I was surprised to hear a TV commercial bragging of "Red China's Best Country Radio." I didn't know country was big in China. And I don't know why you'd be advertising it here. Or in English. But I quickly realized that it was actually "Regina's Best Country Radio." See, I was watching one of the Sportsnet channels, and when they're all showing the same thing, I don't bother tuning in to the one intended for Ontario. So I often end up watching refreshing new ads for local products and services in places far from here.
I'd never really noticed that similarity in pronunciation before. Probably because Regina has another, far more famous similarity to an English word. So I'm wondering: do people from Regina purposely pronounce their city name so that it won't be mistaken for "vagina?" I'm thinking that different cadence was what made me think it was "Red China."
Hopefully we can learn from Reginans (Reginians? Reginites?) and avoid other embarrassing puns and misunderstandings. For instance, whenever I have to mention the name of the seventh planet, I try to put the emphasis on the first syllable (UR-in-us) to avoid that stale juvenile pun. But it's not really catching on. Maybe we'll have to wait until people live there, and they can change the pronunciation out of embarrassment.
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