View Full Version : CAITHness or caithNESS
I was brought up to pronounce e' home county's name with emphasis on the first syllabel to rhyme with the line in Castlegreen's dialect poem "peaceful bliss and quaiteness" but o.k., I hear outsiders breaking it down to stress the last part but now I'm starting to hear people resident in the place saying it this way.
How do orgers pronounce it?
And I've just had my daughter's boyfriend provide me with an avatar which as you can see is a crow in wellington boots walking determinedly across an autumn stubble field. No idea what this says about my contributions to this message board but I just liked the image.
I prefer the 'Castlegreen' pronunciation of Kaitness, but thats just a personal thing, to a non Kaitnessian I would say Caithness
Would it not be KaithNASS? ;) x
hey anyway is better than the way my mum tries to say it.. she cant even pronounce the word at all.. and neither can teh majority of my relatives.
i swear to you.. she can only spell it.. her mouth can not form the word at all!
xx_chickie
21-Nov-07, 11:32
Well..this is something my friend and I often have 'heated' discussions about! :lol: Will be good to finally find an answer...
Having not really any family from up here, although being born and raised here, I've always said CaithNESS as in Loch Ness... my friend, however, says CAITHness and all her family are from up here. Hmm...maybe I've just answered my own question! :lol:
Metalattakk
21-Nov-07, 11:41
It is my belief that the word is pronounced "caithness", spoken quickly with no emphasis on either syllable.
xx_chickie
21-Nov-07, 11:43
It is my belief that the word is pronounced "caithness", spoken quickly with no emphasis on either syllable.
Yeah, that's what I meant by CAITHness...I can say it and think it, but typing it is hard! Lol. :eek:
We've always pronounced it Caithness. Only people I've heard pronounce it Caithness have been visitors or incomers to the county,
south view 7
21-Nov-07, 12:23
As a Weeker i pronounce it caithniss.........
As a very far away outsider I began my time in the county using the 'ness' emphasis. But after a few weeks that got drilled out of me and I am a staunch 'caith' supporter now. Back again to my outsider status I get a lot of strange looks when I use Caithness, but I stick with what I learned under the midnight sun.
Errogie, I love the crow in wellies. So very in keeping with your mountain top croft.
It is my belief that the word is pronounced "caithness", spoken quickly with no emphasis on either syllable.
I'm with you on this one, but I keep getting told I say votive and processor wrong!! :roll:
As a Weeker i pronounce it caithniss.........
Ah, but 'Weekers' very nearly have a language of their own, never mind differences in how parts of words are stressed. It's lovely to hear the Wick accent spoken properly, especially on TV or radio.
xx_chickie
21-Nov-07, 16:06
We've always pronounced it Caithness. Only people I've heard pronounce it Caithness have been visitors or incomers to the county,
I'm not an incomer! :eek: Haha.
I'm not an incomer! :eek: Haha.
Well there you go. Proved wrong yet again. So where do your parents come from cos it's maybe an East/West of county accent difference?
Hi Errogie - put me down for CAITHness!
PS to last post. I forgot to say I am Thurso born and bred but temper my accent for down here - learnt in my cosmopolitan days at Thurso High School! But poor OH cringes when I get on the phone to my mother or am visiting the county! (Needless to say he is not from Caithness - ssshhh Sutherland)
caithNESS
...but I'm an incomer and therefore probably wrong....
born and bred in thurso, rest o the family fae ayr, but i would say it caithniss
As a Weeker i pronounce it caithniss.........
Caithniss - Spot on!! You can always tell someone from the Sooth by the way they say caithNESS - Cattachs excluded from the soothies, of course!!
It is my belief that the word is pronounced "caithness", spoken quickly with no emphasis on either syllable.
That's how my family and I pronounced it when I was growing up in Thurso, with "ness" sounding like "niss".
I'm an incomer too and probably quite wrong because i also say CaithNESS when asked where i now live. I also have a friend Wick born and bread and she always refers to Inverness as Inversnechie, which i had never ever heard before but i tend to say that myself now as i like it.:lol:
Noticed that Graeme Smith the councillor pronounced it CaithNESS on the radio the other day. Shame on him, he's lived here long enough to pronounce it properly... CAITHness
When speaking to another one of gods fine creatures I would say caithniss but if was on the phone it has to be caithNESS as non caithness folk wouldnt undertsand me.
Reminds me of when I worked at BT and had to spell out Thurso to customers.
