How do you say Cairn?

[Barney's Mom]

OK, I was at the dog park tonight and introduced Barney to some nice people. I call him a Cairn (with the air sounding like air, as in air we breath). But this one lady called him a Cairn (Cairn sounding like "barn" but with a C). Who's right? I hope I haven't made a fool of myself and called him the wrong thing for 6 months!

[Scoo's Mom]

Hi Barney's Mom ,

As far as I know you are correct, Sounds like hard C (K) with air then N. Where I live we have alot of names influenced by Mexico and people are so funny.. Like La Jolla pronounced La hoya, you can definatly tell when people aren't from around here.

[Max's_Dad]

As far as I can tell ( and I doubled checked on a couple different resource sites to confirm what I thought I already knew ), Barney can rest assured that his mom is indeed correct.

It was funny though, for a second I was thinking perhaps I was mistaken as well.....

[purebella]

I say it the same as you!

We actually have a town in Oz called CAIRNS!!!

Recently was there for a holiday - and ensured that I got a photo of the town sign!

[Janet]

You are correct. The dogs were named after the piles of rocks ( Cairns) on the highlands of Scotland

[kayharley]

Cairn to sound like Karen

[Sarah]

I say Cairn like Karen, too. We've been saying that all this time, but had a similar experience. My next door neighbor called Henry a Cairn (like barn). I doubted for a minute if we had it right, but nobody (the vet, the breeder, etc) has ever corrected us!

[goforette]

Yep my vote is for Cairn like Karen too!

[bradl]

"How do you pronounce Cairn?" From that topic: sound file.

[Sarah]

That previous thread is interesting. I've never heard anyone pronounce it as just one syllable. I've been practicing, but it just comes out like Karen! I'm sure it has a lot to do with accent and speech patterns in general.

[Max's_Dad]

I looked for some pronunciations online when I was checking....

I was hoping to find one with a proper Scottish brogue ( or burr ) but wasn't successful.....

If anyone can find an example, please post a link.

Offtopic.....countdown to Max....... 5 more sleeps!!

[montdoug]

This is from Dictionary.com

I personally am siding with my Breeder who's been at this since she was twelve as well as the anouncers on the dog shows. It's "Cairn" to me.

"A rose by any other name shall smell as sweet."

Top Web Results for "cairn"

3 results for: cairn

View results from: Dictionary | Thesaurus | Encyclopedia | the Web

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) - Cite This Source

cairn  /kɛərn/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[kairn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

[kcsdogs]

Hi Barneys mama. I belive you are correct in the pronunciation of Cairn. I have a friend who always says CARN and it drives me nuts (she also pronounces weimaraner -weimeramer) which also drives me crazy. Like people who say Arygun instead of ORE-gun.

[JerryLv]

If it looks like a perpetual bad hair day.

Smell like it's been rolling in ka ka.

Makes you laugh at least once an hour.

Loves you unconditionally.

THEN IT MUST BE A KAY ON (CAIRN)!!!

[Brody'sMom]

I agree with the Brad's pronouncation guide. I don't know if anyone from Scotland would know how to pronounce Cairn, we searched high and low for Cairn Terriers when we were there, but saw none! They do know how to say Border Collie, those were everywhere. My niece went to Scotland the year before we did and said everyone had a terrier dressed in a plaid coat. Turns out she was there during a big terrier festival!

And, okay I know this is , but it drives me crazy when otherwise normal sounding people suddenly refer to Manicotti as managot (no accent). It seems every other person in New York does this. I've never heard Mario Batali say managot or ragot (ricotta).

[Maggie15]

We pronounce it kairn ...one syllable... while backpacking in china we met a guy from cairn, australia... we said hey we have a cairn terrier... he said 'ca-n'...couldnt hear the 'r' in the oz accent... i said caiRn... he said 'can'...sounded more like Cannes...?? we both kinda looked at each other and gave up!!hahaha!! ...we both kinda thought we were trying to say the same thing, with two different accents... the english language is so messed up... phonetics would be a great thing!!

a

[AngusMacDoggal]

This is from Dictionary.com

I personally am siding with my Breeder who's been at this since she was twelve as well as the anouncers on the dog shows. It's "Cairn" to me.

"A rose by any other name shall smell as sweet."

Your breeder must be the reknowned Breeder of Cairns featured on "Meet the Breed" on Animal Planet. She pronouned it "C (K) AIR, n. That is how I've been pronouncing it. I hesitate to pronounce it KAREN, as that is my name and my husband will get so jealous!!

Edit: trimmed quote

[Fenway]

ive been saying Cairn..Like KAREN..but maybe i just cant help it seeing that im from NC..and i have a southern accent.. ).but jon's from detroit and he still pronounces the same as me. I dont know? haha

[Darcy's Mom]

Hey ya'll,

I'm from Alabama (can you tell?) and I pronounce it C(K)airn (one sylable). Karen seems to me to sound almost as foreign as Carn, Karn or however you spell it. My hubby says it that way I am always correcting him as to the correct pronounciation. What the heck, we all love our babies no matter what we call their breed.

[bayfeet]

Guilty here of mispronouncing the name. We have been pronouncing it Carn. But I'm from Massachusetts, with a combination of Boston/Worcester accent. So I have it pretty bad. "I pahk my cah in Havahd yahd, then take my Cahn for a walk." Maybe he will start behaving better if I pronounce it correctly. Good Post!