I was "raised" on BrassaVOLa and will probably always say it that way --
creature of habit. But if folks want to say BrassAvola, I'll know what they
mean and it will be OK. I've almost stopped flinching when people ask me
for Cattle-lay-as or Denbrobia G.

"British" is indeed one possible explanation -- my QMB professor in college
was from India, and it took me nearly half the quarter to figure out that
when he said RAYsiprocal, he meant reCIProcal ... lowered my GPA, he did,
with that and a few others, all spoken very rapidly G. Kenni

wrote in message
oups.com...
Is it too late to add to the controversy? My humungous Webster's Third
New International Dictionary gives BRASSavola as the 1st pronunciation
& BrasSAvola as the 2nd. It's an American dictionary; maybe the 2nd
pronunciation is British? Sometimes they put different accents on
syllables than we do in North America. I've heard "conTROVersy", for
example. I was trying to think of others but my brain is blank.
It also says A.M. Brassavola lived in the 1500s.
I too was going to suggest maybe someone here who speaks Italian could
say what the most likely pronunciation is.
I just thought BrassaVOla sounds better, but what do I know

Alison