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naturegirl_2007

Stupice pronunciation

I can grow it, but can I say it?

It looks to me like it would be said "stew-pice" (the pice rhyming with nice). "Stoop-ice" also seems reasonable. But both sound too much like "stupid" to some folks. My family laughs when I talk of stew-pice tomatoes, but they won't be laughing when we have early tomatoes from the garden.

So how do YOU think Stupice should be pronounced?

Comments (12)

  • digdirt2
    11 years ago

    Stew-piss.

    Dave

  • edweather USDA 9a, HZ 9, Sunset 28
    11 years ago

    When I look at the name, that 's exactly what I see, stew-piss. According to Carolyn in her book, Stupice is pronounced stoo-PEECH-ka. Sorry Dave, why it's not spelled in English like it sounds, I don't know. Maybe Carolyn does. I never understood how it's pronounced like that, but since the tomato is from Czechoslovakia they must have different pronunciations, and I'm guessing that the name probably looks totally different written in Czech, and Stupice is just the English transliteration. I grow them almost every year.

  • digdirt2
    11 years ago

    No problem Ed. I razzed Carolyn years back about it and my pronunciation versus stoo-PEECH-ka vs. stew-peach-caw vs. I can't recall them all.

    Given my Arkie drawl I just settled in on stew-piss and am slowly converting the neighbors and customers. We may yet overcome! *evil snicker*

    PS: then there is Opalka pronounced here as Ole-pal-caw

  • naturegirl_2007 5B SW Michigan
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Oh great. I don't think stew-piss is an improvement to reduce laughter. I'll try for the Czech pronunciation....if I can remember. You probably have the others stuck in my mind now!

  • carolyn137
    11 years ago

    The pronunciation in my book came from Kees Sahin, now deceased,formerly the owner of Sahin Seeds in the Netherlands.

    On one side of his family they were from Czechoslovakia and that's how he said it should be pronounced.

    As for Opalka, I got those seeds from Carl Swidorski, they came from his wifes side of the family in Poland, the Opalka's, so it was given to me as Oh PAWL Ka by Carl.

    And yes, Dave, I do remember a thread or two here where pronunciations were asked for, and right now I'm working on distribution of the new varieties sent to me for this season to the folks who do seed production for me and so help me I haven't a clue how to pronounce some of them.

    I'm not about to Call Tania in Canada or Andrey in Belarus, or Marina in Russia, or Alex in Canada to ask about Russian ones, and I do OK with German b'c I took that in college and still remember it quite well.

    Carolyn

  • noinwi
    11 years ago

    I've mentioned this in other threads before, so sorry for repeating myself. My mother's family was from Bohemia. Her maiden name was Nozicka, properly pronounced "Nozich-ka", she once told me, but we pronounced it here the way it was spelled. I grew up calling Kolace(or Kolacky), "Kolach-kee", so when I heard that Stupice was pronounced "Stoopeech-ka", it kinda made sense. However until then I called it what Dave called it, as I have a tendency to pronounce things the way they are spelled until corrected(which can be embarrassing at times).

  • digdirt2
    11 years ago

    'm not about to Call Tania in Canada or Andrey in Belarus, or Marina in Russia, or Alex in Canada to ask about Russian ones,

    Hey Carolyn I'd be glad to give you the Arkie hillbilly pronunciation for any of them if that will help. :)

    Dave

  • carolyn137
    11 years ago

    Dave, it might interest you to know that a good friend's user name is Ozark, and he's been doing seed production for me for several years,

    We haven't talked on the phone but I hope to do that one day. He's a retired sherriff and has been doing some tomato crosses and I offered F4 seeds of one of his crosses between Dr. Wyche and German Red Strawberryin a recent seed offer elsewhere.

    But I have talked, lots of times, to someone who owns a seed site in Arkansas and no problem at all as to a dialect, His parent went to Arkansas from Oklahoma after the dust bowl fiasco and I guess the twang didn't follow through to him.( smile)

    And so it goes. LOL

    Carolyn, who has never thought she had an upstate NY way of speaking until some had told her that. LOL

  • timmy1
    11 years ago

    Stew-piss.

    That's exactly what they taste like...Not that I've ever had it. But I would imagine it taste's like those early little critters.

  • sunnibel7 Md 7
    11 years ago

    Not knowing where it was from, I imagined it might rhyme with capiche. Or maybe stoop-iss, which was the same as Dave's except obviously my mind didn't go straight to the toilet. ;)

  • graanieb
    10 years ago

    Found this in search of something else, stupice should be pronounced correctly as STUPITZE or STUPIZZEH , c being as Z in Pizza...u being pronounced OO...E as EH.
    Walked over the mountain road called Stupice many times, think I ought to trade for the tomato seeds. Irregardless the name as long as it's enjoyed.
    Bea

  • seysonn
    10 years ago

    graanib ... your pronunciation sounds more natural to me. I don't know Czech but "C" in stupi"C"e is not pronounce as " c in nieCe".
    Also "E" at the end should sound like "eh". So if "C" in Czech sounds like "Z" in German then we will have"

    "stoo.peetz.eh". Nothing sounding like "STUPID" : lol

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