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

[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.

 

Maybe it's a UK/Irish/European thing, but we all called it nes and snes.

 

Perhaps. Like I said, I've never heard anybody sound out the acronyms like that. Even to this day. I haven't had the pleasure of watching the YouTube videos that refers to it as such but I would definitely do a double-take if somebody said that to me in real life. I do remember a magazine from back in the day calling the Super NES the "Sneeze" but that was just for a cheap laugh.

[ls650]

To be honest, although I normally would want to call it a Super Nintendo, I find myself calling it a "Sneeze" sometimes.

But an N-E-S is always that.

[MaximRecoil]

I never heard anyone call the NES anything other than "Nintendo" in its day. When the SNES came out, I never heard anyone call it anything other than "Super Nintendo"; and the NES was then called "original Nintendo" or "regular Nintendo" if clarification was needed (in all cases I'm talking about real life, not TV commercials).

 

I still call them "Nintendo" and "Super Nintendo" when speaking, and how I choose to clarify "Nintendo" when necessary, depends on who I'm speaking to. When typing I use the "NES" and "SNES" abbreviations, in the same way that I often type "lbs." but I always say "pounds", rather than "libs". Some abbreviations roll off the tongue when spoken, and are almost universally used (such as FBI, USA, IRS, etc.), and the same applies to some acronyms, sometimes even to the point of becoming ordinary words in their own right despite their acronym origins (such as radar and laser). "NES" and "SNES" don't roll off the tongue for me, not when said as an abbreviation (e.g. N-E-S, S-N-E-S) nor when said as an acronym (e.g. Ness, Sness, Es-ness).

Edited March 18, 2012 by MaximRecoil

[atarilovesyou]

We used to call the NES either "nintendo" or "N-E-S", and the Super Nintendo either "Super N-E-S" or literally "super nintendo".

 

That whole phonetic "nes:" and "snes" always bugged me, lol. "snes"?...sounds like a disease or something!

[TheGameCollector]

In WA it's very common to hear "regular Nintendo", "regular Game Boy" "regular Xbox" etc. The main reason you don't hear "regular Playstation" is just because it was offcially renamed PS one when they released the mini white console. Then there's the people that call Genesis "Sega" as if the Master System didn't exist. I mean some gamers even thought Genesis was the first Sega because they never saw the Master System and thought well "Genesis" means "the beginning". It took a lot of people some research before they learned of the SMS and many people buy it nowadays because of curiosity and having missed out.

[BassGuitari]

Then there's the people that call Genesis "Sega" as if the Master System didn't exist. I mean some gamers even thought Genesis was the first Sega because they never saw the Master System and thought well "Genesis" means "the beginning". It took a lot of people some research before they learned of the SMS and many people buy it nowadays because of curiosity and having missed out.

 

I have to admit, I was one of those people back in the day (as was everyone else I knew). The Master System practically didn't exist in my area. I'd never even heard of the Master System until 1995 when I went to a friend's house to play the new Saturn his family just got. They had it tucked away in the back of a shelf at the bottom of their entertainment center, covered in dust. When I noticed it, I was like, "WTF is this? Interesting, it says 'Sega' on it." I don't think even my friend really knew much about it; it had belonged to his older brother and I guess it was abandoned when they got an NES. It hadn't been played in years.

 

(We ended up playing the Master System that night more than the new Saturn, which I'm sure irritated my friend's dad, who just days earlier had dropped a not inconsiderable amount of money for the Saturn.)

[Rex Dart]

In WA it's very common to hear "regular Nintendo", "regular Game Boy" "regular Xbox" etc. The main reason you don't hear "regular Playstation" is just because it was offcially renamed PS one when they released the mini white console.

 

Well, you hear PS1 or Playstation One because that's how you differentiate it from a Two or a Three. You hear Regular _____ because that's how you differentiate an original _____ from a Super _____, _____ Pocket, _____ Color, _____ Advance, or _____ 360.

 

If there had been a Super Playstation, you'd hear Regular Playstation.

[Tr3vor]

I either say nintendo/ super nintendo or nes/snes not n-e-s or any of that.

 

I say nintendo and super nintendo more often, so I voted for that.

[Tanrunomad]

I never heard SNES actually pronounced as SSSNEESSS until literally this past month. I'm a child of the 80s and early 90s and I can tell you nobody ever pronounced it out like that. Now NES was pronounced out by like 3 people maybe, but the vast majority called it N-E-S or just Nintendo. I always called it N-E-S and SNES was S-N-E-S.

[Lendorien]

Yeah, I don't call them the Snes and Nes either. I grew up calling them S.N.E.S. and N.E.S. which probably is why I still do. Saying them as word just sounds wrong to me.

[turntablist1210]

We allways pronounced them NEZ and SNEZ, guess it was just easier to say and yes im 30 years old and had a Super Nintendo With Super Mario All Stars pack-in as well as a Megadrive and a Master System, Oh and by the way im from England.

[Zap!]

