How do you pronounce Lego

[JessicaTam]

Yes I believe it’s from a Danish phrase.

From a contraction of “leg godt” for “play well”

 

[anat0l]

I have never heard of or thought that the pronunciation could be LAY-go.

I've also heard it pronounced by several non-English speaking people. Some pronounce the "e" in their language (and of course consonant differences, too) so it might change from its original, but it has never ended up as LAY-go.

 

[Forg]

I have never heard of or thought that the pronunciation could be LAY-go.

It's something many of us discovered about South Australia for the first time, in my case for the first time in 50+ years, in this very thread!

 

[p--and--t]

As ex SA - Of course its Lay-go.

If I have to suffer another easterner say poo-ell another time today I think I’ll top myself

 

[DejaBrew]

If I have to suffer another easterner say poo-ell another time today I think I’ll top myself

Who on earth says "poo-ell"?? Maybe it's only those who "pacifically" say things like "ath-a-leet", "pa-scription", "noo-s", "noo-key-lar" and "med-sin", or those who want to "arks" me a question. Honestly... I think I'm going to need a strong "ex-presso" after this!!

Such discussions always remind me of Family Guy...

 

[p--and--t]

Who on earth says "poo-ell"?? Maybe it's only those who "pacifically" say things like "ath-a-leet", "pa-scription", "noo-s", "noo-key-lar" and "med-sin", or those who want to "arks" me a question. Honestly... I think I'm going to need a strong "ex-presso" after this!!

Such discussions always remind me of Family Guy...

You left out “os-tray-yar”

 

[DejaBrew]

You left out “os-tray-yar”

I think you left too many letters in there. Shouldn't it just be "Straya"?

 

[Lynda2475]

Given SA is the only place in the world that says Lay-Go and the Danish who invented it say Leg-Go we all know who is saying it wrong.

 

[NM]

Given SA is the only place in the world that says Lay-Go and the Danish who invented it say Leg-Go we all know who is saying it wrong.

Being in a minority does not necessarily make someone wrong ... just saying.

 

[Lynda2475]

Being in a minority does not necessarily make someone wrong ... just saying.

Maybe not always but in this case they are wrong. The creator gets to decide how the product name is meant to be pronounced.

 

[MARTINE]

Leh-go is how it is pronounced in Danish (half way between Lego and Lay-go)
My family is Danish and I asked them
Now if you are not from CPH ……

 

[DejaBrew]

Leh-go is how it is pronounced in Danish (half way between Lego and Lay-go)
My family is Danish and I asked them
Now if you are not from CPH ……

From the article "Are South Australians the only ones who pronounce “Lego” the right way? An investigation." via Mamamia...

...I needed to know for sure, so I contacted the Danish School Down Under.

School president Julie Maegaard told me that in Danish, “Lego” is said “short and sharp”.

“If you are from Copenhagen and the island Zealand, which Copenhagen is on, you say it like me,” she said. “If people are from Jutland, which is the part of Denmark which is connected physically with Germany, they drag out the ‘e’ a bit.”

Maegaard sent me a voice file of her saying the word, so I could listen to it myself. I listened, then listened again. I think it’s best written as “Leh-go”. Not quite “Leggo”, but sadly, not “Laygo”.

Maegaard kindly agreed with me that it was “somewhere in the middle” of the two pronunciations. (OK, it’s closer to “Leggo”. Darn.)
But, as Maegaard added, the American way of saying Lego – “Legos” – is “all wrong”. Surely that’s one thing we can agree on.

“Legos” is an abomination.

 

[MARTINE]

I think I said further upstream I was met with looks of surprise when discussing how I love George Jensen items with Danish family.
Oh you mean ‘Gay-or-yen-sen’ phonetically speaking

I cannot bring myself to say it that way in Australia without feeling pretentious

 

[p--and--t]

Try telling a NZer that “fush and chups” is not correct. Same as rabbiting on about Lay-go

 

[Quickstatus]

None of the above.

Its Lag-O

 

[anat0l]

Try telling a NZer that “fush and chups” is not correct. Same as rabbiting on about Lay-go

No, not quite. For a few reasons.

One is that our odd characterisation of our East Island neighbours is purely due to accent, which for most speakers of English, no matter how proficient they are, can be either difficult to rail against or simply conceded in error (but we accept those people all the same). While a lot of people know that the UK, a much smaller country than ours (but incredibly more populated), has quite varying accents from place to place, I wonder how different that is for each state of Australia, let alone for a rather uncommon word.

Second, Lego is a proper noun. More often than not, there will be one proper pronunciation which comes from the source of the proper noun. People may mispronounce it and we often still accept it (and we accept those people all the same), but it's still the wrong pronunciation.

 

[p--and--t]

People may mispronounce it and we often still accept it

What I was trying to get at. There is no point in arguing who is right or wrong, it wont change anything.

I can barely understand what some UK residents are saying at times (and Singaporeans and Malaysians and Indians and some USA citizens) but they will all claim they are speaking “English”

Oh and Lego isn't even English haha

 

[p--and--t]

[OT]

Born and lived first 50yrs in SA

When I visited the USA,
- in SanFran i was told how much they “loved the way NZers talk, am I from the North Island?”
- in Boston I was asked which county of UK I was from.

 

[JessicaTam]

No, not quite. For a few reasons.

One is that our odd characterisation of our East Island neighbours is purely due to accent, which for most speakers of English, no matter how proficient they are, can be either difficult to rail against or simply conceded in error (but we accept those people all the same). While a lot of people know that the UK, a much smaller country than ours (but incredibly more populated), has quite varying accents from place to place, I wonder how different that is for each state of Australia, let alone for a rather uncommon word.

Second, Lego is a proper noun. More often than not, there will be one proper pronunciation which comes from the source of the proper noun. People may mispronounce it and we often still accept it (and we accept those people all the same), but it's still the wrong pronunciation.

Umm, it's actually an adjective.

From Fair Play

Proper Use of the LEGO Trademark on a Web Site
If the LEGO trademark is used at all, it should always be used as an adjective, not as a noun. For example, say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGO BRICKS". Never say "MODELS BUILT OF LEGOs". Also, the trademark should appear in the same typeface as the surrounding text and should not be isolated or set apart from the surrounding text. In other words, the trademarks should not be emphasized or highlighted. Finally, the LEGO trademark should always appear with a ® symbol each time it is used.

 

[Katie]

Leg o.