It's AbbotsFORD not AbbotsFERD

[gwp]

The then Village of AbbotsFORD was named after Henry Abbott, General Superintendent of the Pacific Division of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the brother of Sir John Abbott, Prime Minister of Canada.

It was at Abbott's initiative that the CPR came into the village that was laid out by J.C. McClure in 1889. It was necessary that the CPR cross the Fraser River at Mission and thereby "forded" the river.

Yet, so many B.C. broadcasters fail to pronounce AbbotsFORD correctly. I doubt any of them drive a FERD.

[Jack Bennest]

let me respond by saying I was trained under the iron fist of gwp and yes it is
ABBOTT's Ford as in the FORD of mr. abbott

but in defence of those saying abbottsferd - it's the british way of saying a lot of
place names with the EM pa thise on the first part of the name and a sloughing off
on the latter part.

There are also situations like Low heed and Law heed and Lough heed that befuddle
the world

and lets not get into the native pro nounce of T'wassen or was that tSa wwassen

[Heard It On The X]

My sources tell me the only people who say AbbotsFORD are those who worked for Fraser Valley Broadcasters Ltd. The people actually FROM there say AbbotsFERD. As for Tsawwassen, again people FROM there say TWA-sen, while politically correct revisionists confuse the fact the name was derived from the local native band and pronounce it the other way.

[HST]

Having worked for Fraser Valley Broadcasters back in the day, I can vouch for the fact AbbotsFORD was drilled into us. However, a broadcaster friend of mine who grew up in the community (and also worked for said company) tells me the AbbotsFORD pronounciation was trumped up by a certain FVB part owner/manager. Locals never really called it that.

As for Tsawwassen, I spent my entire youth there from the crib to past my 18th birthday. I was a member of Tsawwassen Youth Soccer, Tsawwassen Boy Scouts, attended Tsawwassen Junior Secondary (most of the time) and most of my family still lives there. Those of us from the community (minus some substitute teachers and self-styled historians) have always called it tah-WAH-sen. Even my friends from the reserve call it tah-WAH-sen.

[tuned]

I thought the locals just call it abby.

[pamstevens]

Rilly?

I guess that's prolly true.

Pardon me while I take the Gag-lardi exit off the freeway....I need to get to New West minister!

If it's worth saying...it's worth saying right.

[Glen Livingstone]

Not to mention Ka-quitlam.

I agree with Pam, if you're a broadcaster make a serious attempt to pronounce words correctly - otherwise what the hell are you doing in the business?

I hear things on the air now that wouldn't have been tolerated twenty years ago. But those were the days when radio station program directors concerned themselves with such things - speaking coherently seems to have fallen a few steps down the ladder.

[gwp]

My sources tell me the only people who say AbbotsFORD are those who worked for Fraser Valley Broadcasters Ltd.? The people actually FROM there say AbbotsFERD.

.
They likely do now, because they haven't heard the correct pronounciation. English being a living language changes over time and ... sigh ... AbbotsFERD lives.
<!--QuoteBegin-HST+--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (HST)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->However, a broadcaster friend of mine who grew up in the community (and also worked for said company) tells me the AbbotsFORD pronounciation was trumped up by a certain FVB part owner/manager. Locals never really called it that.[/quote]
Where do these urban legends start? The Mayor, of Abbotsford would walk from the Village Hall over to the Park Hotel studio to tell a new announcer to pronounce it properly..FORD.

[butch]

gwp - I think you have made your point on pronunciation but how about the fine art of 'spellin'?

In your initial post:

you misspelled Abbott as Abbot
you misspelled brother as borther
you misspelled division as divison
you misspelled initiative as inititive

Now who is counting?

What is good for the goose is good for the gander. These are all basic english skills learned in the first 7 years of education.

Now back to the sandbar - the weather is improving - maybe time for a visit to the
the new bridge site.

[kat]

Wow .. you mean RW now has the spelling police too?

Ogopogo - Are you ronrob in disguise?

BTW Abby's always been AbbotsFORD in my books and I never worked at Fraser Valley Radio. I probably would have, but I refused to move out there and be a part of the community just so I could get a paycheque from them.

Speaking of Abby, in the last few years I read a report as to why it has become such a cesspool. It seems they blame it on the fact that there is now 2 or 3 prisons in the area. Dad's in jail, mom and the kids are on welfare living closeby so they can visit dad on Sundays etc. The kids follow in dad's footsteps, mom gets a part time boyfrind etc etc

Surrey looks like paradise now compared to Abby.

[gwp]

gwp - I think you have made your point on pronunciation but how about the fine art of 'spellin'?

In your initial post:

you misspelled Abbott as Abbot
you misspelled brother as borther
you misspelled division as divison
you misspelled initiative as inititive

Now who is counting?

What is good for the goose is good for the gander. These are all basic english skills learned in the first 7 years of education.

Now back to the sandbar - the weather is improving - maybe time for a visit to the
the new bridge site.

Actually you critique the wrong skill. Three of the four errors are sloppy keyboarding and nothing to do with spelling skills . The other was sloppy attention. Then there is sloppy or no proof reading. However ......

This is radio after all. It requires pronounciation ... not spel-ing

[johnsykes]

Someone please tell VanMan to go take a running jump at himself! Thank you!

As much as he'd like me to, I won't get drawn into his game anymore. He's an ass. End of subject.



As we're discussing pronouncing cities, words etc.......the biggest bugaboo I hear is
Schwartz Bay.......it's Swartz....you know...Swa....not Schwa....

As a sportscaster I cringed every time I heard virtually every other caster in the market here call Richard Brodeur...Brodure.....as they still do to this day with Martin Brodeur of the N.J. Devils.....sorry fellas...it's Bro-derr. Several other examples could be given....remember Pit Martin.....Richard Martin......its Martang....soft g. Anyone disputes that.....why did you call him Rocket Richar (soft d) or Henri Richar (soft d).....those blokes were French Canadians.....call them all one way or the other.

Over to you experts.

[cart_machine]

Yet, so many B.C. broadcasters fail to pronounce AbbotsFORD correctly. I doubt any of them drive a FERD.

I worked with newsman Gerry Gifford, and he didn't pronounce his name Gif Ford. If he weren't dead, you could correct him on pronouncing his own name.

cArtie.