It's pronounced chaps... not chaps.

[Travlr]

I like the old west and the tradition involved in keeping it real. A place where a handshake is all it takes and people keep their word not only to protect their reputation but because it's the right thing to do.

And I can't tell you how many times I have recently heard the word "chaps" to describe leggings worn to protect pants being mispronounced by people involved in the cattle industry.

It rankles. I don't like it when a cow man talks about a couple of guys from England taking up space between his legs. So in the interest of preserving the old west, at least in our traditional dialect, this is how the word is pronounced when describing shotguns, wooleys, or batwings.





cha·pa·ra·jos
/ˌSHäpəˈrāōs/

noun
NORTH AMERICAN
plural noun: chaparejos

1. leather pants without a seat, worn by a cowboy over ordinary pants to protect the legs.

 

[Rmc]

Since you a big into proper pronunciation this video may help you to use the proper pronunciation of some of the towns around you

 

[Silver]

Well, some folks (especially down south) pronounce it boSAL (or boZEL) rather than just simply bosal. Equal emphasis on both syllables. Tsk tsk.

 

[wbvs58]

I'm pleased you clarified that, I do like a bit of tradition.

A question to Dave, are the chaps (shaps) that the cowboys wear to your brandings have special significance? Like does each one have its own individual leather frills and trims that make them desirable to a collector?

Ken

 

[Dave]

I'm pleased you clarified that, I do like a bit of tradition.

A question to Dave, are the chaps (shaps) that the cowboys wear to your brandings have special significance? Like does each one have its own individual leather frills and trims that make them desirable to a collector?

Ken

Actually they don't wear chaps to the brandings here. They wear chinks. Chaps go clear to the ankles or feet. Chinks just go to about the knee. The fringe may hang down lower. Color and design is up to the maker and wearer.
Chaps tend to be worn in areas with lots of things which will stab you when riding. And in areas where it gets real cold in the winter. Chinks keep you thighs warm when riding and add some protection from the rope running across your leg when dragging cattle with your horse.

 

[Travlr]

Since you a big into proper pronunciation this video may help you to use the proper pronunciation of some of the towns around you

Love it. She should have mentioned Salina. Most people pronounce it like the singer, Sa-leen-a... instead of like Salina, Kansas, Sa-LINE-a.

Another word that often gets mispronounced is Escalante, pronounced Es-ca-lant by locals.

In South Dakota they pronounce their state capitol, Pierre differently than most people would assume. It isn't, Pee-air... it is pronounced, Peer.

And while we are at it, Beijing is not, Bay-zying... it is Bay-Jing.

 

[farmerjan]

Every northerner that comes to this area pronounces the city "Staunton"... as Stauhn-ton... but here the u is silent so pronounced Stanton... There is a lake in Mass that is Taunton lake... pronounced with the u Tauhn-ton... but here it is silent... and another fun one is Boutetourt county... pronounced Bot te tot... not Bout e tort.... I learned quickly when I moved south 40+ years ago... especially about the Staunton pronunciation...

 

[Rafter S]

. . . and then we have Mexia, Texas. It's not pronounced MEX-ia, it's muh-Hay-a.

 

[alacowman1]

. . . and then we have Mexia, Texas. It's not pronounced MEX-ia, it's muh-Hay-a.

That I didn't know...

 

[Silver]

This thread is not going to change anybodies mind on much. Especially on syllable emphasis. As kids we used to tease our American friends who thought they spoke like us asking them to say "ice cream, peanut butter and cigarettes" They would invariably fail (putting the emphasis on the first syllables) and we would laugh. Such is the cruelty of children.
Point being, right and wrong are mostly dictated by geography. I have come to accept that Americans an Newfoundlanders just ain't gonna have good diction and that's the way it is

 

[Rafter S]

That I didn't know...

Natives here learn to work with the Spanish influences. When my daughter was taking a Spanish class at TAMU she had a new professor who had just moved there from somewhere in the central plains. He said it was a big relief not having to start with the very basics, and explain that quesadilla was not pronounced que-SA-dilla (it's KAY-suh-DE-uh).

 

[sim.-ang.king]

You all talk funny.

 

[greybeard]

Listen at around 2:15

 

[alacowman1]

You all talk funny.

We were in Indiana once, when we were kids had stopped at a restaurant ..and the cashier and waitresses came around and wanted to hear us talk,and kept us going ..like being in a foreign country..kids here nowdays all sound the same ...back then my sister sounded like Ellie Mae Clampett ..

 

[Rmc]

Love it. She should have mentioned Salina. Most people pronounce it like the singer, Sa-leen-a... instead of like Salina, Kansas, Sa-LINE-a.

Another word that often gets mispronounced is Escalante, pronounced Es-ca-lant by locals.

I think one of the strangest is Mantua.
Pronounced man-a-way

 

[Rmc]

This thread is not going to change anybodies mind on much. Especially on syllable emphasis.

I agree . No point in getting all bent out of shape with pronunciation. When we have members from all over the world.
And geography dictates dialects

 

[Rafter S]

We were in Indiana once, when we were kids had stopped at a restaurant ..and the cashier and waitresses came around and wanted to hear us talk,and kept us going ..like being in a foreign country..kids here nowdays all sound the same ...back then my sister sounded like Ellie Mae Clampett ..

Back when I was working bees I'd go to North Dakota for a few weeks in late August - early September. I don't know if they still do, but back in the '90's they told a lot of Norwegian jokes there. I was there in the bar in Moffitt one evening telling one I'd heard a few days before. The people I was telling it to were laughing their heads off.

Finally one of them told me that the joke wasn't all that funny. They were laughing at me with my drawl trying to imitate the Norwegian accent while I was telling it.

 

[Dave]

I love listening to people from other parts of the country try to pronounce names of towns in the PNW. Lots of Indian named places. I went to school at Puyallup. Try that one on.

 

[Travlr]

I love listening to people from other parts of the country try to pronounce names of towns in the PNW. Lots of Indian named places. I went to school at Puyallup. Try that one on.

Pew-al-up

 

[MurraysMutts]

Shaps

Why didn't they just spell it that way to begin with?