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[Slick]

So hey I was just thinking about this tonight, but I have known a bunch of Tania/yas in my time. There was a time when the ladies I was involved with or interested in where named Sonia then Tanya then Dunja which all kind of sound a little the same (especially because I speak swiftly and drop some consonants sometimes) and my roommate and good friend complained about this being confusing for him (but, like, this is the guy who dated three Michelles and was good friends with another Michelle so whatever). But that is not the point I want to get to tonight!
What I was wondering was, how do Tanyas react to Tanias and vice versa? My friend Tanya hates when people misspell her name as 'Tania' because most of the Tanias she's known are kind of ditzy, while over on the complementary side, my good friend Andrew's girlfriend Tania (who is a friend of mine, now that I think of it!) does not like to be confused for a Tanya because she has had bad experiences with Tanyas! Clearly there are good Tanyas and Tanias, but I was wondering what our favorite Tania thought about Tanyas (or Dunjas or Sonias I guess for that matter) and whether or not anyone had any prejudices towards yas or ias either way?

[The Seldom Killer]

I understand the first rule of Tanyas is they don't talk about Tanias.

[Sorflakne]

Is Tania even the same as Tanya?  I can't see how you can pronounce them the same way; I want to say it 'Ta-knee-a" for Tania and 'Tan-ya' for Tanya, with both names pronouncing the 'a' as it's long-almost-an-O sound (like in 'gone').

[Inlander]

Clearly there are good Tanyas and Tanias

Hey now, I don't see anyone starting a band called the Be Good Tanias.

[Lunchbox]

Note that in Australia, no matter how Tania is spelt, it is ALWAYS pronounced 'TAN-yar' and not 'TARN-ee-yar.' Same for Megan, it will be pronounced 'MEE-gan' even if you specify that um, excuse me, it's actually 'MAY-gan.'

Anyway - this is the same as my prejudice between Alison, Allison and Alyson. Obviously Alison is the best and most pure form of the name, even if I do go by Ally (which again is confusing because it should be spelt Ali but when I do that it invariably gets pronounced as Ah-LEE, the boy's name). Then I guess this pronunciation could be confused between Ally (as in friend) and Alley (as in laneway).

It's just a lot easier to go by Lunchy, really.

[richlitt]

I'm fairly certain that tania and tanya are the same name. One is spelled with a glide, is all. In normal speech, there shouldn't be a pronunciation difference between them - unless I'm wrong?

[Jace]

even if I do go by Ally (which again is confusing because it should be spelt Ali but when I do that I invariably become a boxing legend).

[Tom]

What is a "may gun"?

[Barmymoo]

My future career in circus awaits me.

[Lines]

I have the same problems with people spelling my name as Lindsay. Obviously spelling it with an E is the best and only way.

[bainidhe_dub]

Note that in Australia, no matter how Tania is spelt, it is ALWAYS pronounced 'TAN-yar' and not 'TARN-ee-yar.' Same for Megan, it will be pronounced 'MEE-gan' even if you specify that um, excuse me, it's actually 'MAY-gan.'

Hunh. So far as I ever hear it, the name Megan/Meghan/Meaghan/Meagan is pronounced MEG-in (except that one girl who actually spelled it Meegan). I have not met a MEG-in who got upset about her name being misspelled, maybe because they're all from the same root and there are several accepted spellings?

I have encountered that misspelling hostility with Sara/Sarah and Brittany/Britney. The Brittanys can be explained by Britney Spears, of course, but I don't know about Sara(h).

[Barmymoo]

I've known Sarahs whose name was pronounced without the h, and Saras whose name was pronounced with it. Basically people are going to pronounce their name how they feel, no matter what the spelling is.

I'd have thought that my name would be one of the easiest names ever, considering that it's not just a name but also a month, and a verb, but I still get Mae, Mai, Amy etc...

[Barmymoo]

Tommy, I find it quite funny when you do this third-person split-personality thing when talking about your girlfriend Tania, as if she were not the "our favourite Tania" referred to in the OP.

HOWEVER. I chose to pronounce Tania as Tann-ya so I guess it is better if we pretend that we're not talking about the same person.

[Boro_Bandito]

My friends pyscho girlfriend is named Tanya, and she pronounces it like the word tan, as if you were going tanning. She is an awful person, so clearly the other way is the best way to pronounce it.

[Inlander]

Fuck it, from now on I'm just going to pronounce the name Tania/Tanya to rhyme with the name Shania.

[Barmymoo]

How do you pronounce Shania? I mean, I pronounce it Shan-yar but I bet some people say Shar-niar and some people say Shan-iya. Names are serious business (let's not even get started on my brother, who is called Xander).

[squawk]

people with accents that are not mine who are writing things that end with R is confusing all the hecks out of me

[Inlander]

Actually May you raise a good point, maybe her name really was meant to be Shan-ya Twain.

