You Say Bocker, I Say Backer

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 1:04 pm

John,
the Robert in Chez Robert should be pronounced as Ro-bear, that's the French pronounciation, no idea if her pronounciation of Chez is correct or not, I think so, but I would have ditched her anyay.
talk about getting corrected, my Spanish leaves a lot to be desired (a real lot) the other night I was attempting to communicate with a Peruvian drummer and was trying to tell him that I play with my ears (play by ear), I ended up telling him I play with my oranges, ahha! "Yo tocar con mi orejas" (ears) I said "Yo tocar con mi naranjas" (oranges) He kept a straight face, my wife got quite a kick out of this however, and actually so did all my in-laws.

ricnvolved · Post by **ricnvolved** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 1:44 pm

From what I've read here in the forum, the official pronunciation is "backer". But I continue to pronounce it "bocker" out of ingrained habit.

As for the original German pronunciation, would the first syllable really have been "RIKE"? Seems to me if that was the case then the spelling would've been like the word "Reich". If the original spelling of the first syllable has been retained, I would think the "correct" German pronunciation would be more like "Reek". However, I'm an amateur linguist at best and would like to hear from others more acquainted with the German language than I am.

dave4004 · Post by **dave4004** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 1:59 pm

The correct original German pronunciation would just be "Rickenbocker". Not "rike".

And in case anyone here doesn't already know this, he was Swiss by birth, not German.

sir_andrew_of_left_coast · Thu Aug 21, 2003 3:03 pm

You know, there is a small town in Switzerland called "Rickenbach." The -er ending would signify someone (or someone's ancestors) who came from there; hence Rickenbacher. And we know the oldest instruments and musical assessories have the "h" in it; the "k" coming later, being the more Americanized spelling.

ricnvolved · Post by **ricnvolved** » Thu Aug 21, 2003 6:09 pm

Dave-- You are of course correct about Mr. Adolph Rickenbacker's country of ancestral origin. But the Rickenbacker name itself is still undeniably German. To quote Casey Stengal: "You could look it up."

Andrew-- The Americanization of "Rickenbacher" to "Rickenbacker" was done to distance the name from it's Germanic origin after the rise to power of Hitler's National Socialist party and the subsequent Second World War this unfortunate event brought about. Given the political context of the times, this change in name spelling was definitely understandable.

sir_andrew_of_left_coast · Thu Aug 21, 2003 8:08 pm

Oh, yes, I'm quite aware of the reasoning behind the change in spelling. Definitely understandable!

360dave660 · Post by **360dave660** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 5:16 am

I guess its German if you mean Germanic peoples who live in Europe and use German &/or a dialect there of (Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein or the Czech republic). Swiss German is different that High German. Outside of changing the h to a k (which phonetically is pretty much the same), the rest of the name looks pretty Germanic just the same.

melibreits · Post by **melibreits** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 5:35 am

In our area, (Minnesota and Wisconsin) I've never heard it pronounced any other way than Ricken-bahcker.... I wonder if it has anything to do with regional dialect? Any way you say it, we can all agree that they are the best instruments in the world! Hey, I must know what I'm talking about; I just graduated to "Advanced member!" LOL!

blueflamerick · Post by **blueflamerick** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 6:28 am

Bobampeg, people in PA talk funny? Like you people in MA don't? I've lived in both states and I have a really mixed up accent because of it.

I pronounce it backer. Speaking of German last names and all the different pronunciations of them, you should hear all the different ways my last name is said.

sir_andrew_of_left_coast · Fri Aug 22, 2003 6:34 am

Back to the pronunciation, perhaps the equitable solution would be if it has the "h" it's "bocker" and if it has the "k" its "backer."

Or, we can just stick to calling them "Ricks."

melibreits · Post by **melibreits** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 7:52 am

Me too, Erik. I can always tell if it's a telemarketer on the other end of the phone by the way they mangle my German last name!

kennyhowes · Post by **kennyhowes** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 8:40 am

Is it "brite-sprek-er?"

(I try to say people's names right. Comes from having your own said wrong, often.)

melibreits · Post by **melibreits** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 8:48 am

You got it. Pretty much the way it's spelled, but you would be amazed by all of the creative pronunciations out there!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Fri Aug 22, 2003 8:56 am

Erik, didn't you know that Massachusetts has no accent? All the rest of the country does. We just don't like the letter ah heahe.
I've usually only heard non-musicians pronounce it bocker here in Ma.
What's that bass, a Rickenbacher? Spelled that way I should think it would be pronounced like Bach, in between back and bock. Which is actually the other way I've heard it pronounced here, but very rarely.

dannyboy · Post by **dannyboy** » Sun Aug 24, 2003 1:54 pm

Hey Mortivan! About Robert...
Here in Québec ( french province of Canada) we pronounce it Row-Bear...with a Scottish accent"R"
rolling on both R's!!!