Settle a stupid bet... "Will-eez" or "Will-iss"?

Whatchu talkin' bout, Willys?

Okay, I admit, stupidest HAMB post ever. But I've got a free beer riding on it.

I had a conversation with somebody last week who said they "always wanted to rod a Will-eez Jeepster."

Being a smart*** schoolmarm, I say, "yeah, those are cool, but it's pronounced 'Will-iss'."

To which he replies something like "that's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," and says that he's never heard anyone pronounce it that way. Will-eez Jeep, Will-eez g***er, etc. etc.

I retorted that Willys doesn't have an apostrophe, that it was the Will-iss Overland car co., etc. etc..

Anyhow, so now the bet is on. What is it?

 

I've always heard it pronounced "will iss" but I'm from Texas and we say things weird down here. Creeps me out to hear someone say "will ees" though.

 

Ever since I was a kid it was Will EEEEZ until last summer when I was talking at a cruise night when an older man bumped into the conversation and corrected me "It's pronounced WILLL-ISSSS"

okay- so ever sice then it's been a willl isss.

I still think Will eezzz sounds cooler

 

IT's really Will-iss, even though i say will-eez because i'm irish and when your irish you never admit being wrong!

 

It's pronounced Will-eez...

Sam.

 

It's been Will-iss for most people I know for as long back as I remember. I did occasionally hear "Will-eez", but it was usually more in a joking manner, like "Chebby" or "Pony-ack" or "Studey".

 

When's the last time you heard a "Y" pronounced "i"?

Just call me 'Kilro-i"...

 

"physics"
"crystal"
"rhythm"
"myth"

 

To add to the discussion...

Is it a Buick 'Centur-ee' or is it a Buick 'Centur-i'...

 

Those are all pronounced ee...

 

http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Willys


Will-eeze


Mutt

 

the man pronounced his name "will-iss" and he pronounced the car "will-eez".
everyone was always mispronouncing his name as "will-eez" so to save confusion he call the car company "will-eez"

 

Urghh, damn wikipedia... this Willys site, however, seems to say it is definitely Will-iss...

http://mightymo.org/why_willys.html

 

When you figure this one out, gimme a hand with "Hirohata".

 

you did'nt seriously think you were gonna get a straight answer from this group, did ya? i say you call it a draw and buy each other a beer. it's a win win that way.

 

HA!

po TATE oh or po TOT o ? I guess for a free beer, the question was worth asking.

Isn't there some sort of lube call Will-eze?

 

It's y-laze. betidean-beta DINE and va JEAN ah sparkles

 

Doesn't it rhyme with 'playa hata' ?

 

Always been Will-eez up north. But we're weird anyways.

 

http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/wokr/gallery/jn_wil.htm


Will-iss




Mutt

 

Every old timer I talk to pronounces it Willis. But every guy I know that has a Jeep say Willeez. I saw on that Street Rod show with Don Garlits they brought this up once and both Garlits and the old timer with the car he was talking to said, most people wrongly pronounce it Willeez when it is really Willis. So now I am retraining myself to say Willis when referring to the cars. I still say Willeez when talking about the Jeeps.

 

Score! I say that link plus the previous just got me a free beer.

 

Your are correct with the "Will-iss". It is grammatically correct. "Will-eez" is the common pronunciation by those of us educated in "Americun" schools. Just read what we all write on this message board! We all have to remember that what we try to speak, write, spell, butcher, etc. is "English", which is a very strange language. The "rules" (and I use the term loosely) we "use" for grammer, spelling, etc. all have exceptions. Its enough to drive someone who doesn't speak English nuts. When you can say the same sentence of three words and get two completely different meanings, you know we have a weird language.
When I say: I can fish.
Do I mean: I have the ability to catch fish OR I put fish in cans?
See what I mean.
And then there are our cousins from England and Australia. I'm sure they think we Americans never learned how to spell. Our "color" to their "colour"; grey vs. gray, and on and on. And then the terminology differences. Go lift the bonnet on the lorry and check the carburettor. OR, Go open the boot and put in the valise. HELP!!!!

O/T for you mates Down Under. I've read in some of your posts where you refer to "Oz". To what geographical place are you referring?

Enough of my rant on the English language.

Phil, aka AZAV8

 

i have to agree with this a coupe is a willis and a jeep/jeepster/ wagon/ pick-up is a willezz

 

Here's a funny one: "root" has an entirely different meaning in Australia. If you tell an Aussie that you "root for" your favorite sports team, they'll probably give you a real strange look.

 

Ask Bruce how Willis is supposed to be pronounced and if it's the same as Willys.


There's too many people pronounce all Y's the Spanish Eeez way around here in So. Cal for it to sound right pronounced like an i or an Egg e, which is closest to that iss.

I think Hirohata is impossible to pronounce using English pronunciation.
But the closest I can come to writing it, I think, would be Hear-o-ha-Ta, with a slightly rolled "r".
Or that may just the way Japanese people around here enunciate when they are trying to get "white people" to understand them?
At least they don't just repeat the same thing, slower and louder...


I fully understand it being pronounced iss in Texas...
Thats where they pronounce the Spanish word for the English word Yellow "Amma-ril-a" instead of the (close as a gringo can do it without those pronunciation marks above the letters) "Ah-ma-ree-yo"
(Ah like the dentist says to do and yo like in Yoyo)
Yes, My Texan Dad talked that "Texan" too!

 

"what you talkin 'bout Willys?"

Just don't seem right.

 

I think it's pronounced "****-Bird"....

With a silent "J"...

 

I have heard it a lot both ways. Will-eez more in reference to Jeeps though it seems. If you practice and say it just right it could go either way. If you say it like it's written, Willys, it sounds like the possesive form of Willy which would be Will-eez. Dam things give me the willies either way.

 

I don't ever recall anyone EVER calling a '40 Willys coupe a "Will-iss" coupe... don't ever really recall hearing anyone calling a Willys Jeep a "Will-iss" Jeep...

I chaulk this up to the evolution of the American English Language...

Take for instance the word "coupe"...

70 years ago... it was pronounced "Coop-a".

But over time... it got butchered into being pronounced "coop".

If you go to a hot rod show... and tell everyone "Hey man, I like your '32 coop-a" They'll look at you like a *****.

Sure it's the "correct" way to pronounce the word... but today, in 2005... it's the "wrong" way to pronounce it.

I think the same thing is going on with "Willys"...

I would bet that the dude with the last name "Willys", that built the dang car in the first place, came from, or had ancestors from, some country where they pronounced his name "Will-iss".

So he builds this car with a cat named "Overland" (pronounced "Over-lond" ) and they get all pissy and tell people how they want their name(s) produced.

Then, you get some jawnyawker RESTORER with his *** puckered up... the kind that makes sure his "WILL-ISS" has all the correct CHAULK marks on the firewall, the overspray in the wheel wells and the correct HOSE CLAMPS on the HOSES... he does a little RESEARCH... finds out that Mr. Willys liked to be called "Mista-Will-Iss"... and so he goes on some quest to change all the vocabulary that we changed over the past 50 years.

This all reminds me of that movie "The Toy" with Richard Pryor... Jackie Gleason... and his trophy wife who used to call him "You-***"!!

I say it's Will-eez!

Sam.