Readers React: El ‘Say-gun-dough’ and other place names mispronounced by L.A. residents

To the editor: Steve Lopez’s wonderful article on how to pronounce El Segundo, the city that will soon be the home of the Los Angeles Times, reminded me of what is probably the most common pronunciation error around these parts.

Whether you use the rules of English or those of Spanish, you shouldn’t say “los-fee-lace” when you’re saying your version of the L.A. neighborhood of Los Feliz. Even with Los Angeles or San Jose, English rules can be used (or misused) to justify the most common Anglo pronunciations.

E. Dennis Hinde, Gardena

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To the editor: Never mind “el-say-gun-dough” versus “el-say-goon-dough.” Take San Pedro, which most people pronounce as “san-pee-droh” instead of the correct “san-pay-droh.”

An “e” in Spanish is always pronounced as a long “a” in English. What surprises me is that some people, for San Diego, don’t say “san-die-ee-go” instead of “san-dee-ay-go.” The “e” in Diego is exactly like the “e” in Pedro.

Lastly, a “u” in Spanish is always pronounced as “oo.”

Gerald P. Lunderville, Long Beach

The writer is a former college Spanish instructor.

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To the editor: I was born and raised in El Segundo, and it has always been “gun” and not “goon.”

That said, what really matters is that Lopez please correct the record to reflect that we are El Segundonians, not El Segundans.

John Koppelman, El Segundo

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