Snes and Nes vs S-N-E-S and N-E-S (poll)

[PeculiarSatyr]

I hear people saying (pronouncing) Snes and Nes on youtube and at my local game stores. I grew up saying mostly Nintendo or Super Nintendo or NES-SNES at minimum. I can't bring myself to say Snes or Nes....Am I a freak? Is something wrong with me? What say you AtariAge?

[the.golden.ax]

Nope, you are not a freak. I really feel that most of those youtubers (and I know this is a broad statement) just weren't around when those systems were out. "Ssssnesss" (rhymes with mess?) Really youtubers? I hear it all the time. Even big collectors. Not once did I hear that said amongst my friends, Funcoland, Babbages, Electronics Boutique, or Toys R Us back in the day. You get yelled at for calling the original Playstation PSX. Beware if you are dumb enough to put that in your listings these days. They renamed that PS1. The kids will do what they will do. Not the end of the world. What is humorous is when they rename crap, then act like they invented it. No guys, you weren't there, and just because I say it the way they used to, doesn't make me wrong. I'll let you say it wrong and laugh. Quit telling oldtimers on eBay they said it wrong just because it doesn't meet with your current way of saying it. I hate you Dad! j/k (rant over)

 

AX

[Pixelboy]

I remember Nintendo's old TV commercials, in which the NES was always called "N-E-S". So I'd say that's the official way of saying it, if one is too lazy to call it "Nintendo Entertainment System".

 

I find it annoying when some people call the NES a "Nintendo". The first thing that comes to my mind when I hear that is "Which Nintendo? NES? Super-NES? N64? Game Boy? GBA? ..."

Edited March 13, 2012 by Pixelboy

[the.golden.ax]

I'll say that one option above isn't there on the poll. N-E-S and Super N-E-S. I do those quote often. Very anti-youtube "ssssssssnesss" and "neh-sssssssss." Those people sound like they have some kind of disease when they say it.

[Coolhand20th]

I say NES or SNES in chat rooms or emails. But when I go into a store I say N-E-S or Super N-E-S ,But that is just me and yes I grew up with both of them.

[Rex Dart]

Voted "Super Nintendo and Nintendo", but I've called them everything. Es-Nes, Sness, Super Nintendo... now I mainly call 'em NES and SNES when written, and N-E-S and Super Nintendo when spoken.

[StoneAgeGamer]

Well when I talked to people (in real life) I say "Super Nintendo", but if I talking to people in real life about the NES I call it the "N-E-S". However on the internet I used SNES and NES, but if I am reading it, in my head I think of the letters individually.

 

I am glad you made this post because I kind of complained that the SD2SNES flash cart was a poor name because its kind of long if pronounced S-D-2-S-N-E-S. A few people thought I was crazy and never heard of anyone calling the SNES by the individual letters. The first time I ever heard anyone call is Sness or Snez is when I watched a video by a British guy and he pronounced it Nez and Snez.

[Wickeycolumbus]

N-E-S and Super Nintendo for me.

[Emehr]

Written: NES, Nintendo, SNES, Super NES, Super Nintendo

 

Spoken: N-E-S, Nintendo, Super N-E-S, Super Nintendo

 

I've never said "Ess-en-ee-ess" when referring to the SNES. It takes just as much effort to just enunciate "Super" with the addition of not sounding like a snake.

 

Saying "Ness" or "Sness" just sounds stupid. I would probably assume (rightly or wrongly) that anyone that pronounces it like that wasn't around back in the day. As far as I remember, nobody called it that. It's as ear-cringing as hearing someone call cartridges "tapes". If someone were to say "Ness" or "Sness" to me in real life I'm sure I wouldn't know WTF they were talking about at first.

[MagitekAngel]

I personally say N-E-S, and Super -N-E-S, because S-N-E-S is a bit of an awkward mouthful.

I'll only pronounce the abbreviation as a word when it is being used as part of a compound - B-SNES, for example, or Nestopia, or any number of other emulators. One notable exception - S-N-E-S-9-X.

Edited March 13, 2012 by MagitekAngel

[Chris Leach]

I always say N-E-S or Super N-E-S. There was a store that had tv's in the back for tournaments and they hadn't had tournaments in like forever. I mentioned maybe we could bring in an N-E-S or Super N-E-S and have some friendly game time..you know kinda hang for awhile? I was shunned.....

 

Maybe I said it wrong?

[BassGuitari]

I voted "Super Nintendo and Nintendo." But I also say N-E-S and Super N-E-S.

 

Back in the the day, we called it Nintendo. It was the only Nintendo there was, so we didn't need to specify. Then along came the SNES, which we called Super Nintendo because it was the "super" successor to the "Nintendo."

