Does this bug anyone else? (1 Viewer)

[Jeff_Standley]

I worked at Circuit City for 7 years and heard it all the time and it drove me crazy. I dont know why since it is so insignificant that it should not bother me, but its one of those little things.

The pronunciation of the word Wega or Vega.
The word is pronounced Vega yet everyone that came in would say Wega.
Sony's website had a little note at the top of the website when the Wega's first came out and if you rolled over the logo it would pop and say "pronounced Vay-Guh".
Even the commercial pronounces it Vega. Yet people still come in and say Wega. The logo is what messes people up, it is a double v ( W ) one is shadowed behind the other to give people the impression that it is Wega. I just hated to hear people say Wega everytime it just sounded rediculous to me.
Like somebody saying Oregon (Or Gone) not from Oregon or neighboring states. (It is Ory-Gun)

I know this is a rediculous topic but, what else would we talk about here. LOL.

 

[DaveF]

I called it "Wega" because it was spelled "Wega". Sony would have spelled it "Vega" if they wanted it spoken "Vega". In American English, I can't think of a case where "W" is pronounced as "V". (Double V? Always looked like a W.)

Moreover, I didn't visit Sony's website looking for pronunciation guides. I've never seen a Sony Wega TV commercial. And I didn't see store placards with the pronunciation until the past year or so.

So now, I pronounce it "Vega", but under duress.

[edit: checked my owner's manual cover: the cover is the double, shaded V. Inside, using normal text, it's a W.)

 

[Jesse Skeen]

I pronounce "Sony" as another 4-letter word beginning with the same letter

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> Sony would have spelled it "Vega" if they wanted it spoken "Vega".

Agreed, or at least they should have.

Is this the worst thing about working at Circuit Shitty?

 

[Jeff_Standley]

Absolutely not, The list of bad things is too long to list.

 

[DaveF]

Here's a clue to budding marketing majors: if you have to provide a pronunciation guide after the product name, your branding needs a rework. :rolleyes

I had the same trouble with my Sony Clie -- how is that pronounced? No one agreed whether it was "klee" or "klee-ay".

Sony: good products, lousy names.

 

[David Williams]

I've never pronounced it the correct way, then. I've always said 'Or-uh-gun'. But then, I've had trouble with Maryland. I tend to emphasize the syllables (Mary-Land, like it was done in colonial times) and most people pronounce it like the woman's name (Marilyn).

As for Sony W/Vega... that was confusing from day one. I thought it was Wega until I heard it pronounced correctly on TV.

 

[RyanAn]

So which bothers you?

1. The fact that people mispronounce it as Wega?

or

2. That Sony makes people think it is pronounced Wega instead of Vega considering it spelled that way?


Either way I am not going to stop calling it that as I would not buy a Wega either way.

Ryan

 

[Jeff_Standley]

LOL, sony has the craziest names all around. Clie, Vaio. They had pronunciations for all of them on their site at one time or another.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Doesn't bug me. Then again, I studied German for a while, where "W" is pronounced like a "V". I guess this is what happens when you let brand managers run riot in trying to create "different", "sophisticated-sounding" brandnames.

The flip side: "Volkswagen" should be pronounced "Folks-vaagon", and not the way it is often is.

 

[BrianW]

I guess you guys haven't heard about Sony's new product, the Zhyiwaae. (The second "a" is silent.)

 

[Dave_Brown]

So why did you use a "W" instead of a "VV" in your original post of the item? In essence aren't you doing the very thing you are so upset about?

 

[MarkHastings]

Gif (Jiff) or Gif (Giff)?

Sony definitely spells it with a W on everything. I've always pronounced it with a "V" though. It sounds so much stronger as Vega..."Wega" sounds so wishy-washy.

 

[Mark Sherman]

I worked for TWEETER for a few years I have to say that it did bug me just a little bit not alot just a little.






NO NO NO


Its JERK IT SILLY

 

[Jeff_Standley]

I only wrote it like that because thats how its written by sony and all pubications I have seen.

 

[Ted Lee]

i gave up that fight long ago ... after many years selling consumer electronics i realized it's a forgettable battle. and, after years of trying to explain what wega technology does, i've now come to this explanation:

"it's a bunch of electronic circuits that sony uses to help give you a better picture."

by far it's worked the best ... no one has ever asked me to go further. go figure!

 

[Jeff_Standley]

LOL, thats so true.
The general non-techie public wants to hear that and only that. I used to go into details about everything to and they would just start to drift into oblivion and stare at me like deer in headlights. You end feeling like a caveman selling electronics.
TV, good.
DVD, good.
You buy now.

 

[Nathan*W]

Sony hired Ensign Chekov to name this thing:

"Yes, the wery best name is 'Wega'. And the Navy can put it in all their nuclear wessels."

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

The "W" is, of course, supposed to be recognized as two superimposed "V"s, one the shadow of the other. Yeah, that could happen.

This reminds me of "Vonage" back when all they could afford was print ads and you never heard the name pronounced on TV or the radio. Or VW's "Tuauorrroeg" or whatever-the-hell it's called. Note to the marketing department: When your product launch ad campaign has to consist of a series of commercials teaching people how to pronouce the name, you've made a bad choice in the name department. Ditto with spelling. I should be able to look at the product name and immediately know how to pronounce it according to the rules of the dominant language in the country where the ad appears.

Better yet, how about just making a good product and then making up a minimally descriptive name that doesn't infringe anyone's trademark?

(Does anyone remember the "Dilbert" cartoon where Dogbert's consulting firm chose hi-tech sounding names by randomly combining words from astronmy and electronics? "First choice: Uranus Hertz")

Regards,

Joe

 

[Mark Sherman]

then there is this.


http://www.warsteiner-usa.com/

and This

http://www.loewe.de/