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Oops! The problems of recognising humour in an international, multi-lingual, multi-accented community.

I've been pronouncing "Beithe" in my mind with a soft ending. How are others imagining the sound?

I've been avoiding the pronunciation issue

When I went by Alltbeithe in Glen Affric, I think that was pronounced owdbey.
Allt is a burn or stream, and beithe is a birch tree.
I think perhaps you just leave out the T and decide if you want say the H or not.
In Scottish Gaelic at any rate. Other flavours may differ.

But in this context it's a placename and those are often pronounced however the inhabitants choose, to the confusion of everyone else.

To answer your question, Dot, I was hearing "Beithe" in my mind as "Bythe". But on seeing Ralph's post I immediately saw where he was going with it.
The intention of humor was solidified in my mind by the link to "The Wallops" website. All those Wallop names sound humorous to an American ear.

Keith Selmes wrote: But in this context it's a placename and those are often pronounced however the inhabitants choose, to the confusion of everyone else.

I can definitely confirm this from personal experience. I've spent my adult life in Maryland, while I was born, raised and educated in Pennsylvania.
A neighboring suburb to where I live is spelled "Riviera Beach". But the natives pronounce it "Riveera Beach". It took some getting used to, but
after living in the area more than 20 years I now think of it as "Riveera" too.

Deuce Halsey wrote:

Dot Matrix wrote:

Ralph Doctorow wrote:Not the most useful post, but you might consider "Over Beithe" rather than "Upper Beithe", vis: http://www.thewallops.net/

Ah, but where I come from there are places called Upper Broughton and the like, hence the initial names. Worth pondering though

From your link, "Old Beithe" and "New Beithe" might be other possibilities. Perhaps "Beithe Fishing Village" could transmute to "Old Beithe".

FYI, I'm fairly certain that Ralph was going for a joke there: Over Beithe = Overbite

No, no .... We were in the UK and went through the Wallops, which as others have pointed out sound very humorous to American ears, but at least Nether and Over Wallop are so charming you could get caught there forever, thatched everything, including stone walls! I just like the names.

Personally, I hear Beithe as "bee I thee", but I've got some German language prejudices.

This does sound like a great project in any event.

My apologies for the misperception, Ralph.

I do agree that it sounds like a great project.

i was guessing it was pronounced "bayth"

after reading this thread i started googling for pronouncers...one i found says the word beithe (or birch as in tree) is from "the old Ogham alphabet" and is pronounced, "beth"

actually, the way it works is - you came up with the name of the town, so you get to decide how it is pronounced.

I was talking about this with Dot last night and churning over a few ideas. previously I wanted to make a medieval fantasy themed community and ultimately I think I will continue to pursue that, but I would gladly lend my building skills to a project like this. I think its really important that we try to start to cater for people who are not looking for a whole sim, but just a nice house and a few prims to play with. I think its important we get this idea off the boards sooner rather than later.

I like the island concept. Maybe you could have themed clusters sort of like how I designed my store. Snowy in the north, moving down to tropical in the south maybe?

I have my landscaping stuff and a few medieval houses I could contribute right now, and I would happily look into making some more modern housing styles. I am still hoarding for my little project, but I would happily contribute some of the initial costs too.

So is there anyone out there still interested in working on something like this? Wanna start a group? Do something? Maybe?

EDIT - Also, I wonder if we could/should add "residential" and "commercial" categories under the communities subheading? That way people could post about malls or residential communities they have built or are planning.

..standing by..
(I'm better at building modern style, but love the medieval style )

I'd better get back to thinking about this project -- sorry all. Thanks, Ozwell, for the conversation inworld, and the nudge here.

"Themed clusters" -- what if the clusters were based around different architectural styles, with consistent but interesting landscaping helping to maintain the sense of a single community?

What if "medieval" were transformed to "Arts and Crafts"? Ozwell's kit can be used for A&C-inspired architecture with different textures, combined with suitable brick or stone work, for example.

Might "modern" incorporate some style elements from the 1930s?

Or is this idea a non-starter?

Dot Matrix wrote:I'd better get back to thinking about this project -- sorry all. Thanks, Ozwell, for the conversation inworld, and the nudge here.

Might "modern" incorporate some style elements from the 1930s?

Sorry Dot, I get impetuous fairly quickly for a tree.

The theme of areas could be dealt with in lots of ways. I just think its good to include some terrain variants, because People can move around if they get bored of the typical green and grassy, which I still think the majority of sims should be. Its a fine line between creating something varied and creating a visual mess of course. I say avoid heavy zoning. Maybe a significant community area in the middle, but keep everything else fairly sparse.

I tend to think by "modern" to mean anything post-industrial revolution. A 1930s British house makes me think of this.....