Talk:Cairns

Culture Section

I thought that the culture section needed a little more than 4 words before it appears in the main article so I've moved it here:

Pronunciation

Why isn't the Australian pronounciation first? The article is about an Australian city and the other pronounciation is considered incorrect in Australia. Bobbbcat (talk) 00:53, 18 May 2018 (UTC)

The sound file sounds to me like an Australian person pronouncing the name of the city as one would expect from its spelling, but the IPA suggests it's pronounced like the word "cans". I think if the speaker said "Two cans of coke in Cairns", it would be possible to tell the difference between "cans" and "Cairns". Booshank (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 14:30, 11 March 2019 (UTC)

Could this be a regional issue? The /ˈkɛərnz/ pronunciation is correct as far as I'm aware, not the /kænz/ pronunciation - contrary to note 1, and the sound file sounds like kenz to me. Worse still the Merriam-Webster link's pronunciation is by a non-native. Not sure if it's an Irish speaker or what. 2001:44B8:2104:4600:6004:3623:82C:515D (talk)

There IS a regional difference. My wife grew up in Brisbane, in the same state as Cairns, and pronounces it the same way she says "cans". I grew up near Melbourne in Victoria, and pronounce the "air" part as "air". HiLo48 (talk) 02:30, 14 February 2023 (UTC)

I have removed the first pronunciation as it was completely inaccurate. The IPA [r] means a trilled /r/ like in Scottish accents. Australians do not pronounce the /r/ in words like "air" or "Cairns" 203.44.26.41 (talk) 19:04, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

The IPA is explained as /ɛər/: 'are' in 'bare'. It doesn't seem to involve a trilled /r/, even here in Scotland. I've always heard the place pronounced like the plural of cairn (not of can), and think that should also be included as the most common pronunciation globally, even if we explain that it's regarded locally as incorrect. Certes (talk) 20:33, 2 October 2023 (UTC)

Yes, that would be accurate. HiLo48 (talk) 06:09, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

Sorry but you don't seem to understand how IPA works. Just because a word is spelt with an /r/ does not mean that an /r/ is pronounced. The character [r] in IPA means a trilled r. That's what it means when you write thst. Australians do not pronounce /r/ after vowels. General Australian pronunciation would be [kɛənz]. 49.197.229.126 (talk) 09:31, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

[r] in IPA is a trilled r. That sound does not occur in Australian English and Australian English is non-rhotic so would not pronounce an /r/ in this case. General Australian pronunciation would be [kɛənz]. 49.197.229.126 (talk) 09:29, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

This is silly. I, like most of the population, am not an expert on IPA, and we can never resolve this with a discussion based around IPA. As I wrote above, there are two distinct punctuations in Australia, despite 49.197.229.126 insisting there is only one. There IS a regional difference. My wife grew up in Brisbane, in the same state as Cairns, and pronounces it the same way she says "cans". I grew up near Melbourne in Victoria, and pronounce the "air" part as "air". Our IP user 49.197.229.126 has an address that geolocates to Brisbane, in Queensland, just like my wife. (I invite that user to visit Melbourne some time.) One can validly argue that the way the locals say it is "correct", but it's not the only way. Our Melbourne article acknowledges the way Americans say the name of that city is an alternative pronunciation for that city, even though we locals grimace when we hear it. HiLo48 (talk) 22:55, 3 October 2023 (UTC)

This is silly. I'm also in Melbourne, you're just mispronouncing it. Cjhard (talk) 00:42, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

Please reread my final two sentences. This is NOT about what someone deems to be correct. Do you approve of the way Americans say "Melbourne"? HiLo48 (talk) 03:01, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

IPA records how words are pronounced rather than who approves of that pronunciation. Certes (talk) 09:00, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

Your response is frustrating. You have ignored much of what I have written. It's not ONLY about how IPA says how the words are pronounced. HiLo48 (talk) 09:14, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

My apologies; that did come across as rather sarcastic. I think we're in agreement that we should document the way the city is actually pronounced, even if not everyone recognises both pronunciations as correct. Certes (talk) 09:34, 4 October 2023 (UTC)

Category:Cairns has been nominated for discussion

Category:Cairns, which you created, has been nominated for possible deletion, merging, or renaming. A discussion is taking place to decide whether this proposal complies with the categorization guidelines. If you would like to participate in the discussion, you are invited to add your comments at the category's entry on the categories for discussion page. Thank you. Crouch, Swale (talk) 21:06, 7 November 2019 (UTC)

Lots of citations needed and watch for the dates

For an article about a fairly major place, it's missing a lot of citations and has been for a long time. Please add citations where you can or delete the material if you cannot find content. In particular, be careful about any citation you find that was written AFTER the information entered Wikipedia as there is a risk that unverified info has been added to Wikipedia, then copied by others, and that copy is then used as a "citation" in Wikipedia. If we allow that, Wikipedia becomes a self-perpetuating load of rubbish. Kerry (talk) 01:25, 12 March 2024 (UTC)