I'm in between. I've always said "ness" but never said "sness." I called it the Super Ness. I don't get people who say N-E-S. if an acronym can be pronounced, the new word is spoken. No one says N-A-S-A, so why do many say N-E-S?

[Ace_1]

While I do say N-E-S, I don't say S-N-E-S, but rather Super N-E-S.

 

if an acronym can be pronounced, the new word is spoken. No one says N-A-S-A, so why do many say N-E-S?

 

I rarely pronounce acronyms as a word and just spell it out. It all depends on how it sounds because, call me whatever you want, I refuse to say things that sound horrible to my ears (acronyms especially). Just as another example: (E)EPROM. I do say ROM, but if anything is attached to ROM, I spell it out - (E)-E-P-ROM. Don't ask why, I just do this.

Edited March 21, 2012 by Ace_1

[Rex Dart]

I can tell you nobody ever pronounced it out like that.

 

 

For a wholly imaginary non-entity, Nobody has sure posted in here quite a lot.

[PeculiarSatyr]

I can tell you nobody ever pronounced it out like that.

 

 

For a wholly imaginary non-entity, Nobody has sure posted in here quite a lot.

 

I think its fair to say that the vast majority of people never heard it pronounced (nezz and snezz) until pretty recently recently. I think the only people saying they say snezz and nezz have been from Texas, New York and England (not saying its a geographic thing...I don't know what it is).

 

The first time I ever heard someone say nezz or snezz was about a year ago and the kids saying it were like 14. Also the vast majority of people on youtube saying snezz and nezz seem to be younger people that were not playing games in the 80s or early 90s.

[Necron99]

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.

N-E-S and Super N-E-S is how I've always said it.

[Rex Dart]

I think its fair to say that the vast majority of people never heard it pronounced (nezz and snezz) until pretty recently recently.

 

Probably so. But that's a different thing than stating outright that nobody called it that, ever.

[Austin]

I personally never heard anyone say "snezz" or "nezz" until I started watching YouTube videos a few years back.

[PsychoKittyNet]

So I'm the only one who called the NES the flat Nintendo eh?

[Rhomaios]

I think its fair to say that the vast majority of people never heard it pronounced (nezz and snezz) until pretty recently recently.

 

Probably so. But that's a different thing than stating outright that nobody called it that, ever.

That's not quite what he said.

 

Anyway, I say Nintendo or NES and Super Nintendo or Super NES. I can't fathom saying "ness" or "sness". Too weird.

[Zap!]

I think its fair to say that the vast majority of people never heard it pronounced (nezz and snezz) until pretty recently recently.

 

Probably so. But that's a different thing than stating outright that nobody called it that, ever.

That's not quite what he said.

 

Anyway, I say Nintendo or NES and Super Nintendo or Super NES. I can't fathom saying "ness" or "sness". Too weird.

 

Ness sounds super-cool, not weird. It reminds me of Loch Ness, unless you are not into mythical creatures, and who isn't these days?

[Torr]

I understand the ability to pronounce these acronyms phonetically means they can be said as a word , unlike say FBI (or do some Americans pronounce this as Phoebe???)

 

However. To any of you who claim you pronounced them as words even 'back in the day', I'm not doubting you, but did they not air Nintendo commercials where you lived or something? When the commercials themselves (Exhibits A,

,

and D) pronounced it N E S and Super N E S, what made you feel the need to 'correct' them? It's like calling KFC Kifck... Edited March 22, 2012 by Torr

[BassGuitari]

I can tell you nobody ever pronounced it out like that.

 

 

For a wholly imaginary non-entity, Nobody has sure posted in here quite a lot.

 

Seven or eight posts out of 71 (as of this posting) is a lot?

 

I think its fair to say that the vast majority of people never heard it pronounced (nezz and snezz) until pretty recently recently.

 

Probably so. But that's a different thing than stating outright that nobody called it that, ever.

 

Holy semantics, Batman.

 

Obviously no one truly believes that literally no one on Earth said "ness" and "sness" in the early '90s (yes, I know what I said earlier; it's called hyperbole). If you and a half-dozen other people said it that way (there it is again...), kudos. As YouTube has shown two decades hence, you were ahead of the curve.

[Tanrunomad]

I can tell you nobody ever pronounced it out like that.

 

 

For a wholly imaginary non-entity, Nobody has sure posted in here quite a lot.

 

I meant where I lived among my friends and classmates, no one ever said SNESSS, not once to my recollection. I didn't mean no one ever said it from anywhere on the planet.

[Emehr]

I can tell you nobody ever pronounced it out like that.

 

 

For a wholly imaginary non-entity, Nobody has sure posted in here quite a lot.

 

I meant where I lived among my friends and classmates, no one ever said SNESSS, not once to my recollection. I didn't mean no one ever said it from anywhere on the planet.

 

Ah, the internet. Nowhere else is everything you say taken so literally.

 

 

 

 

And when I say "nowhere else" I don't mean it quite literally...or do I?