What do you prefer - Genesis or Mega Drive?

[Gentlegamer]

OK, well I pronounce Amiga "Ameega", and so does every person I have ever met. What have we being doing wrong all these years?

It is "Ameega," Spanish for female friend.

[Black_Tiger]

Even as a 12 year old only ever seeing Amiga in game mags, I always promounced it "ameega".

I don't care if anyone thinks it should be pronounced differently, because I won't read it in my head any differently, but if it helps, I'll never have a conversation in person in which the Amiga will come up.

[Gentlegamer]

And Aussies, it's Say-ga, not See-ga.

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

And Aussies, it's Say-ga, not See-ga.

lol yeah, I've met a few Aussies that pronounce it "Seega". I'm not sure where they got that from except that maybe when it was launched in Australia perhaps it was mispronounced in early advertisements, commercials and marketing and it just stuck.

[o.pwuaioc]

Mega Drive sounds better to me, and I grew up with a Genesis. And it's "uh-mee-guh."

[Mega Drive Bowlsey]

Mega Drive sounds better to me, and I grew up with a Genesis. And it's "uh-mee-guh."

Why would it be pronounced "uh-mee-guh"? It's quite clearly spelled with two A's. Oh well, each to their own.

[spiffyone]

OK, well I pronounce Amiga "Ameega", and so does every person I have ever met. What have we being doing wrong all these years?

Some (mis)pronounce it "a-mig-guh" and call it a "mig" for short. I swear I've seen some vids on youtube where that's how they pronounced it.

Yes, you are correct in your pronunciation.

Amiga = spanish for female friend

[o.pwuaioc]

Why would it be pronounced "uh-mee-guh"? It's quite clearly spelled with two A's. Oh well, each to their own.

English phonetics, chief.

[Gentlegamer]

lol yeah, I've met a few Aussies that pronounce it "Seega". I'm not sure where they got that from except that maybe when it was launched in Australia perhaps it was mispronounced in early advertisements, commercials and marketing and it just stuck.

It makes me wonder if any of them played Sonic the Hedgehog. Most of the cart is taken up by the "Say-ga" jingle intro.

[ComradeOj]

It makes me wonder if any of them played Sonic the Hedgehog. Most of the cart is taken up by the "Say-ga" jingle intro.

Not trying to be a nit-picker, but that sound effect only takes up about 1/19th, if you're counting the first sonic game. Still, the "sea-ga" pronunciation does sound really weird and wrong.

[o.pwuaioc]

It makes me wonder if any of them played Sonic the Hedgehog. Most of the cart is taken up by the "Say-ga" jingle intro.

Along that tangent, people kept saying "mare-ee-oh" even after "It's a mee, Mario!" became a thing.

[Gentlegamer]

Along that tangent, people kept saying "mare-ee-oh" even after "It's a mee, Mario!" became a thing.

I think you're from New York, isn't that the common pronunciation around there? I can see people being hard to break that habit on a pre-existing name.

[o.pwuaioc]

I think you're from New York, isn't that the common pronunciation around there? I can see people being hard to break that habit on a pre-existing name.

Yep, definitely, especially among those from New Jersey or Long Island.

[Diablo Griffin]

The "see-guh" pronunciation is actually used in this video from 1982:

Start around the 50 minute mark, and you'll find it. Then again, this was back in 1982, so nobody had the Sonic games to go by yet

[o.pwuaioc]

I wonder if See-guh was the original pronunciation, and it changed when it was bought out by Japan or something. Sega was a fairly big name in 1982, so they wouldn't have been unknown, but then again, plenty of companies and games had weird names with multiple pronunciations (think Xonox, Engesoft, Galaga) and regional variations.