Okay fine this is all too confusing, I'm Australian so from now on you're all Tazza.

[redglasscurls]

Seconding the R thing. Where in the world do you pull an "r" sound out of S-h-a-n-i-a?

[bainidhe_dub]

I can't even figure out how to say it in two syllables. Shuh-nie-yah.

[snalin]

Yeah but not everybody knows who I am/who she is. It's a big assumption that everybody who comes to this forum knows all about our little soap operas.

Yeah, this has been such an established fact that you were a couple here that it's never mentioned ever. You mentioned it in a sentence just casually in the photo thread or something a while ago and I had no idea about it before that.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is thanks for making the stuff you write understandable for the forumers who doesn't attend the meetups/doesn't hang out in meebo.


EDIT: the first place I heard the name Tania/Tanya pronounced were in the red alert games, so it always sounds Russian to my inner ear.

[Slick]

The Rs are because that is the peculiar way they pronounce things where they are from. That pronunciation leads in to one of my favorite jokes, wherein you ask someone 'what do you call a dear that can't see?' and they confusedly reply 'No idea' (no idear).

[tania]

i work for a tanya and we get on pretty well, although it can get really confusing when the shop gets busy and people just start shouting names all over the place at random. they're pronounced slightly differently but it's a little harder to hear from a distance or in a busy shop. we're still trying to work out a better system for this.

personally i don't really care how you pronounce my name but don't think that if you even dare spell it with a "y" instead of an "i" i won't find you and come over and cut you on the face because that is definitely fucking possible

[tania]

Yeah, this has been such an established fact that you were a couple here that it's never mentioned ever. You mentioned it in a sentence just casually in the photo thread or something a while ago and I had no idea about it before that.

to be fair we did keep it on the down low for a while because we decided we didn't want to risk complications from drama/gossip (not to accuse anyone here, it's just always a reasonable risk when you have all the same friends and they're also all on the same internet) and neither of us were really sure how serious it was actually going to end up being for quite a while, what with the fact that it's been a long distance relationship and basically a fucking marathon for pretty much the entire time. now that it's been like a hundred years and one of us is actually moving to another country it seems pretty silly to do anything else other than just be open about it so there you go.

[Zingoleb]

I've known Sarahs whose name was pronounced without the h, and Saras whose name was pronounced with it. Basically people are going to pronounce their name how they feel, no matter what the spelling is.

I'd have thought that my name would be one of the easiest names ever, considering that it's not just a name but also a month, and a verb, but I still get Mae, Mai, Amy etc...

people pronounce the 'h' in Sarah? mind blown

[pwhodges]

I think she means the two different pronunciations of Sara (Sah-ra) and Sarah (Sair-a) indicated by the h, not that the h is actually sounded.

[David_Dovey]

Yeah sorry tania I'm probably gonna always pronounce yr name TAN-ya because saying it with a long "ah" is weird and sounds kind of pretentious to me

[JimmyJazz]

Only solution; an all-out war between every Tanya and Tania on Earth

Commence the bloodshed

[calenlass]

Titania is pronounced "tih-TAH-nyuh", therefore Tania is "TAH-nyuh", both with rounded A sounds. So, like Russian, I guess.

I know a girl named Lara and her boyfriend can't hear the difference between LAH-ruh and LAW-ruh (Laura) and it drives her crazy. He also probably cannot tell the difference between Sara and Sarah.


I always feel like Katy and Catie and Caty and Kadie and Kady and Cady are weird, and like the last two are misspellings of Caddy, but they are different people and not me and so their name is different and it's got nothing to do with me so whatever. I dunno where the Ds came from, but it's a diminuitive of Kate, which is short for Katherine/Catherine/Kathryn/whatever, so the only people who are actually wrong are the people who think it can be short for Catelin/Katelyn/Caitlin.

[pwhodges]

My daughter Catherine uses Kit for short. 

And I don't pronounce Titania the same as you either, nor the same as Tania.  Sorry 'n all.

[valley_parade]

people with accents that are not mine who are writing things that end with R is confusing all the hecks out of me

I'm from Massachusetts and those Aussies confuse me with their Rs where they shouldn't be.

[Alex C]

I never understood why people get so pissed about someone spelling their name wrong. People spell and pronounce my name wrong constantly.

[Slick]

I worked with a place with three Tatianas one time! One of them went by Tania because there were two Tatianas and then our boss hired a third Tatiana for the team which was basically hilarious because since she was hired to replace the guy who changed to a development team, the QA department was three Tatianas and three co-ops.
They were all Rusian, and the one that went by Tanya gave me a ride home from work one day when we had to go late. I didn't talk with her much regularly because her English was not the best but she was really impressed that I was a photographer, musician, baker, and mathematician. She thought it was really impressive that I could play piano and take nice pictures with my nice old camera, I thought it was pretty normal to be able to do these things. In retrospect, it was kind of ridiculous of me to take for granted that anyone who wants to play piano has a piano and anyone who wants to take photos buys a camera. I mean, she worked hard to get a computer degree in Russia and then moved with her husband to a new country to try and get ahead in life, and here I was, taking my $19/hour job for granted and planning my escape from working on computers to go follow my dreams or something where I've just been offered $11/hour four years later.

