OT: Let's get this settled NOW ...

[Wonkster]

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ESPN announcers have recently taken to pronouncing the name of one of the universities in New Haven as kwin-uh-PEE-ack.

WTF?

I grew up in Connecticut and have lived in Fairfield County for the last 30 years continuously. I have never heard this pronunciation before. Not once. It's given as KWIN-uh-pee-ack in Wikipedia, the only way I've heard it up til now.

Yes, I know that Wikipedia is not error-free and I understand how it works, but I'm laying my money on them in this matter.

Does anyone here know how this Bristolese regional variant pronunciation got started? Is it an inside joke at ESPN?

 

[Icebear]

Growing up right outside NH in Branford and going to school in NH at SCSC most locals when I grew up said Kwin-nee-pee-ack, very quickly and compressed. Not uh. It was funny listening to political commentators trying to sort it out last year. Real butcherings.

Funniest one was Kwi-nip-I-ac.

 

[EricLA]

You would think ESPN would check with the university to find out the pronunciation of the school!

 

[pap49cba]

Born & raised in CT. The ONLY pronunciation I have ever heard is KWIN-uh-pee-ack.

 

[RadyLady]

Born & raised in CT. The ONLY pronunciation I have ever heard is KWIN-uh-pee-ack.

same here. My little sister attended the school for one year, and that is how she pronounced it.

 

[flatcoatmom]

I grew up in Hamden - around the corner from Quinnipiac's original campus (before it moved to where it is now) and then and ever since it's been QUIN-i-pee-ack. I teach there now, and a significant number of my faculty colleagues put the emphasis on the PEE, and some put the emphasis on NIP. Those both drive me crazy. I have no idea where either one came from, but they are both wrong. Not that anyone listens to me.

 

[tomcat]

I have heard it said he way you all are saying it for years, but I grew up in Springfield, where one of my best friends was from New Haven, and he specifically said the emphasis was on the PEE, even though it sounded funny to say. The only thing I know for absolute certain is that the emphasis is not on the NIP.

For the record, the University's website says it is said with the emphasis on the first syllable.

 

[Wonkster]

... For the record, the University's website says it is said with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Ah, yes, I'm confident that's right, but you never know. A few years back Gonzaga was getting national attention for the first time and we had announcers saying gun-ZAY-guh and gun-ZAG-uh. The historical figure for whom the school was named Aloysius Gonzaga (Luigi Gonzaga), an Italian aristocrat who joined the Jesuit Order and died from disease while caring for the poor.

Fairfield University honors him with its Gonzaga Hall (pronounced gun-ZAH-guh), according to a Fairfield grad I know with 800 on the English College Boards.

So how did the President of Gonzaga advise the press to pronounce his school? That's right - gun-ZAG-uh.

'Doh!

 

[msf22b]

And the correct answer is:

It's an Indian name…ask them.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Up in Wallingford I grew up with a slight variant as KWIN-neh-pee-ack, though I also occasionally heard Kwin-NIP-pee-ack, but I never heard Kwin-uh-PEE-ack. Must be a Midwestern variant, and obviously the no. 2 option.

 

[barbrox]

The famous bridge over the famous river in New Haven on I-95 is also Qwin-uh-pee-ac (emphasis on Quin...and frequently shortened to Q- Bridge. Just thought I would throw that in.

 

[Icebear]

The famous bridge over the famous river in New Haven on I-95 is also Qwin-uh-pee-ac (emphasis on Quin...and frequently shortened to Q- Bridge. Just thought I would throw that in.

Not among my people. Its Quinny-pee-ack Bridge. The first two syllables are compressed very tightly together. The rest of the Totoket tribe agree.

 

[JimGunther]

We're taking our diction cues from the fellers on ESPN?
KWIN is the proper way (and the mascot is The Brave )