Originally Posted By JohnS1 Torino sounds like the name an Italian restaurant in the US would bestow on a meatball sandwich. Mmmm... meatballs.
Originally Posted By cstephens OK, so the question is why they decided to go with the Italian version of the city name rather than the English version of the city name. It's still purposely misleading to say that NBC is pronouncing "Turin" wrong. They're actually not pronouncing "Turin" at all (unless they actually use the word "Turin" - I don't know, I haven't been watching). Maybe it's some big conspiracy on the part of the Italians to take over the world. Who knows. It just seems to me that some people feel the need to grandstand and outright lie, especially when it comes to World Events topics, even about trivial matters. No big surprise. /cs
Originally Posted By gadzuux I "still" say that it's a good idea, given that all of the logos on the clothing, clocks, goggles, etc. say 'turino' - and I dont think NBC and/or dick ebersol has any creative control over that. If the viewer is seeing the word 'turino' constantly, but hearing 'turin' confusion could result.
Originally Posted By Jetlag This is all really bizarre and confusing. Especially italian cities have various, especially "far fetched" translations for their cities in different languages. In German, Milano is called "Mailand", while the italians call München "Monaco" (D´Oh!) And I never understood where "Munich" comes from. I wonder how far I would get, if I tried to buy a ticket to "Nieuw Amsterdam"?!
Originally Posted By Dabob2 This might be the most trivial topic on WE ever. But I did remind me of a funny story. The first time I ever played Trivial Pursuit, the question was: "What do Italians call Florence?" To which my friend Al answered, with perfect logic, "... Flo?"
Originally Posted By Lake Nona >>God forbid the Games ever be held in Missouri.<< Saint (ST) Louis hosted the III Olympic Games in 1904.
Originally Posted By smeeeko <a href="http://home.nycap.rr.com/useless/st_louis_olympics/index.html" target="_blank">http://home.nycap.rr.com/usele ss/st_louis_olympics/index.html</a> "We usually have the image in our minds that the Olympics are really big business. The hosting cities go out of their way to make sure that everything runs smoothly and that the best facilities are provided for the competing athletes. But, it wasn't always this way. Take the 1904 St. Louis, Missouri Summer Olympics for example. These games were only the third summer games ever held (There actually were no winter games at this time - they were added in 1924.). The original games were held in 1896 at Athens and were then followed by the 1900 Paris games. The St. Louis games could hardly be called an international competition. Since traveling overseas from Europe was extremely expensive at the time, the competition consisted mostly of Americans and Canadians (of the 681 athletes, 525 were from the United States.). It should be pointed out, however, that the Olympics were not intended to be a competition among nations at the time - it was a competition among amateur athletes from around the world. It was the job of the amateur athlete to find his way to the games at his own expense. No one cared if you couldn't get there. Needless to say, the 1904 Olympics were of relatively minor importance. They were originally scheduled to take place in Chicago, but President Roosevelt urged for the games to be held in St. Louis because the Louisiana Purchase (World) Exposition was being held there at the same time to showcase the world's newest technologies (electricity, automobiles, airplanes, etc.). The Exposition organizers built a permanent gymnasium and a stadium with enough seats to hold some 35,000 spectators (This may sound like a lot of people, but it's really nothing when you compare it to the estimated 20 million people that attended the Exposition during its six month run.). The entire event lasted from Monday, August 29 to Saturday, September 3, 1904. There were no events scheduled for Friday, so the entire series of Olympic games lasted for just five short days. At this point you probably don't see too much wrong with this scenario. Unfortunately, when the games were actually held, they were a disaster. To start, if you were considered to be a minority, you had to compete in separate games. These games came under the high-sounding name of "Anthropology Days" which were held on August 12 and 13, 1904. These games were designed to face "costumed members of the uncivilized tribes" against one another. Never-to-be classic Olympic games were included - mud fighting, rock throwing, pole climbing, spear throwing, and... you get the idea... Things went downhill from there...." yikes.. it does get worse.. click the link if you want to read the rest.
