this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2024
-14 points (39.7% liked)

Asklemmy

43901 readers
1746 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy πŸ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Checkmate, Chuck. πŸ‘‘

Edit: Given the number of downvotes I'm getting, I'm guessing a lot of people have just learned that they've been pronouncing St. John wrong. Don't beat yourselves up. It's not like it's a terribly common name.

top 32 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] revanthetrueemperor@lemmy.world 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

My best guess would be that saintclair's prononciation was influenced by french, as in french the "t" is pronounced while st john might be more "english", leading to the "t" being silent

[–] sgibson5150@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 hour ago

Congratulations for being the only commenter who has actually tried to answer the question. That answer of course sounds perfectly reasonable. Please accept this gold star with thanks: ⭐

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

can anyone please explain why this is getting downvoted to hell? this is the first time i hear "sinjin" but it seems to be a thing, from a quick search.

[–] sgibson5150@slrpnk.net -1 points 8 hours ago

It's my "most people rejected His message" meme moment. πŸ˜†

I guess it's just like the neverending GIF argument. There's a right and wrong answer but people are people.

[–] morgan_423@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago

Imagine acting like everyone in England has the same accent. The only thing more ridiculous would be saying that everyone in the US does.

[–] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 19 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Not a single person in my insane number of years has ever said sinjin

[–] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 6 points 22 hours ago (3 children)

You don't live in Britain where:

  • This is a name people have.
  • It's pronounced like that.
[–] 13esq@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago)

I live near a village called St John's Town of Dalry and no one says sinjin nor have I heard anyone's name referred to that way.

[–] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 3 points 17 hours ago

Am in UK, and yeah, I've definitely heard it pronounced that way, sometimes combined with a second name, eg St John-Smith = Sinjin-Smith

I think it's a thing posh people use sometimes.

[–] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 8 points 21 hours ago

Lived there for years and years. Never heard it pronounced that way. Strange

[–] Berttheduck@lemmy.ml 48 points 1 day ago (4 children)

We don't as far as I know. St John is usually pronounced Saint John. Though English is weird and you might have come across a local pronunciation. Do you know where abouts in the UK that one comes from?

[–] Preacher@lemmy.world 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Roger Moore pronounced his alias St John Smythe as "Sinjun Smythe" in "A View To A Kill"

[–] sanguinepar@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

The definitive answer :-)

[–] myself@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 day ago

Oh no not in Utica

[–] Railison@aussie.zone 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Though the English ~~is~~ are weird

Local names in Britain do my head in

[–] sgibson5150@slrpnk.net 5 points 1 day ago

Perhaps not precisely "sinjin". Wikipedia gives the IPA as /ˈsΙͺndΚ’Ιͺn/ or /-Κ’Ι™n/ where the Κ’ is the g in beige or the s in pleasure so it's a bit more of a zh sound than a j sound: "sinzhin"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_(name) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English

[–] sylver_dragon@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

It may be a case of laziness which has started creating a local dialect. This is one of the ways living languages change over time, people start sluring words and sounds together until there is almost nothing left of the original words and there is a new word in their place.

[–] remi_pan@sh.itjust.works 5 points 19 hours ago

There is also the wedding scene of Bernard and Lydia in the 1997 movie Four weddings and a funeral. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYzQFudZ70k

[–] LiamMayfair@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yup, Sinjin is definitely a thing.

Source: I know a St. John and he told me the right way to pronounce his name is "Sinjin"

[–] Jake_Farm@sopuli.xyz 22 points 1 day ago

Ive never heard of Sinjin.

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I am english, in the UK. I have never heard someone say sinjin instead of saint john. The only thing I can imagine is a local accent? But id think its more like sint jin (sint jawn?)

[–] LiamMayfair@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That's not how I've heard it pronounced. Not in the north at least. The T is mute. It's "sinjin" (rhymes with Ken).

[–] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 0 points 11 hours ago
[–] RoquetteQueen@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Who has a first name of St John?

[–] stormio@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In Vancouver, Canada, we have a journalist named St. John Alexander who pronounces his first name as "Sinjin." I heard him say it on TV and it sounded weird. His profile even mentions it.

He's often asked about his name. St. John is originally British and is pronounced "Sinjin." His parents discovered it in Charlotte Bronte's novel Jane Eyre.

Pronounced Janer, I assume.

[–] sgibson5150@slrpnk.net 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

From Wikipedia St John Pettifor Catchpool (1890–1971), English Quaker relief worker St. John Ellis (1964–2005), British Rugby League player St John Ervine (1883-1971), Irish writer St John Groser (1890-1966), Anglican priest and Christian socialist St John Hornby (1867–1946), British businessman St John Horsfall (1910-1949), British motor racing driver St John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton (1856–1942), British politician St John O'Neill (1741–1790), Irish MP for Randalstown Saint-John Perse, pseudonym of Alexis Leger (1887–1975), French poet and diplomat St John Philby (1885–1960), British civil servant and explorer in Arabia

Weird. I never would have guessed anyone was named that.

[–] SouthFresh@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

β€œ It can be pronounced…” is not the same as, β€œIs often pronounced”

[–] BCsven@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago

I grew up in Britain no one I knew says sinjin, but Sinclair,warrik (Warwick) etc were the norm