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[OneEightZero]

Last night, I was reading tweets related to the 30th Anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System and I came across this tweet from our own Kyoufu.

This intrigued me. I had not realized that the pronunciation of NES was so divisive. This lead into a linguistic rabbit hole where several others spoke up with their preferred way of saying NES.

• Cheesemeister @Cheesemeister3k
  .@OneEightZero @Kyoufu2011 "NEZ" is the only proper pronunciation.
  
• Jon Peck ‏@abellwillring
  @Cheesemeister3k @OneEightZero @Kyoufu2011 I’ve never met anyone in real life who didn’t say it N-E-S.
  
• Zabojnik ‏@Zabojnikk
  @abellwillring @Cheesemeister3k @OneEightZero @Kyoufu2011 Never met someone who did say it N-E-S. Then again, why would I in Slovenia.
  
• Mike ‏@StrikerObi
  @OneEightZero N-E-S
  
• Kyoufu ‏@Kyoufu2011 6h6 hours ago
  @DCharlieJP @abellwillring @Cheesemeister3k @OneEightZero SNEZ!

Interestingly, the consensus over how NES is pronounced seemed to be based on location. Zabojnik in the above tweet and others thought the pronunciation was based on where a person was from and not an individual distinction.

• DCharlie ‏@DCharlieJP
  @abellwillring @Cheesemeister3k @OneEightZero @Kyoufu2011 bear in mind a lot of Brits would pronounce Sega "Sea-ga" ...
  
• Kyoufu ‏@Kyoufu2011
  @abellwillring @Cheesemeister3k @OneEightZero I'm almost certain "Nez" is a British thing. What do you think @DCharlieJP ?

I want to test this theory. Speech production based on location is my speciality, and I wanted to test the location theory with the members of GAF to see if the location based production of the NES acronym holds water. Since NeoGAF has a wide range of diverse users from around the world who love the NES and gaming, I want to see if I can collocate your responses and map a worldwide linguistic speech pattern for NES.

So, if you would like to participate in this linguistic endeavor, simply answer this question:

"How do you pronounce NES, the acronym for Nintendo Entertainment System?"

Be sure to respond in this Google Form with your pronunciation and your country of origin. In a few weeks, I'll crunch the responses (all of them) and present my findings to all of you.

Happy (NES)ing. ^_^

 

[Carl]

NEZ. She is right.

From the UK

Spoiler

I know Koofoo is a guy

 

[TBiddy]

As a Dane from Denmark in Scandinavia, Europe, I've always called it "Nintendo".. but if I were to pronounce NES, I'd say "NES", not "N-E-S".

 

[Podge293]

yeah it's Nez, thread over, game done, we win (not sure what we win, but i need a win dammit!!)

 

[raven777]

N-E-S

 

[Fermbiz]

From USA. I say N-E-S.

Also. I notice the younger generation pronounce it as Nes. That irks me....

 

[cloudyy]

Ness

 

[ramparter]

En. E. Es. (N-E-S)

But we'd just call it Nintendo (and Super Nintendo the SNES) when we were kids.

edit: Greece

 

[OddSockZA]

South African.
Late thirties.

I say "Nez" and "Snez"

 

[Get_craycray]

Ness

This.

But we'd just call it Nintendo (and Super Nintendo the SNES) when we were kids.

edit: Greece

Also this.

 

[Caramello]

Pronounce NES as N-E-S.

Call the SNES the Super Nintendo.

Pronounce Sega as Sea-ga not Say-ga.

Australian for context.

 

[ekim]

I always spelled the single letters. N-E-S

 

[krpiper]

I say Ness like the first part of Nessie what's this NEZ stuff

 

[Infernal Monkey]

Ness and Seegah for life yo.

DID YOU KNOW?

 

[Chastten]

We simply called it Nintendo, same with Super Nintendo. Guess the N-E-S/NES thing is something for native speakers.

Out of those options: NES.

 

[JoeM86]

When you make an acronym out of a multi worded statement, assuming it has vowels, you typically pronounce it as if it's a word like you do Laser, GIF, Potus, NeoGAF etc., so "nez" is the logical pronunciation.

 

[Rolodzeo]

NES.

 

[ZiZ]

EN-EE-ES

Los Angeles

But called it a Nintendo.

 

[Liamario]

Ireland

N-E-S.

But,

Super Nintendo Entertainment System is pronounced, 'SNES'.

 

[Cube]

N-E-S

Philadelphia

 

[Linkyn]

It's an acronym, and that's how I've always pronounced it.