 

Even today, when someone talks about "the Nintendo," I assume they mean NES. If they don't, it's their problem. If you mean N64, say "N64." If you mean Game Boy, say "Game Boy." If you mean NES, say "Nintendo." (In fairness though, I've never heard of anyone referring to N64 or Game Boy as "Nintendo.")

 

I don't abide the "ness/sness" thing at all. Sounds like latter-day nouveau-old-skool hipster cool-speak (yikes, that's a lot of labels!) to me. I associate it with the IGN-reading crowd that fancies themselves experts on gaming history because they just played Punch-Out on Wii Virtual Console last week...experts that can't even pronounce "NES" correctly. I exaggerate, but only just.

 

[Rex Dart]

I don't abide the "ness/sness" thing at all. Sounds like latter-day nouveau-old-skool hipster cool-speak (yikes, that's a lot of labels!) to me. I associate it with the IGN-reading crowd that fancies themselves experts on gaming history because they just played Punch-Out on Wii Virtual Console last week...experts that can't even pronounce "NES" correctly. I exaggerate, but only just.

 

Your problem, like you say. Those names are as old as the systems.

[Austin]

They are acronyms, and as so it sounds correct (to me) to pronounce each letter out individually.

[doubleminor]

I always say Super Nintendo; but for the NES, I'll say "old Nintendo", or "regular Nintendo" (I guess since it's not as super, hah) since just saying "Nintendo" can mean anything they make.

[Cynicaster]

Although I never say it myself, I don't get annoyed by the pronounced "nesssss", but for some reason, the pronounced "SSSNESSS" makes me want to strangle a puppy.

 

For me N-E-S and Super N-E-S.

[Torr]

I say 'N E S' as all separate letters or 'Nintendo' when talking about the Nintendo Entertainment System or Super N E S or Super Nintendo when talking about, well you get the idea.

 

I've never heard anyone refer to anything as a 'Nintendo' unless the mean the oldskool push in/push down NES system. However in the last 10 years I've heard many a young rapscallion say Ssness, as if SNES was a word... and it makes my blood boil.

In fact, when I reach into my brain and try to recall old gaming magazines, I'm not sure of any that actually used SNES as a nickname, it was always Super Nintendo or Super NES. (and I've never heard ANYBODY pronounce it just 'NESS' as in Loch-Ness be it the NES or Super NES)

[Skarrj]

When the n e s came out....no one called it ness unless they had downs.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Skarrj

[godslabrat]

Saying "Nessss" or "Snessss" is a pet peeve of mine, and yes, it usually indicates people who got into the systems after their heyday. Nothing wrong with that, but even Nintendo's own marketing called them either "S-N-E-S" or "Super Nintendo".

 

I also get a bit annoyed at saying "Play Nintendo", but I let that slide, because there WAS a time when there was only one Nintendo, so back then it was a sensible thing to say.

[the.golden.ax]

Saying "Nessss" or "Snessss" is a pet peeve of mine, and yes, it usually indicates people who got into the systems after their heyday. Nothing wrong with that, but even Nintendo's own marketing called them either "S-N-E-S" or "Super Nintendo".

 

I also get a bit annoyed at saying "Play Nintendo", but I let that slide, because there WAS a time when there was only one Nintendo, so back then it was a sensible thing to say.

 

That also brings to mind, a situation back in the day when asking a Sears employee where the video games were (was looking for Atari stuff at the time) she replied "You mean Nintendo?" Someone mentioned puppies above... I think that reaction was on par for that situation at that time.

[CorTat-G]

I say N-E-S for sure.

But I say Super NES, S-N-E-S, Super Nintendo, Super Nintendo N-E-S.

 

But when I'm talking to people I just say "Nintendo" or "Super Nintendo" to avoid confusion. They don't understand.

[bomberpunk]

i call them NES and Super NES. it's not 'ness' and 'sness'.

[raskar42]

during the lifetime, the only times i heard it called 'snes' was when a genesis fan wanted to be snarky.

 

it was said in the same mind set as 'taco hell'or 'jack in the crack'

 

during these times i've also heard it referred to as the 'super nes'

[BassGuitari]

I don't abide the "ness/sness" thing at all. Sounds like latter-day nouveau-old-skool hipster cool-speak (yikes, that's a lot of labels!) to me. I associate it with the IGN-reading crowd that fancies themselves experts on gaming history because they just played Punch-Out on Wii Virtual Console last week...experts that can't even pronounce "NES" correctly. I exaggerate, but only just.

 

Your problem, like you say. Those names are as old as the systems.

 

I suppose it is. It drives me nuts.

 

No one called an NES a "Ness" 25 years ago though.

[godslabrat]

No one called an NES a "Ness" 25 years ago though.

 

Not unless their parents were cousins.