How do you pronounce Tesla....

[B8BB8B]

So totally off topic but very interested to see what people say.

I was watching a video of a man comparing his Tesla to 3 different cars ( 7 Series, A7 and S-Class ) and this video made me physically want to hurt this guy.

He said Tesla many many times and every time I feel he said it wrong.

SO lets get this straight.

Do you say TES-LA or TEZ-LA.

Pretty simple....? And go.

 

[Haxster]

Elon seems to prefer TEZ-LA.

I ain't no linguistics expert, but...

In "British" (and South African) English, they don't seem to like to use the letter "Z" very often. So they tend to pronounce "S" like "Z" in words. For example the American-English word organization is spelled organisation and pronounced with the Z sound.

Nikola Tesla was born in what is now Croatia, so this doesn't seem to provide any obvious clues.

Here's one source of possible pronunciation expertise (for "TES"): How do you pronounce Nikola_Tesla? | WordPhD.com

 

[Chopr147]

Tesla, It's an S!

 

[jbcarioca]

In Serbian, his mother tongue, the name would be pronounced, Tesla as spelled in American English.
In South African/British/antipodean English variants Tezla is more commonly used.
Both are entirely acceptable, but Teslarati are more prone to emulate Elon, or so it seems to me.

For me it is easy. I use Tesla in NA, I use Tezla among native English speakers from non-NA areas. Elsewhere I just use one or the other, but don't worry about it.

 

[Chopr147]

Don't you mean the Tezlerati?

 

[BerTX]

I pronounce it like Elon does. He should know.

 

[mpt]

We did a similar pole - 4:1 TeSSla

"Tessler" or "Tezzler"?

 

[Struja]

I pronounce it like Elon does. He should know.

I disagree. If the word "Tesla" was just a made up word, then I would agree with you. His company, his pronunciation. However, the company name is named after (what was) a real flesh and blood person and the pronounciation is TeSla. No "z" sound at all.

At the end of the day, it's not a big deal, but it was Nikola Tesla, no Nikola Tezla.