Is "Aspergers" Said with a Hard G or a Soft G?

Page 2 of 3 [ 40 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next


Is Asperger's Said With a Soft or Hard G?
Soft G 10%  10%  [ 3 ]
Hard G 90%  90%  [ 28 ]
Total votes : 31

Sandpiper
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 11 Dec 2017
Gender: Female
Posts: 493
Location: UK

30 Sep 2019, 12:39 am

Magna wrote:
It seems like the Brits use a soft G and the Americans use a hard G.


This Brit uses a hard G.


_________________
Autism is not my superpower.


Wolfram87
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Feb 2015
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,976
Location: Sweden

30 Sep 2019, 1:44 am

naturalplastic wrote:
The hard G is G as in "good", and the soft G is the J sound (as in "general").

Americans almost always use the hard G on aspergers, Brits seemed to be divided 50-50 between "asperGers" and saying "asperJers".

However the word "Asperger" predated any word for anything to do with the autism spectrum in the English language by Centuries.

To "asperge" means to "sprinkle holy water on the congregation" during certain masses in a Catholic church. And the person (a young boy often) who is given the task of doing said sprinkling is the "Asperger". And in that context the word is pronounced with soft G, or jay sound.

So going by that precedent for the word you would go with the "soft" j sound.

In fact it makes me wonder if the word "Asperg" is related to the word "purge" (which means "to clean"). But I digress.

However in German the Catholic ritual "Asperger" is spelled the same way as in English, but pronounced with the hard G.



Interesting. Is it related to the word "aspersion"? As in "to cast aspersions on someone".


_________________
I'm bored out of my skull, let's play a different game. Let's pay a visit down below and cast the world in flame.


traven
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Sep 2013
Gender: Female
Posts: 14,141

30 Sep 2019, 2:13 am

sorry all, here's another attempt
it's french https://la-conjugaison.nouvelobs.com/du ... perger.php
Étymologie; Du latin aspergere. https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/asperger
the german pronounciation would have a hard g but the french not
:D 8O



envirozentinel
Forum Moderator
Forum Moderator

User avatar

Joined: 16 Sep 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 17,031
Location: Keshron, Super-Zakhyria

30 Sep 2019, 2:17 am

Nah, totally different etymology. Aspergers is named after Dr Hans Asperger. Aspersions is from the Latin and from the word for sprinkle. Much older etymology.


_________________
Why is a trailer behind a car but ahead of a movie?


my blog:
https://sentinel63.wordpress.com/


traven
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 30 Sep 2013
Gender: Female
Posts: 14,141

30 Sep 2019, 2:23 am

you had to contradict by saying the same thing?
:jester:



Wolfram87
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Feb 2015
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,976
Location: Sweden

30 Sep 2019, 2:26 am

That seems a bit contradictory...I mean, if an "asperger" is someone who sprinkles holy water on a congregation, and "aspersion" comes from the latin for "to sprinkle", that seems pretty related to me.


_________________
I'm bored out of my skull, let's play a different game. Let's pay a visit down below and cast the world in flame.


Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

30 Sep 2019, 2:28 am

Most British people pronounce it as As-pher-jes, which I hate for some reason. I prefer it to be pronounced as As-bur-gers. It just sounds better to say.


_________________
Female


naturalplastic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Age: 69
Gender: Male
Posts: 35,189
Location: temperate zone

30 Sep 2019, 6:14 am

Another way out of the conundrum would be look for precedent in the proximate origin of the term, and then seek the deeper origin of the proximate origin.

The condition of aspergers is named after Dr. Hans Asperger who discovered it. And he was an Austrian. And because German is what they speak in Austria he pronounced his name with the hard G.

But, arguably, we English speakers could still Anglify it.

So the question is....where did Dr. Asperger get his family name from?

"Perg" (hard G) can mean either "mountain", or "town" (like "berg") in various dialects of German.

So if his family was named after an ancestor,who was in turn named after that ancestor's place of origin in a town or near a mountain named "Asperg", then you would hafta go with the hard G.

