"Tessler" or "Tezzler"?

[albrehti]

I speak the 'es' sound in the middle of the word rather than the zzz - I mean the buzzing zz sound in "Buzz" not 'zee' or 'zed'

I hear people like Robert Llewelyn say "Tezzler" - I don't think that's right; Anyone speak Russian? After all that was where Nicolai came from.

Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia and came to US from Serbia and not Russia.

 

[markwj]

4 against 1 ?

Which pretty much matches the poll on this thread. Sorry, Elon.

P.S. Love those three videos. Great intro to the founders.

 

[TEG]

Then we have the AU/NZ "Teesla" vs "Tehsla" in other places...

 

[alseTrick]

I say Tezla. I will always say Tezla. I don't care if someone says Tesla or Tezla. As long as you don't say something stupid like Telsa (think of the morons that say Chipoltee instead of Chipotle).

 

[doug]

I interviewed 10 girls at a local hair salon to find the true way of pronouncing Tesla. Here are the results

Funny to see this old thread resurrected. @databen concludes that it's pronounced Tezla because that's how Elon says it as a cofounder of the company. But of course Elon wasn't with Tesla when the company was named.

 

[mpt]

Nikola Tesla was born in Croatia and came to US from Serbia and not Russia.

Oh yes!

 

[1208]

Oxford Dictionary:

England and the World Pronounce it with both S and Z;

tesla | Definition of tesla in English by Oxford Dictionaries

Americans Pronounce it with S;

tesla | Definition of tesla in US English by Oxford Dictionaries

 

[mpt]

This has me a little perplexed though. Isn't there just one way to pronounce something? Ok, I get different emphasis like Tomato and Tomato but, where in Tesla is the 'Z'?

 

[1208]

The only one who can answer it is Tesla himself.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

This has me a little perplexed though. Isn't there just one way to pronounce something? Ok, I get different emphasis like Tomato and Tomato but, where in Tesla is the 'Z'?

Where in tomato is the d?

I think it's just another lazy voicing thing, where people voice it because it's natural to do so.

PS Braaaaaaiiiinnnnsssss

 

[mpt]

It's Tom-Art-Toe or Tom-Ate-Toe. But yeah, I hear Tom-Ate-Doh too often too. Still don't understand how and easy to pronounce TeSSla could be TeZZla.

I do like Fawlty Towers though and that 'Baysil Fawlty' - that cracks me up every time.

 

[wattsup]

I don't use either of the pronunciations in the survey. (And I don't know anybody who pronounces the "a" at the end as "er".)

Personally, I pronounce it "tess-la".

However, I think Elon Musk always pronounces it "tez-la".

 

[mpt]

I don't use either of the pronunciations in the survey.

It sounds like you do; you fall into the majority camp. TeSSla

...Who's going to break the news to Elon?

 

[Struja]

I wrote this in another thread, I will write it again here.

If "Tesla" was just a made up name, I'd say you have to go with Elon's pronunciation. His company, he gets to define the name, HOWEVER, "Tesla" was a real flesh and blood person, who has his own pronunciation of his name. This part is NOT up for debate... Tesla himself pronounced it with the "S" sound, so therefore it is Tesla, not Tezla.

 

[Hugh Mannity]

The only one who can answer it is Tesla himself.

Agree, the company is his name. It should be pronounced the Serbian way. My Serbian colleague says Tezla BTW

 

[Struja]

Agree, the company is his name. It should be pronounced the Serbian way. My Serbian colleague says Tezla BTW

Your Serbian colleague needs to improve his Serbian. Lol

 

[Hugh Mannity]

Your Serbian colleague needs to improve his Serbian. Lol

Yeah weird hey? She says it’s definetly “Tezla”. Maybe her and Nikola are from different areas and have different dialects? Interesting. IDK

 

[boaterva]

I've seen so much confusion over that phrase. I've seen is "hear here!" as in, listen to this right here

I read the whole thread to see if anyone gave the derivation... since not:

"Hear, hear" is a shortening of "hear him, hear him". Most often heard in British Parliament, of course. Back in the day, when anyone but 'him' would be an abomination j/k

I like to explain the derivation of these things since it helps people to know how to spell them. Like stationery, another one people often get confused with stationary.

How do you know the one for your letterhead and business cards as opposed to not moving? It came from the stationers, the one that printed the stuff that told people your "station".

And, on topic, I think it should be Tess-la, since it was named after the man, Tesla, who pronounced it that way. Individuals may have an accent that has them pronounce it Tezla. That's fine. That's like my pronouncing Rhode Island Rho Diland. I was born there.

But choosing/using an affectation to pronounce it Tezla is NOT proper, IMHO.