37 replies to this topic

[Tmeranda]

How do you say the name of this carb? Is it WE( as in you and I) ber; or is it WEB( the stuff between frog's toes) er?

[Sharman]

How do you say the name of this carb? Is it WE( as in you and I) ber; or is it WEB( the stuff between frog's toes) er?

I've always pronounced and have always heard it pronounced VAYBER

[kayemod]

I've always pronounced and have always heard it pronounced VAYBER

Me too, and as founder/inventor Eduardo Weber was an Italian-born Swiss, I'd say that "Vay-ber" is probably correct, though "Webber" is also acceptable.

[garyfrogeye]

I've always called them Webbers as in ducks feet but I know that Jack Wheeler calls them Vaybers (he's the only person that I've actually heard say it that way) until reading the post aboves

[D-Type]

I thought we'd been here before so I did a search - WE HAVE!

[Gabrci]

It's pronounced as wayber, but without the y. Waber, with the wa as in way, and the r at the end is strong, not an 'ah'.

[Arjan de Roos]

Tmeranda, Italians pronounce Weber as way-BEAR, with emphasis on the ber-part.

[jgm]

I seem to remember that 'W' doesn't exist in the Italian alphabet which complicates things a little further

[Hieronymus]

Being a German surname, I guess one can settle for the way they pronounce it, although I pronounce it as the Swedes (see same link).

http://www.forvo.com/word/weber/

[Odseybod]

I clearly mixed with the wrong sort of people, because for me it's always been a twinchokewebber (is there any other kind?). To have referred to the item as a Vay-bear would have caused some mirth and accusations of ponciness - rather like calling Paris Paree here in Blighty.

[David Birchall]

I clearly mixed with the wrong sort of people, because for me it's always been a twinchokewebber (is there any other kind?). To have referred to the item as a Vay-bear would have caused some mirth and accusations of ponciness - rather like calling Paris Paree here in Blighty.

Like, ditto Dude!

[Arjan de Roos]

I seem to remember that 'W' doesn't exist in the Italian alphabet which complicates things a little further

Officially it indeed doesn't, but its imported. Eduardo Weber stems from a Swiss dad.

The V is pronounced Vu (as in déjà vu), the W therefore doppia Vu or Vu doppia. But being italians, with an URL starting www, they simply say Vu-vu-vu. A BMW is most often called a Bee Emme Vu in Italy.

[RShaw]

If you live in northeastern Utah, probably pronounce it "wee-ber", as in the Wee-ber (Weber) River, and Wee-ber State University.

[f1steveuk]

I did a course at the factory "Vayber". (The X is slilent, as in wheelbarrow)

[kayemod]

I did a course at the factory "Vayber". (The X is slilent, as in wheelbarrow)

So's the first 'L' in "slilent", apparently...

[RStock]

(The X is slilent, as in wheelbarrow)

And invisible as well?

[PJGD]

It must be like the silent "P", as in "bathing"?

PJGD

[Bloggsworth]

I did a course at the factory "Vayber". (The X is slilent, as in wheelbarrow)

Reminds me of Margot Asquiths reply to Jean Harlow who called her Mar-got: "The T is silent, as in Harlow".

[Lee Nicolle]

I seem to remember that 'W' doesn't exist in the Italian alphabet which complicates things a little further

It exists though on thousands of Italian carbs though !!

[Terry Walker]

There are one or two letters not native to Italian, which are used only on imported words - eg w in Weber, x as in xilofono, - xylophone - and y as in yoghurt. Italians would pronounce them roughly as in their original language, eg Weber or wurstel as V, but whisky as close to w. . . . I guess it's like when we write a African Bushman's name and insert the "click" sound as a ! in text, which no doubt confuses hell out of Spellcheck.

[f1steveuk]

Sorry, I was suffering from FFS (Fat Finger Sydrome) Silent is obviously spelt with a silient 'y'

Edited by f1steveuk, 17 February 2011 - 14:35.

[Allan Lupton]

The argument that "w" isn't a native Italian letter is sound, but bear in mind that a large chunk of the South Tyrol is now Italian, and German is still widely spoken there. There will therefore be lots of folk there with Germanic surnames and Italian first names, so Eduardo Weber would feel at home there!
When we talk of artists and musicians we usually have a go at using the pronunciation they would have used, rather than a simplified "English" version. So the Weber that wrote "Der Freischutz" (Carl Maria v. Weber) isn't called Webber and the painter Millet and the grain millet are spoken differently.
Oh, and conventional English rules give the first "e" a different sound before the double or single consonant (as in fern and ferret).
I normally point out that Webber is a driver and Weber made carbs.

[Odseybod]

Oh, and conventional English rules give the first "e" a different sound before the double or single consonant (as in fern and ferret).

Or beret and berry?

[Hieronymus]

I normally point out that Webber is a driver and Weber made carbs.