But if his ancestor was a kid who sprinkled holy water in a church, then you could plead for Anglicizing it to the J sound.



envirozentinel
Forum Moderator
Forum Moderator

User avatar

Joined: 16 Sep 2012
Gender: Male
Posts: 17,031
Location: Keshron, Super-Zakhyria

30 Sep 2019, 6:38 am

I like mountains so I'd rather go with the mountain origin!

My Internet is so slow today that Traven beat me to it earlier.


_________________
Why is a trailer behind a car but ahead of a movie?


my blog:
https://sentinel63.wordpress.com/


The Grand Inquisitor
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 9 Aug 2015
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,765

30 Sep 2019, 6:42 am

Ok well it appears that the overwhelming majority (everyone who's voted thus far) believes the correct pronunciation to be with a hard G, which makes sense given the German origin of the name, so that's the pronunciation I'll use. Thanks guys.



skibum
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 18 Jul 2013
Age: 57
Gender: Female
Posts: 8,374
Location: my own little world

30 Sep 2019, 7:48 am

EzraS wrote:
The way of pronouncing it so that it does not sound like Ass-burgers is preferable imo.
we could just say donkey pies


_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph


Zakatar
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 May 2019
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Posts: 682
Location: Mid-Atlantic USA

30 Sep 2019, 8:02 am

I usually just say ‘autistic’ or ‘on the spectrum’. I’ve never liked the word ‘Aspergers’ or any term that differentiates autistics that much. I’ve heard enough of people with Aspergers diagnoses claiming that it and autism are separate things. Just because you didn’t have delayed speech, can drive, can hold down a job, live independently without assistance, etc. doesn’t mean you have any more inherent value to society than someone who is minimally or non-verbal and needs help with everyday situations.


_________________
When anti-vaxxers get in my face, I say ... Have a Nice Day!

#palestinianlivesmatter


Callafiriel
Blue Jay
Blue Jay

User avatar

Joined: 24 Jan 2014
Age: 53
Gender: Female
Posts: 92

30 Sep 2019, 10:28 am

As a German native-speaker and an Austrian national it is a pet peeve of mine to hear it pronounced with a soft g. I've had to stop talks, good talks, about Asperger's on YouTube because the speaker mispronounced the name all the time. It drives me up the wall.

It is a hard g. It can only be a hard g. It is not a French name.

Also it's Asperger's not Aspergers. The name is Asperger. The s is for the genitive case.

Wikipedia also supplies the correct pronunciation.

And why is there a vote? It's not a matter of preference or choice. One is correct, the other one is not.



ASS-P
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 9 Feb 2007
Age: 64
Gender: Male
Posts: 8,980
Location: Santa Cruz , CA , USA

30 Sep 2019, 10:31 am

..." G " whiz :lol: ! !! !! !! !! !!


_________________
Renal kidney failure, congestive heart failure, COPD. Can't really get up from a floor position unhelped anymore:-(.
One of the walking wounded ~ SMASHED DOWN by life and age, now prevented from even expressing myself! SOB.
" Oh, no! First you have to PROVE you deserve to go away to college! " ~ My mother, 1978 (the heyday of Andy Gibb and Player). I would still like to go.:-(
My life destroyed by Thorazine and Mellaril - and rape - and the Psychiatric/Industrial Complex. SOB:-(! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!


Wolfram87
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 14 Feb 2015
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,976
Location: Sweden

30 Sep 2019, 10:59 am

There's a swedish TV personality named Robert Aschberg (with a soft g), and a disturbing number of people I've met pronounce it as though it's named after him. How do you mess up an "s"?


_________________
I'm bored out of my skull, let's play a different game. Let's pay a visit down below and cast the world in flame.


kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

30 Sep 2019, 11:48 am

It should be pronounced with a “p” rather than a “b.”

It should be something like As-pair-gurs, in keeping with the German pronunciation.

Assburgers is totally wrong