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September 3

Etobicoke

Our article on Etobicoke gives the pronunciation I've heard, leaving off the final /k/ that would be expected from the spelling, but doesn't really explain the discrepancy. It says it comes from a Missisauga word wadoopikaang, which doesn't really seem all that similar to either the spelling or the modern pronunciation. Does anyone know more about how the spelling or pronunciation came to be? --Trovatore (talk) 21:18, 3 September 2026 (UTC)

If we take "oo" not as English spelling but as a literal "long o" like in German Boot, and assume that voicing and aspiration on "d" and "p" might not exactly correspond with English, it gets much closer. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 01:12, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

Wiktionary suggests wah-do-be-kang for the Ojibwe pronunciation of its etymon. I suppose the use of b means the ⟨p⟩ is not injective and that this stands for something like IPA /wʌˈdoːpɪkʰʌŋ/.  ​‑‑Lambiam 09:34, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

I wasn't saying that wadoopikaang was implausible as a source for the word; I was saying it doesn't really explain the modern pronunciation/spelling with the silent <k>. --Trovatore (talk) 22:01, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

I wonder if there might be a situation with a final nasal vowel here, having been interpreted in various ways... (?) 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 12:11, 5 September 2026 (UTC)

This - varying pronunciations or varying interpretations of a nasal sound - makes sense to me. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 19:17, 5 September 2026 (UTC)

I think my response was intended to say that to me the Missisauga word, which has no K at the end, seems (to me) close enough to the modern pronunciation in English. I have no clue how the K might have got into the English spelling. TooManyFingers (he/him · talk) 19:14, 5 September 2026 (UTC)

"Lunda"?

Now I have to ask this as I'm neither Swedish or a native Swedish speaker, but I understand Swedish very well. Why are compound words in Swedish referring to the city of Lund prefixed with "Lunda" instead of "Lund" or "Lunds"? For example, the Lund tramway is called "LundaExpressen" in Swedish. Why is this not "LundExpressen" or "LundsExpressen"? Is this something special to the city of Lund? Keep in mind that I have only learned contemporary Swedish. I do not understand archaic Swedish. JIP | Talk 21:23, 3 September 2026 (UTC)

I believe this is the "Sydvästsvensk a-genitiv". See this article. DuncanHill (talk) 21:37, 3 September 2026 (UTC)

I thought it was something like that, but I didn't know the details. As I said, I have only learned contemporary Swedish. Thanks for your reply. JIP | Talk 21:42, 3 September 2026 (UTC)

No problem! I'd heard it before but never thought about it. Since posting above I also found it mentioned in the Swedish Wikipedia article about the genitive see sv:Genitiv#A-genitiv. DuncanHill (talk) 22:00, 3 September 2026 (UTC)

I've added a paragraph on this a-genitive to the section Swedish grammar § Genitive.  ​‑‑Lambiam 09:07, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

September 4

Anyone know any good online resources for learning Greenlandic?

Title. Cheers, 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔯 ^{(𝔱𝔞𝔩𝔨)} (any/all) In solidarity. 23:13, 4 September 2026 (UTC)

Have you checked the entries in the External links section of Greenlandic language? The second in particular looks to me like the best that is likely to exist, beyond actually going to live in Greenland. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} ~2026-43920-01 (talk) 01:34, 5 September 2026 (UTC)

Ah, that does look helpful; thanks! Cheers, 𝔰𝔥𝔞𝔡𝔢𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔯 ^{(𝔱𝔞𝔩𝔨)} (any/all) In solidarity. 01:38, 5 September 2026 (UTC)

September 6

Misheard lyrics that are actually indistinguishable (sp?) from the real lyrics?

For example, I do not hear "All the lonely Starbucks lovers" in Taylor Swift's song Blank Space. I hear "Got a long list of ex-lovers." But in Taylor's song Lavender Haze, I do hear "I feel eleven turkeys creeping up on me" instead of "I feel the lavender haze creeping up on me." Why are some misheard lyrics indistinguishable (I hope this is the right word and I hope I am spelling it right!) from the real lyrics but others are not? Pinkrenegaderaider (talk) 10:28, 6 September 2026 (UTC)

Taylor Swift's song Karma has a couple of misheard ones: "My panties make your crown" can actually be heard instead of "My pennies made your crown" but "A punch in the ass for you it's not" (Aren't you envious that for you it's not) and "Don't you know that cats eat only rice" (Don't you know that cash ain't the only price) are a bit of a stretch but you can kind of make it out. Pinkrenegaderaider (talk) 10:42, 6 September 2026 (UTC)

The third verse of New Order's Blue Monday starts with "I see a ship in the harbour". I've always heard the following line as "Anchored in a shallow bay", whereas lyrics sites give "I can and shall obey". "Shallow bay" and "shall obey" are of course homophone. The rest is less so, but allowing for somewhat slurred enunciation (the possibility of which is what makes English a great language for pop lyrics) "anchored in a" and "I can and" are not a million miles distant either. In your case it's e.g. "[e]leven tur" and "lavender" that are nearly homophone. --Wrongfilter (talk) 11:47, 6 September 2026 (UTC)

The relevant Wikipedia article is Mondegreen. Alansplodge (talk) 12:25, 6 September 2026 (UTC)

Some songwriters have used the ambiguty of homophones for poetic effect, such as David Bowie's "cause Lenin's/Lennon's on sale again." 惑乱 Wakuran (talk) 12:34, 6 September 2026 (UTC)