A question for Italian wheel builders

g00se
g00se Posts: 2,221
edited March 2014 in Workshop
or anyone with a knowledge of Italian bike firms :)

Miche....!

How to pronounce it. Everyone I talk to calls it "Meesh" - in fact, the Italian founders name was Michelin but had to change the company name so not to be confused with the French rubber company....

But I understand that the Italian pronunciation of the word "Miche" would be "Mee-kay"...

So which to use?

And on the same tack - Wilier... I've been told that the pronunciation is Vilier (in the German/Swiss style) - which is odd for Italy. But this is because the founder was from a part of North Italy where the dialect was influenced from the countries above.

Comments

  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,310
    Correct in both...

    WIlier stands for W, which is "viva" or "long live" I for Italy LI for liberata (freed) E (and) R for redenta (Redeemed)

    The history here

    http://cadencecycling.blogspot.co.uk/20 ... story.html
    left the forum March 2023
  • mm1
    mm1 Posts: 1,063
    Slightly off at a tangent, but if you want to understand the importance of cycling in post war Italian history and politics you should watch out for the dramatisation of Carlo Lucarelli's Di Luca detective novels which starts on BBC4 this Saturday, Via delle oche is set in 1948 and has Bartali's tour as background. The story is that after the attempted assasination of Togliati (communist party leader) Alcide De Gasperi asked Bartali to put on a show to prevent civil war - the threat of which was very real, (De Gasperi came from just up the valey from my Dad's home town, where war memorials date to 1946). The reverence among ageing northern Italians for Bartali and Coppi is about far more than sporting nostalgia.

    Apart from Italian Cycling, food and wine, the crime fiction really is something worth getting passionate about.
  • hypster
    hypster Posts: 1,229
    You're taking the Miche, surely? :mrgreen:
  • g00se
    g00se Posts: 2,221
    ugo.santalucia wrote:
    Correct in both...


    "mee-kay"? Excellent - I can earn some cycling-snobbery points correcting folk ;)
  • drlodge
    drlodge Posts: 4,826
    Oh Miche you're so fine, you're so fine you blow mind, hey Miche, hey Miche
    WyndyMilla Massive Attack | Rourke 953 | Condor Italia 531 Pro | Boardman CX Pro | DT Swiss RR440 Tubeless Wheels
    Find me on Strava
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,310
    mm1 wrote:
    Slightly off at a tangent, but if you want to understand the importance of cycling in post war Italian history and politics you should watch out for the dramatisation of Carlo Lucarelli's Di Luca detective novels which starts on BBC4 this Saturday, Via delle oche is set in 1948 and has Bartali's tour as background. The story is that after the attempted assasination of Togliati (communist party leader) Alcide De Gasperi asked Bartali to put on a show to prevent civil war - the threat of which was very real, (De Gasperi came from just up the valey from my Dad's home town, where war memorials date to 1946). The reverence among ageing northern Italians for Bartali and Coppi is about far more than sporting nostalgia.

    Apart from Italian Cycling, food and wine, the crime fiction really is something worth getting passionate about.

    Yes, that is also historically true, although it has been romanced quite a lot... but yes, apparently there was a phone call between De Gasperi and Bartali the day before he attacked on the mountains... what was said, nobody knows for sure
    left the forum March 2023
  • mm1
    mm1 Posts: 1,063
    Passion...romance...that's what its all about!

Categories