MeFil

August 29, 2007 5:02 AM

Meh-fill ~ Gathering (in Urdu), the name suggested by the cydonian to term the first ever, and subsequent (hopefully), Indian Metafilter Gatherings.
posted by hadjiboy to MetaFilter Gatherings at 5:02 AM (19 comments total)

Pictures to come soon. We only have two so don’t expect too much. It was great to finally meet someone from the MeFi Universe in person. Although, right after our introduction the cydonian referred to MeFi as Meh-FEE, and I’ve always been used to calling it ME-FI, but had wondered if it was pronounced the other way round. Does anyone else pronounce it that way? Interesting to hear the words come out of someone’s mouth instead of reading them on the screen all the time.

The evening was filled with conversations of Calligraphy, Hyderabadi History, Family Relations and Personal Ambitions. Oh, and Hyderabadi Food, which we’ve promised to have if we get the chance to meet up again.

It was fun.
posted by hadjiboy at 5:04 AM on August 29, 2007

Awesome! (For what it's worth, I've always said it 'meh-fee', and I have been castigated for this at meet-ups, because apparently the 'correct' pronunciation is 'mee-fie', so it would seem that you were right all along. But let's not get mired down in that argument here.) Hyderabadi food!
posted by chrismear at 5:11 AM on August 29, 2007

Excellent. hadjiboy I enjoy your posts and cydonian's comments are always insightful.
posted by adamvasco at 5:37 AM on August 29, 2007

I should think the resonable way to pronounce it is Meh-Fee (or probably more accurately Meh-Fih, but that just sounds awkward), no? As in MEtaFIlter. Meh-Fye only makes sense in MeFite. I guess. I'd page languagehat, but he's all descriptivist about these things.

[NOT DESCIPTIVISTIST]
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 6:12 AM on August 29, 2007

Mee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the post of an Indian.

sorry.
posted by Jofus at 6:44 AM on August 29, 2007

Hadji, you forgot..... globalization and the common cold. :-|

Seriously :-D , here's a brief summary on Hyderabadi street-name history. Will post later on the African diaspora I was referring to.

_{Yup, am a closetted tour-guide. For maximum impact, of course, should have narrated history on location; nothing like showing folk vast stretches of urban sprawl and saying, all this was once a vast golf course.}

It's Meh-Fi. That's how you pronounce it in Dakhni.

Also, we have photographic evidence!
posted by the cydonian at 6:47 AM on August 29, 2007

It's Meffy, like a big blue Sanrio character.
posted by breezeway at 7:51 AM on August 29, 2007

It looks like I will be in Hyderabad in January, I am hoping to gather a second Meh-Fil. Or I could travel, maybe Bangalore? More to come...
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:57 AM on August 29, 2007

Wow, did you guys meet at Coffee Day?
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 7:59 AM on August 29, 2007

Wonderful!
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:01 AM on August 29, 2007

It's obviously MEH-FIE
posted by thirteenkiller at 8:25 AM on August 29, 2007

MeFi is something I have no reason to ever say out loud. The syllables in "MetaFilter" are mellifluous enough to make only a typed abbreviation necessary.

As for a user, that's a mee-fyte. The "Me" part is already conscripted as having a long "e" by common use of the abreviation "AskMe", which no one would ever be caught dead pronouncing "AskMeh" (though that may sum up our feelings about it at times).
posted by hermitosis at 8:38 AM on August 29, 2007

MEE-FIE
MEH-TAH

: >

(i have to get myself to India one of these days)
posted by amberglow at 11:43 AM on August 29, 2007

MeFi is pronounced "meh-fih," just like "HiFi" is pronounced "hih-fih."
posted by kindall at 12:37 PM on August 29, 2007

First MeFi subcontinental meetup!

Excellent!
posted by jason's_planet at 4:17 PM on August 29, 2007

I pronounce it like most everyone else, but like to throw in a whole lot of unnecessary letters to celebrate my Celtic heritage: Mheath-Fiaidh.
posted by Abiezer at 5:10 PM on August 29, 2007 [3 favorites]

There's this restaurant in San Francisco (in that stupidly named SOMA district) called Mehfil. People at my work ate there religiously because of their ultrafast $5 lunches to go.

Now I know what the name means! If you're ever there, you should organize a MeFi Mehfil Meetup.
posted by spiderskull at 1:22 AM on August 30, 2007

Wow, did you guys meet at Coffee Day?

Close--Barista. Glad to know there'll be a second one of these this January, hopefully:)

cydonian: thanks for the Hyderabadi Street-Names History link! (where do you dig this stuff up from?)
posted by hadjiboy at 5:06 AM on August 30, 2007

Wonderful. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR NOT FORGETTING ME AT THE CALL-OUT! ;-)

(everyone forgets me at the call-outs, sob!)

I'd love to get to an Hyderabadi meet-up sometime!
posted by Wilder at 6:58 AM on September 4, 2007