I would not be surprise if the "general public" associate this name more with Grill Accessories i.e. barbeque gadgets, rather than carburettors.

http://www.weber.com/

[elansprint72]

I would not be surprise if the "general public" associate this name more with Grill Accessories i.e. barbeque gadgets, rather than carburettors.

http://www.weber.com/

That might explain why so many of the new Webers (are they made in Spain?) have been setting fire to things like glass-fibre racing cars.

[Ian G]

That might explain why so many of the new Webers (are they made in Spain?) have been setting fire to things like glass-fibre racing cars.

Rightly or wrongly Spanish Webers are getting a bad name in Oz.,enthusiasts seem to be chasing the older models for various reasons including bad castings on the newer ones.
As an aside,back in in my School Days in the 1960's,the old Italian mechanic in the local Tuning Shop in Sydney that specialised in Alfa's called them "Wee-bers",we used to say it to mock him.

[Mistron]

40's, 45's, or if it's a proper engine. 48's

oh, and 99% of people I've heard call them web-ers

[Terry Walker]

I'ver always said "webber', even though I've probably always known "weyber" is closer and more recently that "veyber" even better. But in my crowd of Aussie petrol-head mates, the last two would be have been greeted with laughter.

Pretentious? Moi?

[john medley]

Nothing pretentious about my pair of 40 DCM2 . In addressing them I pronounce almost every rude word under the sun. They may be worth a mint, but they are of little performance value and they are not reliable

[Paul Rochdale]

We say 'Bruxelles Sprouts'

[Terry Walker]

My 1750 GT Alfa - the 105 series, fabulous carm would love another one - came with a pair of DCOEs, which were tuned and set up by Dave Sullivan Jr, a talented mechanic and race driver in Perth. For the next 17 years that I owned the car, they never needed any attention at all. Instant start, smooth easy idle, never a miss, and amazingly economical cruising happily at 130 km/h in 5th. Webber, Weyber, Veyber - I say "fantastico!"

[AbingdonST]

The argument that "w" isn't a native Italian letter is sound, but bear in mind that a large chunk of the South Tyrol is now Italian, and German is still widely spoken there. There will therefore be lots of folk there with Germanic surnames and Italian first names, so Eduardo Weber would feel at home there!
When we talk of artists and musicians we usually have a go at using the pronunciation they would have used, rather than a simplified "English" version. So the Weber that wrote "Der Freischutz" (Carl Maria v. Weber) isn't called Webber and the painter Millet and the grain millet are spoken differently.
Oh, and conventional English rules give the first "e" a different sound before the double or single consonant (as in fern and ferret).
I normally point out that Webber is a driver and Weber made carbs.

I prefer SOLEX a pair of 40 ADDHE, the're rubbish but at least I can pronounce them, although they do look like they have some kind of Attention Deficit Dissorder, not unlike the driver

[Allan Lupton]

I prefer SOLEX a pair of 40 ADDHE, the're rubbish but at least I can pronounce them, although they do look like they have some kind of Attention Deficit Dissorder, not unlike the driver

This is where I remember the late John Howell's piece on carbs in a VSCC Bulletin a couple of decades ago. After describing how the fixed choke carb either has to be set rich with some means of leaning the mixture off at low power settings or set lean with some method of enriching at high power settings, examples of the former being Solex (better for racing) and the latter Zenith (better for shopping) he went on to observe that the Italians, who have never distinguished between shopping and racing, combined aspects of both systems in the Weber!

[AbingdonST]

This is where I remember the late John Howell's piece on carbs in a VSCC Bulletin a couple of decades ago. After describing how the fixed choke carb either has to be set rich with some means of leaning the mixture off at low power settings or set lean with some method of enriching at high power settings, examples of the former being Solex (better for racing) and the latter Zenith (better for shopping) he went on to observe that the Italians, who have never distinguished between shopping and racing, combined aspects of both systems in the Weber!

Thank you Allan, that was superb, I should have signed up years ago.

[sbrinley]

I was around sports car racing in the late '50s and early '60s in the Eastern US and we said, "Webber." Never heard the other pronunciations; but, I always suspected that the correct one was "vayber" as in Carl Maria von Weber. Regardless of the pronunciation, they were sought after for sports cars and racing cars. Our Fiat Abarths running in the 750cc modified class had twin dual-throat Webers.

[E1pix]

That's easy....

WEBer if "Honda."

WebBA if "Honder."

WEEber if "Hunda."

[Bob Riebe]

That's easy....

WEBer if "Honda."

WebBA if "Honder."

WEEber if "Hunda."

What if. like my late neighbor, they aare "Hondoos?"

[E1pix]

What if. like my late neighbor, they aare "Hondoos?"

That would be Bryce Canyon.... no, those are hoodoos.

Hondoo? Eastern Europe? (on a silly streak, too much cayenne)