" Coues " Pronunciation

[100%DIYazCOUES]

Well if adams calls em cooz that seals the deal for me,I'd argue with him about it about as much as I'd try to teach stevie yzerman how to take a slapshot

[Viper]

"I shot a cows".

"What! You mean you shot a cow?!

"No...I shot a cows deer"

"Don't call me dear" "It's illegal to shoot cows"!

 

I'll stick with cooz

[az_shooter]

I just didnt want to offend anyone by my pronunciation, sorry to azgutpile.

Well it's too late, I am deeply offended that you say "cows" and not "cooz". How could you ever do this to me.

[POB]

I'm with Viper... anyway every hunter I've ever talked with called them "cooze". Only "know-it-all" jackass's call them cows. At least that's what my dad said about 50 years ago.

[Jimmer Negamanee]

I go with the common pronunciation "cooze" for two reasons:

 

1. Words are pronounced like the people who use the words say them. And almost everyone says "cooze" unless theyre intentionally going against that pronunciation because they read somewhere that they should.

 

2. I believe Coues is a French name originally (at least it looks French to me) so from my high school French classes I would say "cooze" is pretty close to being the correct pronunciation. (Maybe it would have and "s" sound on the end instead of a "z" sound but its been a long time since my high school French. Maybe we have a francophone on here who can clarify.)

 

If you ask me, how Dr. Coues pronounced his last name has nothing to do with how the name for the deer should be pronounced. An analog would be the lovely Arizona town called Prescott. Almost all Arizonans say "Preskit" and, in fact, if you say "Pres-scot" people will peg you as being not from 'round here. (Prescott, therefore, is a shibboleth in that its pronunciation gives away where your from, or, in this case, where you're not from.)

 

Of course, the town was named after William H. Prescott and he, from what Im told, said his last name phonetically, "Pres-scot" but I dont see people jumping up and down when people say "Preskit" arguing that its common pronunciation should be changed. (Although I know someone from Prescott who steadfastly refuses to say "Preskit" on the grounds that William H. did not say it that way and I respect him for standing up for what he believes in.)

[ruffcountry]

I once worked on a job where the supervisor spoke 5 languages including French . When he said Coues , he pronounced it as coo-eez .

Not sayin thats right or wrong just sayin .

 

When I first read about Coues before i ever hunted them , I read the word as cooze , as i read more about them I read that the correct pronunciation was kouse like house . When I started hunting them , everytime I said kouse to anyone they would look at me funny and say " Oh , you mean cooze ". Now I just call them cooze like most everybody else .

[Guest wdenike]

I'm gona go with" CAUSE". WHY????? CAUSE sometimes I just can't believe what my eye balls read!!! :P

 

 

 

 

Take care, Willie

[muley224]

Well POB, I dont claim to be a "know it all" and as for a "jackass" you might want to keep your insults to yourself. Is that what this site is for? Really !

[Guest wdenike]

Well POB, I dont claim to be a "know it all" and as for a "jackass" you might want to keep your insults to yourself. Is that what this site is for? Really !

 

 

 

A little touchy aint we??? Not quite half, but almost half. Have sorta made some kinda joke about this. My self included, It seemed like all in fun to me. But if your that thin skinned, and can't take a little heat, probably should stay outa the kitchen.

 

 

 

Take care, Willie

[muley224]

Thanks for your input there Willie. The Smiley faces in your posts add a Manly touch. See ya in the Kitchen. Take care yourself.

[muley224]

This one is the kids favorite! Thin skinned ?

[Seldom Drawn]

Growing up we always called them cows, wasn't untell they got real popular to hunt and the intranet people started calling them coues they

thought they were so tough to hunt it was insulting to call them cows.Guess what big Mulies are tough to hunt and we call them all kinds of different things but most don't get upset, It's way harder to kill a giant muley so why do coues hunters get so upset when people call them there real name?It's Cows just like cattle.

 

POB, Guess I am one of the Jack asses.

[Guest wdenike]

This one is the kids favorite! Thin skinned ?

 

 

 

There we go. I like it!!!!

 

 

 

 

Take care, Willie

[Jimmer Negamanee]

Muley224,

This is an interesting topic and I think I misread it the first time. We may say the word differently but you can say coues any way you want to and not only will I not give you hard time, but I’ll stand with you if someone else does.

No one should become irate because of how you say coues. You have a lot of support for pronouncing it the way you do.

Randall D. Babb, Information and Education Program Manager for the AZGFD, wrote an article called Who’s in a Name: Patronyms of Arizona Animals which appeared in July-August 2012 issue of Arizona Wildlife Views. In that article he says Coues is pronounced “cows” and that “nfortunately, most people mistakenly pronounce its name as “cooz” deer, doing an egregious dishonor to the man it is named for.”

Ultimately, pronunciation is democratic in that words are pronounced the way people pronounce them so if someone says “cows”, fine. But if they say “cooz”, that’s fine too. I think it’s an overstatement to say it’s an “egregious dishonor” for saying “cooz.” (I say “cooz” and don’t mean any offense.) For example, I don't take offense for how one says "Casa Grande" or the "San Francisco" Peaks.

Another problem is that spoken language changes JUST fast enough for us to notice (and therefore annoy us). When I was a kid we said “Neanderthal” with a “thal” ending but now most scientists say “Neander-TALL.” Same goes for Genghis Khan which was said with a hard “g” when I was a kid but now many historians say “Jengis Khan” with a soft “g.”

And don’t get me started on definitions…I’ll save that for another post. : )

[muledeerarea33?]

Just like the San fransico river, the slang is the frisco. Or ustacood "I was once able to" or for all intensive purposes "for all intents and purposes" most words and sayings are wrong these days but society accepts them. Right or wrong? Dumbing down of America? I don't know? I may of Misquoted words in this post. I ustacood spell and such but I became a stooge after schooling.