i got an "F" for the semester in a college lit class for refusing to say Don "jewan", like the professor wanted us students to pronounce the legendary character's name, instead of [ˌdän ˈ(h)wän] which,of course, is the correct pronunciation. i could be stubborn like that.

"gawdenz" is the way I've always said it so flunk me, i'm not changing the way i say Gaudens.