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Pronounce bokeh


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<p>I say boh'-keh. It's a borrowing from Japanese; who knows how <em>they</em> pronounce it. Then again, I understand that they pronounce Nikon "knee'-cone", so obviously we in the USA are unconcerned with accurately pronouncing words from other cultures. Durn furriners ought'a just learn to speak English like normal people, after all.</p>

<p>Maybe this should have been posted to Casual Photo Conversations?</p>

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<p>we in the USA are unconcerned with accurately pronouncing words from other cultures. Durn furriners ought'a just learn to speak English like normal people</p>

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<p><br /><br />We think Americans should learn to speak English like English people!</p>

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<p>English peepole? They don't even speak 'merkan proper ;) And apparently up ere we say aboot instead of about... even though in over two decades in Canada I have only heard that pronunciation on South Park... As far as bokeh goes, I find the majority of people who talk about it boring and pretentious so I generally tune them, and the myriad of ways they pronounce it, out. </p>
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<p>What James K. said*. Except for the minor detail that "bokeh" by itself just means out of focus. You have to add the kanji (Chinese character) that means flavor to the end to get "the degree to which it's pleasing" bit. And that character has (at least) two pronounciations (in Japanese): "mi" and "aji". And I've heard both "bokemi" and "bokeaji" in spoken Japanese. I think they're intentionally trying to make life hard for us furriners.</p>

<p>*: Since the syllables in Japanese are "bo" and "ke", I'd never have thought to break it up that way, but it's a good description of the sounds.</p>

 

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<p>As far as bokeh goes, I find the majority of people who talk about it boring and pretentious so I generally tune them, and the myriad of ways they pronounce it, out.</p>

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<p>See first response.</p>

<p>I pronounce Nikon the same way that Nikon pronounces it on their TV commercials, Nye-Kahn. If it works for them it works for me.</p>

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<p>bo - ka' <em>n</em>. - A fuzzy definition of a blurry topic. Often used to convince people that buying new lenses will make their pictures better (see: <strong>magic bullet</strong>).</p>

<p>All fun (mostly) aside, my 85mm Jupiter 9 gives up the blur in a major way. Can't wait till they start giving away full frame DSLRs in cereal boxes so I can really see what that baby will do. </p>

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<p>I think Nikon, like many companies, is quite happy to have their name pronounced any 'ole way the people who pay them want to pronounce it:) In Poland, where the phonetic pronunciation of Nikon coincides with the (supposed) Japanese, the name is pronounced Knee-con. I am sure that if a buying market of several hundred million people existed that pronounced it Flibbity-floo, Nikon would be quite happy to do the same in their commercials aimed at that cash source:)<br>

I just find "bokeh" to be like trying to make the infinitely repeatable machine output of a glorified ink-jet more palatable by calling it something fancy in, lets say, French... oh wait - they do that too:)</p>

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<p>Pronounced similarly to "bouquet" as in "This '94 Lafite has a wonderful bouquet...not quite as aesthetically pleasing as the bokeh on my '51 collapsible Summicron but acceptable..."</p>

<p>Of course you have to be a bit of d****e bag to pull that off. If you can't you're better of refering to the bokeh as "the fuzzy bits."</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>I just say <em>bouquet </em>- it's is particularly noticeable in close-up photos of flowers. However, I am wondering if <em>"oofa"</em> has any unintended meaning in any language . . . (<em>out of focus appearance</em>)?</p>

<p>Sadly <em>oomph </em>doesn't easily lend itself to being a suitable acronym: I like lenses (and photos) that have <em>oomph!</em></p>

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<p>Bokeh describes the character of out of focus <em>highlights</em>, not the entire out of focus area of an image. Out of focus non-highlights are just out of focus...ie, blurry. Highlights can be rendered as sharp circles, rings, or soft blur, thus allowing a comparison of quality from one lens to another.</p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh</a></p>

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<p>Bokeh describes the character of out of focus <em>highlights</em>, not the entire out of focus area of an image. </p>

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<p>I guess it depends on who you ask. According to www.dictionary.com:<br>

bokeh: noun, a <strong>Japanese</strong> term for the subjective aesthetic quality of the out of focus area of a photographic image.</p>

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