Try spelling it out loud without the end sounding like "you are ass ****" ;)
You wont be able to get that out of your head now :)
George Brims
21-Nov-07, 19:49
Last time I was back in Scotland I was pleased and surprised to hear a newsreader on BBC Scotland put the emphasis on the first syllable. Putting the stress on the second one used to mark one out as an "atomic" when I was young.
Now if we can just get people to stop pronouncing Thurso as if it has a "z" instead of an "s". I am already cringing in anticipation of the early hours of January first when the well-known song becomes "old lang zyne".
Reminds me of when I worked at BT and had to spell out Thurso to customers.
Try spelling it out loud without the end sounding like "you are ass ****" ;)
You wont be able to get that out of your head now
Ahh lmao...:lol: so true and sooo funny.
oldchemist
21-Nov-07, 20:15
I'd say CAITHniss (and I am a local loon)
I have spent the last half hour muttering Kaitness, CaithNESS, CAITHness, CaithNISS, KAITness....................... my son is looking at me like I have lost the plot.
He just rolled his eyes when I attempted to explain why.
Last time I was back in Scotland I was pleased and surprised to hear a newsreader on BBC Scotland put the emphasis on the first syllable. Putting the stress on the second one used to mark one out as an "atomic" when I was young.
Our family NEVER put the emphasis on the second syllable, and I was an "atomic" when you were young, George, having moved up to Thurso when I was two.
I don’t qualify to vote on this one, but I’ll leave a gripe anyway……. it’s the County of Avon, even BBC news people pronounce it as if its ‘Avon calling’ Maybe I’m just old fashioned.
Another one is ‘heavy’ wind. Since when it wind heavy, wind is light or strong rain is heavy, see if you notice it, next time you listen to the BBC.
connieb19
21-Nov-07, 21:43
I pronounce it Caithniss too.
I have spent the last half hour muttering Kaitness, CaithNESS, CAITHness, CaithNISS, KAITness....................... my son is looking at me like I have lost the plot.
He just rolled his eyes when I attempted to explain why.
I have to laugh my OH is doing the same to me!! I asked him to say caithness. he thinks I am mad. between that and " you are ass ....!!!
Bobinovich
21-Nov-07, 23:48
I'm an incomer but have spent the vast majority of my years here and am more for CAITHness.
BTW when giving our address over the phone I say "Thurso, Caithness" then, before they get a chance to ask, say "It's OK I'll spell them out for you"...
I'm an incomer too and probably quite wrong because i also say CaithNESS when asked where i now live. I also have a friend Wick born and bread and she always refers to Inverness as Inversnechie, which i had never ever heard before but i tend to say that myself now as i like it.:lol:
I am from Ross-Shire and have always referred to Inverness as "Sneckie" and Caithness...I do not pronounce either part of the word. I just say "Caithness".
xx_chickie
22-Nov-07, 10:20
Well there you go. Proved wrong yet again. So where do your parents come from cos it's maybe an East/West of county accent difference?
Well my mum and nan are English so I'm guessing that might be it!
But, as a born citizen of Caithness, I now anounce that both pronounciations are correct! :lol:
Well my mum and nan are English so I'm guessing that might be it!
But, as a born citizen of Caithness, I now anounce that both pronounciations are correct! :lol:
What a great answer and I agree. As long as we are living in the best county, what does it matter how it's pronounced?
By the way, anyone tried pronouncing Achavanich? :lol:
xx_chickie
22-Nov-07, 12:10
What a great answer and I agree. As long as we are living in the best county, what does it matter how it's pronounced?
By the way, anyone tried pronouncing Achavanich? :lol:
Thanks!
And wouldn't like to think how, grandma! Haha thanks for a laugh! :lol:
When speaking to another one of gods fine creatures I would say caithniss but if was on the phone it has to be caithNESS as non caithness folk wouldnt undertsand me.
Reminds me of when I worked at BT and had to spell out Thurso to customers.
Try spelling it out loud without the end sounding like "you are ass ****" ;)
You wont be able to get that out of your head now :)
oh how true, thursul?? where on earth is thursul?? used to get that one a lot. a mate of mine was fed up getting asked this and he ended up saying, well, div ye ken where murkle is?? well, bout five miles from there. ha ha ha ha
Gee Hotrod4 thanks for putting the spelling Thurso thing in my head! Very funny though lol
oh how true, thursul?? where on earth is thursul?? used to get that one a lot. a mate of mine was fed up getting asked this and he ended up saying, well, div ye ken where murkle is?? well, bout five miles from there. ha ha ha ha
i thought it was just me who used to get asked that :lol: Thursul???? how can it sound like that to anyone??:roll:
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