goddesstogo

Hi Floridians,
I have a volunteer job where I read audio books for people who are visually impaired. I'm about to start a new book which takes place in a town in Florida called Pass-a-Grille. There are lots of websites about it but none that I could find which describe the pronunciation. Is it just as written? Pass a Grille? Like, um, walk past the bbq?

Also, re Don CeSar (as it's spelled in the book), is that pronounced Don Say-Zar?

The story is contemporary so I need current-day pronunciations.

This is as far as I've gotten at this time but I might be coming back to you for more, especially the Spanish names.

It looks like a lovely beach.

Thanks in advance for your help.
gtg

mrwunrfl

Don Cesar, I think it would be: doan seh sar

mrwunrfl

dohn SEH zar

mrwunrfl

That would be if Don Cesar was a Spanish man with the first name of Cesar.

Even if "grille" in that town name IS the French word, gree-yay, then I would wager that the locals would pronounce it like English: "grill". Like North Versailles, PA, is pronounced ver-sails, and Dubois, PA, is "do boys".

Dukey1

It is, in fact Dohn SAY zar as Mrwunrfl has indicated and the beach is pronounced PASSAH Grill

Ackislander

What Dukey says. They plenty of people would say "Don" as if it were the name of a character on Mad Men.

I am a fan of fifties television shows, now widely available, and it is astonishing how many people then said "Los Angeles" with a HARD G.

cd

What's the name of the book? Thanks

mrwunrfl

SEH, like in acCEpt, not SAY.

http://www.pronouncenames.com/pronounce/cesar

goddesstogo

Thanks so much, everyone.

cd, the book is called Ten Beach Road and the author is Wendy Wax.

Cranachin

Why not just call the hotel and ask them? That way you'll hear THEM SAY it rather than relying on a bunch of conflicting attempts at phonetic spelling.

Phone: (727) 360-1881

Toll Free Reservations: 1-800-282-1116

goddesstogo

Thanks, Cranachin, and especially for going to the trouble of finding the phone numbers for me. I think for my purposes, these responses are fine. As long as I'm not way off the wall (e.g. Passagreeyay or something), I think I'll be fine now. Other words and names may come up later in the book and then I'll top this thread.

OO

I'm looking at the Don right now across the bay. It is pronounced don, as in the name, sayZAR. Pass-a-Grille is actually the southern-most section of St Pete Beach, pronounced just as it looks, with the emphasis on the "pass". The Don is beautiful still, one of the old grand dames.

OO

Oh, no one would look askance if you said seh-zar, either. More often than not, locally it's just referred to as "the Don".

OO

Just changed my profile picture to a shot DH took from our balcony of the Don in the morning light. It looks like a big pink wedding cake. They have something like 350 wedding there a year and it's no wonder, gorgeous hotel, either from a distance or up close, and on a gorgeous stretch of beach.

goddesstogo

Hi OO,
Thanks for the info and wow, the Don looks amazing. It's interesting to be reading the book (I always try to keep ahead of where I'll be reading in the recording booth) and have real live people on hand who can tell me about the place.

gtg

cd

Thanks goddesstogo, we like this area so I might pick up that book.

sharona

Exactly what OO said. We were in St. Pete Beach last summer just up the beach from the Don and that's how the locals were saying both Don Cesar and Pass-a-Grille.

We found a great little restaurant in Pass-a-Grille, unfortunately on our last night. We all wished we had found it earlier in our visit.

OO

My favorite there is the Brass Monkey sharona. What was yours?

How are you liking the book gtg? What an interesting volunteer job!

goddesstogo

It's a wonderful volunteer job. I've been doing it for over 20 years. We used to read textbooks as well but they're done at source now, I think, so we mostly read fiction, biographies, magazines, etc.

The book is OK. It's what I would consider a take-on-vacation-and-read-at-the-pool sort of book.