I hate to sound ignorant, but I was just wondering how everyone pronounced "Minox." I don't know anyone else with a Minox camera, but I have heard it pronounced both ways by the few people I've encountered who seem to even know what a Minox is.

I'm a little embarrassed to post this, since I am hereby admitting that I don't know how to pronounce the name of the camera I've used for 17 years. I absolutely LOVE the Minox 35mm cameras, and I don't think I'll ever use any other, though my current one is beginning to act up after 12 years.

My first Minox was given to me by my sister as a high school graduation present in 1982. It was stolen from my car during a spring break trip in college, so I bought my current 35GT while traveling in Europe in 1987. I've used it ever since, without being confident about what I was calling it. For a long time I said "men-ox" because that is what I think my sister called it, but more recently I've been saying "my-nox." Can anyone help me?? Thanks.

-- fbmatthews (fbmatthews@aol.com), September 01, 1999

Answers

USA/CANADA : 'Min nox' min like in 'mint'

Germany/Europe: it is "Me nox" or "Mi nox" mi like in 'minute'

Minox is also frequently used as short form of the drug Minoxidil, and pronounced as "My nox"

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), September 01, 1999.

I myself pronounce it the Germany way, Me-nox.

When you pronounce Me-nox, people realizes you know.

We are Me-noxers.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), September 01, 1999.

Thanks for the responses. But now I see the problems with discussing pronunciation via written communication Martin, you say "mi like in minute. " Is that minute as in 60 seconds or minute as in very small?

From the answers, it seems that the first syllable vowel sound is not a long i sound ("my nox"), unless youre talking about the drug. I had never heard the long e sound ("me nox"), but is that another option ("me" as in "lend me your ears")? It sounds as if the safest thing to do is go with "min nox" as in "mint" or "minimum" or "men." Would you agree? (If youre confused by "men," let me explain: in the South, we say "men" as if it were "mint" without the "t"; I dont know if thats incorrect in other parts of the country, but I do know that my northern friends tell me "pen" and "pin" are not pronounced the same way anywhere except in the South.)

Then theres the question of the second syllable. Is it "ox" as in the singular of "oxen," or is it more of an "ux" sound, like in "flux" or "lennox"?

Sorry to be so persistent, but I just dont want to embarrass myself when talking to someone who know the difference. Any comments are most appreciated. Thanks!

-- fbmatthews (fbmatthews@aol.com), September 01, 1999.

fbmatthews, mi like the minute in 60 sec. Minox as min(t)nox is quite common. Ox is like oxen.

Since there are great variations in accent even within English speaking world on common words like tomato, so it really doesn't matter to much, as long as the sales person don't ask you go the the next door pharmacy :) The mi in Minox is s short one

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), September 01, 1999.

Tom, Min nox is indeed quite common, just as Nikon Zeiss all has American pronunciation different from its country of origin.

-- martin tai (martin.tai@capcanada.com), September 02, 1999.

This seems to be a question of great interest.

In germany, the Minox has the long tone at the beginning. So, pronounce the "i" like in "Jeep", I would suggest. The "ox" is short, something like "Campari on the rOCKS"

That is, however, the sound that is heard from the women answering the phone when you call the minox factory.

-- Oliver (pyper@fks.chem.tu-berlin.de), September 02, 1999.

The way the rest of the world tends to pronouce "i"

In the US, I use US pronunciation, with short "i" and short "o". In Europe, most people will be able to spell out what you pronounce is you use Romance (Latin, Italian, etc.) pronunciation: "i" is pronounced "eeeeee" and "o" is pronounced "oh" (long O).

At a hotel desk in Europe, I leave the Philadelphia accent in Philly, and pronounce my name POH-LAH-SKEE. I usually get the right room. .

-- Jeff Polaski (polaski@acm.org), September 07, 1999.

You're totally right. Europeans, especially Germans (like me) pronounce things quite different from the rest of the world. Most definitely, I would say Minox is pronounced like Meenocks. The I is long, but the o isn't. By the way, my own name is pronounced Oovah in German...

-- Uwe Salaschek (uwe@eyeonline.de), September 14, 1999.

Donald Thayer Jr., whose father was the primary person responsible for the introduction of the Minox into the US, and who, today is the president of Minox Labs, pronounced it more like min-ox (min as in miniature) than mee-nox when I spoke to him in person recently. The company also answers the phone using min-ox pronunciation, to my ears anyway. That is good enough for me. The videotape of Minox inventor Walter Zapp that comes with the Minox CLX special edition, has Walter speaking German and a translator in English. Walter pronounces it as a slight cross, halfway between Min-ox and Mee-nox, but not over emphasizing the long e sound in mee-, more like a min- sound with a slight "e" twist to it. It is more a question of English v. German pronunciation, and I would say either is correct, depending on your langauge choice. The way I have always pronounced it is close enough to Walter Zapp's way that I chalk the difference up to German inflection, and I have always said it more like min-ox. The name was a play on miniature, and in English, we say min-iature. Perhaps the German pronunciation of miniature has more of a mee- ring to it?

-- Michael J. Vorrasi (MVorr99@aol.com), October 20, 1999.

Is anyone still interested? I just happend to run into this discussion of 1999. "Miniature" in German sounds more like "meeniature". That's why the original pronounciation would be close to "Meenocks", but not quite: 1/3 Min(t)nox and 2/3 Meenox. All right? - By the way, I don't use my Minox 35 any more, since I own a Canon ixus. Now I know, why Canon doesn't use the name "ixus" in the US - you'd never know, how to pronounce it.

-- "Munfraid" Salaschek (macs@12move.de), June 12, 2002.