John Montague

lemansky

Hi everyone!I wasn't quite sure where to put this but seeing as school is the cause of the problem I figured here would be good.Two respected teachers in my school each pronounce 'Montague' in two different ways.Mon-tag and Mon-tag-you, I've always been dubious about the second one and would always have gone with Mon-tag until I heard this other way and people telling me its right and myself and my friends are wrong.Any views?It would help put this issue to bed thanks

Marshy

I've only ever heard it pronounced Monta-gew so I guess you're wrong.

lemansky

Well this is it.I had only ever heard it one way until I heard it your way so equally you could be wrong,but probably aren't

Marshy

Yeah no I know. Its not really a question of being wrong. But I'd be fairly sure the way I said is the accepted way of pronouncing it.

cocoa

well I've heard both, would lean personally toward the mon-tag side (don't ask me why...) but after checking with "the net" ... ok then well the american state is pronounced mon-a-goo... don't know that that helps but anyway...
*gives up* all i can get is shakespeare quotes... The good news is that montague is still alive, so you can ask him!

My guess is that both are correct, but perhaps specific people choose one... i.e., two people both named montague could pronounce their name differently.

Selphie

cocoa wrote:

well I've heard both, would lean personally toward the mon-tag side (don't ask me why...) but after checking with "the net" ... ok then well the american state is pronounced mon-a-goo... don't know that that helps but anyway...

American city, surely? I was soo confused there.
I've always said Montag-you, and I've seen two versions of Romeo and Juliet, and it's pronounced Montag-you there too, but who knows really?

Limerick Dude

is it not pronounced Monta-hue.

lemansky

Limerick Dude wrote:

is it not pronounced Monta-hue.

No idea.I'd be of the impression like everyone else(thanks for all your comments by the way) that it is just a case of everyone pronouncing it the way they were taught by their teachers who say it the way they were told....and the chain goes on.Different areas(and eras-Shakespeare) have their own ideas i supppose.

bright

lemansky wrote:

No idea.I'd be of the impression like everyone else(thanks for all your comments by the way) that it is just a case of everyone pronouncing it the way they were taught by their teachers who say it the way they were told....and the chain goes on.Different areas(and eras-Shakespeare) have their own ideas i supppose.

well i suppose we can be thankful that we do not have an English oral...

sd123

upon first reading his name i just assumed that it was montag but all ( respected 3 ) english teachers in my school say mon ta gew. weird???

Rozabeez

Not really, considering thats how it's pronounced in Romeo and Juliet.

lemansky

I'm beginning to come around to the monta-gew way,but I'm not going to rely on Romeo and Juliet for it!People don't speak like that still(usually) so....but monta-gew seems to be the most common way.I'm still not happy though.It seems like you're just pronouncing it phonetically,which with other weird-ish names like that is generally the wrong thing to do.

lilmizzme

Marshy wrote:

I've only ever heard it pronounced Monta-gew so I guess you're wrong.

Where is the logic?You haven't heard of it so therefore how could it be right?

Marshy

lilmizzme wrote:

Where is the logic?You haven't heard of it so therefore how could it be right?

I dont quite follow. I said I had only ever heard his name pronounced that way.

elefant

oh my god.. oh my god i'm going to fail now i know it.
i just don't know how to pronounce montague...my life is over

dan719

elefant wrote:

oh my god.. oh my god i'm going to fail now i know it.
i just don't know how to pronounce montague...my life is over

Wait wait wait, isnt the english exam a written paper!lol:D

Steve01

elefant wrote:

oh my god.. oh my god i'm going to fail now i know it.
i just don't know how to pronounce montague...my life is over

Now thats how sarcasm should be used

elefant

thanks to you.
language of sarcasm is my specialty

*We came in by south-east Yemen*

cson

Away from the trivial matter of how you pronounce his name, there is something more important about him....

The grind teacher I go to mentioned the not so insignificant fact that Montague has never been on or asked on the present leaving cert syllabus to date. Food for thought indeed, perhaps he is worthy of some extra attention.

Marshy

cson wrote:

The grind teacher I go to mentioned the not so insignificant fact that Montague has never been on or asked on the present leaving cert syllabus to date. Food for thought indeed, perhaps he is worthy of some extra attention.

Maybe alright. Hope he does come up, my fave of them all.

But them examinators are always looking to cause surprises. Its very difficult to find a pattern.

Steve01

Marshy wrote:

But them examinators are always looking to cause surprises. Its very difficult to find a pattern.

Its true. My worst case scenario - Donne, Bishop. Elliot, Frost. Don't know the first thing about any of them since they weren't covered :eek: Lets all PRAY that Montague will come up

Naikon

I really hope Montague comes up.

lilmizzme

Eliot for President!!

lemansky

elefant wrote:

oh my god.. oh my god i'm going to fail now i know it.
i just don't know how to pronounce montague...my life is over

I do like the sarcasm:D

elefant

as do i

but aside from that, here's an interesting fact.

There;s always been a female poet asked, and that's either Plath or Bishop.

lemansky

elefant wrote:

as do i

but aside from that, here's an interesting fact.

There;s always been a female poet asked, and that's either Plath or Bishop.

Yea and Plath didn't come up last year....but then again she came up loads of times consecutively before that so it really is a case of flip a coin.

Fobia

That's the problem - so did Bishop. So perhaps it's not a completely safe bet on the woman this year. You can be fairly sure you'll be safe if you do everyone irish and everyone who's a woman, but that's 5 poets anyway, and if you do any 5 you're guaranteed to get one..

Me, I'm doing the two ladies, and Frost, because I like him.

insafehands

FYI - Mon-ta-q is how it's said in the North, Montayg is how they'd say it in the States.

Mon-tag is pure ridiculous.

sd123

tomato tomato.

montague montague:D

lemansky

insafehands wrote:

FYI - Mon-ta-q is how it's said in the North, Montayg is how they'd say it in the States.

Mon-tag is pure ridiculous.

well my question as to how to pronounce it is specific to how HE pronounces it......I mean I didn't pull the Mon-tag pronunciation out of my ass.There are real people oyt there who pronounce their surnames like that.:)

lemansky

sd123 wrote:

tomato tomato.

montague montague:D

Exactly:D