Edit: Oddly enough, even though the Nintendo Entertainment System was always the NES (as opposed to Nintendo), we did refer to the SNES as Super Nintendo when I was young (I'm using the acronym these days).

 

[Killthee]

I remember the comercials saying Super N-E-S so that's what I've always read the initial as.

http://youtu.be/0PXmN1KPV88

http://youtu.be/MC1udmw58o8

 

[ekim]

And the SNES is the Super-N-E-S

 

[NekoFever]

Nez. I'm from the UK.

Although, growing up, the NES and SNES were always the Nintendo and Super Nintendo. I don't remember when the acronyms took over.

 

[nkarafo]

en - ee - es.

Greece.

 

[Okingjrr]

Whenever I hear americans prononce it, they say N-E-S. When my french friends say it , they say NES. Nes just rolls off the tongue.

 

[walltowall]

NES, would imply that its a singular word that is shortened.

N-E-S, is the proper way to shorten the multi word name, Nintendo Entertainment System.

 

[J D]

Nez for me and everyone ive ever heard say it here (England)

 

[Paasei]

Nintendo Entertainment System.

Nah, just kidding. NES most of the time for me.

 

[Barrylocke]

N-E-S

Super N-E-S, though I sometimes say S-N-E-S.

 

[kuroneko0509]

both, depend oh how lazy I am

 

[gelf]

I'm British and its Nez. Also it was always Say-ga, I didn't know anyone who said Sea-ga. Say-ga is right there in the Sonic intros.

 

[RevenantKioku]

You say it N-E-S. Unless you currently say it wrong, but they you fix yourself, because holy shit, don't you have any self respect.

It's like the fools who do hard g on gif. Learn to love yourself, even just a little.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

NEZ in austria, N E S isn't much of an abbreviation anymore.

 

[MrCunningham]

Nin-Ten-Do takes as many syllables to say as N-E-S, so I just say "NES".

And I am also one of those people that says Ess-NES and not SNESS. Yes, I separate the "S" from NES.

 

[Lemonte]

If I speak Finnish I say NES but when I speak English I say N-E-S

 

[Zareka]

The hell, where does the Z come in? That says "Ness".

I'm British, Scottish if we're being precise.

 

[AmethystEnd]

Nintendo.

Nin-ten-doh.

Super Nintendo.

Soo-purr Nin-ten-doh

Though, N64 is En-64.

And I say .gif as a word too.

Language is so weird.

 

[Oersted]

Was there a official statement on this?

 

[bluehat9]

N-E-S but Super Nintendo.

 

[MindGamingMantis]

I say nes like Ness.

 

[sasuke_91]

Nintendo
Super Nintendo

Later I called it Ness. Today I'm confused...

 

[AniHawk]

'the nintendo' or 'the n-e-s' and 'the super n-e-s', 'the super nintendo' or 'the s-n-e-s' (this last one was used very rarely)

who calls it the 'nes' why would you do that you dont do that for anything else it doesnt make any sense

 

[RevenantKioku]

Remember, it's hard - so very hard - but you can make up for past mistakes. You can be better.

I used to pronounce the "L" in salmon. I still do from time to time on accident! These things get built deep into us.

But with hard work and self-love we can make ourselves better.

 

[Par Score]

Nez, Snez, Say-gah.

In the UK, that's standard. Less common would be Ness, Sness, Seh-Ga.

I'm surprised Americans go to the extra effort of saying "En-Ee-Ess", you guys are normally all about butchering English to make it easier

 

[Haganeren]

As a French guy, everyone was calling it "A Nintendo" (And then they were "Super Nintendo", "Nintendo 64").

By going into the Internet, i found american called it "NES".... I first though it was just the name oversees but found later that it just meant "Nintendo Entertainment System".)

Little by little, i started calling it "the American way". Maybe because of Smash 64 with Ness, the most natural thing to do for me was calling it the "Ness". (I heard people calling it differently only a little while later, when video on the net became more mainstream)

 

[KrM DeLorean]

"N-E-S", SUPER NINTENDO (No one I know says "Es N-E-S")
Pushing forty, I live in New York City. Everyone I know says it the same.

 

[Spiritwalker]

N-E-S seems to mostly be an american/english thing

I certainly haven't heard that pronunciation in scandinavia

 

[MrS]

Nez
Say-ga

Standard in UK

Spoiler

JIF

 

[NekoFever]

The hell, where does the Z come in? That says "Ness".

I'm British, Scottish if we're being precise.

Ness says ness. NES says nez. Like Les vs less.