In other news, I talk a lot these days. I don't have many good conversations but I'm constantly relating my stories on life and what I feel I've learned. Thinking is hard and it is so much easier much easier to hear a cue for one of my stories and just go into a five minute monologue regardless of what was happening!

[nufan]

My name is Ed. I feel so boring.

[Zingoleb]

That's a terrible name!

[Slick]

So wait which part of that is your family name and which parts are the middle name?
I think I feel so is a pretty sweet middle name, gives you lots of options to switch things around and make good jokes, but if your family name is so boring that's not quite so useful.

[nufan]

So wait which part of that is your family name and which parts are the middle name?
I think I feel so is a pretty sweet middle name, gives you lots of options to switch things around and make good jokes, but if your family name is so boring that's not quite so useful.

It's more the full stop in the middle that gets me - primary school was the worst.

[BlakeJustBlake]

Either way, Tania's a bitch.

[DonInKansas]

I have the same problems with people spelling my name as Lindsay. Obviously spelling it with an E is the best and only way.

At least you've got a prayer.  My wife's is spelled Lyndsay.

[SirJuggles]

Oh lord I think we need to agree on some form of phonetic alphabet up in here. People are trying to spell things how they sound and it is hurting my head 

[Akima]

people with accents that are not mine who are writing things that end with R is confusing all the hecks out of me

In Australia, most people have what are known as "non-rhotic" accents (yes, my parents sent me to elocution lessons). The letter R at the end of words is usually silent, so centre = "senta", brighter = "bryta", and the words "panda" and "pander" have the same pronunciation. I would pronounce Tania as "Tan-ya" with "Tan" rhyming with fan, unless the person in question expressed another preference. Disclaimer: I am not a native English-speaker.

Oh lord I think we need to agree on some form of phonetic alphabet up in here. People are trying to spell things how they sound and it is hurting my head  

There is the IPA but that would probably make our heads hurt worse.

[Eris]

That is how I pronounce those words too, and I am a native english speaker. We also have broad vowel sounds and some softer consonants in our accents. Brighter would have almost a d sound rather than the harder t. Potato sounds more like Potaydoe. I guess I would pronounce Katie  more like Kaydee, but wouldn't spell it that way.


Also, I love the IPA and want to use it all the time. I miss studying linguistics

[Scandanavian War Machine]

i'd love to introduce myself to some of you in person and count how many times you say "what?" after i say my name

i always thought i spoke pretty well, but i think i've been getting lazy as i've gotten older, so whenever i tell someone my name is Danny they inevitably say "what?" at least once, usually a couple times


"danny" seems so easy to say too, i don't know what the deal is. i guess i'm just a fast-talking, backwoods mushmouth. 

[bainidhe_dub]

i'd love to introduce myself to some of you in person and count how many times you say "what?" after i say my name

i always thought i spoke pretty well, but i think i've been getting lazy as i've gotten older, so whenever i tell someone my name is Danny they inevitably say "what?" at least once, usually a couple times

"danny" seems so easy to say too, i don't know what the deal is. i guess i'm just a fast-talking, backwoods mushmouth. 

My dad (who claims to have done some research into it, while trying to prove that it's not his ears that are the problem, it's everyone else's poor enunciation) that names are the least understandable part of a person's greeting, because they are so familiar to us. So if you say, "Hi, I'm Danny," it might very well seem clear to you, since you know what you're saying, but it comes out to everyone else as "Hiyumdanee".

[calenlass]

My daughter Catherine uses Kit for short.  

And I don't pronounce Titania the same as you either, nor the same as Tania.

Kit is perfectly acceptable, and also cute! How else does one pronounce Titania? tie-TANE-ee-uh? tih-tuh-NY-uh? I once knew a Tania, a Tiana, and a Tatiana and all those A sounds were approximately the same, and I have only ever heard anyone pronounce Titania similarly.

Titania is either a name for a very fat/tall/large bosomed girl or multiple pieces of titanium.

Um?

[Eris]

How else does one pronounce Titania?

Tit-TAN-yuh like tania is TAN-yuh

Instead of Tit-TAHN-yuh and TAHN-yuh

[Eris]

Oh my. Y'all dun gone loss dem final D's.

Well we don't have a big drawl like the stereotypical southern american accent, but I don't know how to explain it. I guess you know how Lindsay Lohan's character in Mean Girls was called Cady? That is how I pronounce Katie.

[jhocking]

they're also all on the same internet

You guys should move to China.

[Lunchbox]

I'd really, really like to hear that.

[Inlander]

Presumably Tommy means he mentally puts on what an English person thinks is an Australian accent.