GAY Guysers-Gazette-issue13.pdf

What’s in a name?.
When we started our B&B over 5 years ago, we thought
long and hard what call it. We decided on Guysers Gaystay
as it’s a play on words. But how does one say ‘geyser’?
As Rotorua is known for its geothermal
landscapes, mudpools and geysers, it seems
fitting to call our B&B Guysers Gaystay –
‘Guy’ meaning obviously a man (or male), and
the whole word ‘Guysers’ as a play on the word
‘geyser’ for which Rotorua is famous for.
We also spelt our name Guysers with a ‘u’
to assist people in pronouncing the word
‘geyser’ correctly. Very often we hear guests
pronouncing the word ‘geyser’ as ‘geezer’,
especially people from the UK and some other
countries within Europe.
On the internet if you ask for the pronunciation
of the word ‘geyser’ it will have a sound
recording sounding like ‘geezer’ as British
English and a sound recording sounding like
‘guy-ser’ as American English.
The American
English pronunciation
of the word ‘geyser’ is actually
correct in this case.
The word ‘geyser’ is an
Icelandic word, which
makes sense, for there
was never any geysers
in England, only a hot
water system named a
‘Geyser’ for which the
British pronounce ‘geezer’.
Gaystay
Rotorua
So when you come to Rotorua, remember
your geezers from your geysers and use our
name ‘Guysers’ to help you to remember
how to pronounce the word correctly. q
Here’s how to remember:
This is an old Geezer
This is a Geyser (pronounced ‘guy-ser’)
guysersgaystay.com
Guysers Gazette 3