Is it a generation thing?

[gorebridge2001]

Watched Bargain Hunt on BBC at lunchtime today. The bonus buy was a Hornby Dublo 3-rail train set in its original box. It went for £45.00 which I thought was a bargain, but I was stunned when the young female auctioneer described it as, a Hornby Dooblo train set! "Dooblo?" I said to my wife, "Dooblo? Where did she get that from?"

Wife looked at me with pity in her eyes, which told me she didn't really care, so I gave a sigh, had a sulk, and thought it must be me. The Dublo name was dropped ages ago, so I suppose it is me, but has anyone else ever heard it called Dooblo?

Anyway, auctioneers generally know their stuff, and she suggested a value of £40 to £50, so she was spot on with that!

[railsquid]

Umm, I'm not exactly a young thing anymore, and "Dublo" was a name from the past even then and I don't think I've ever heard it pronounced until I saw a video on the history of model railways a couple of weeks ago (
this one). I'd have guessed the correct pronunciation, but I can easily imagine someone not familiar coming to a different result.

[Geoff]

I had a Hornby Dublo train set when I was young..

[Newportnobby]

Sorry - I was a Triang kid, but I still have never heard of Dooblo
To me it was and always will be Dublo

[Ditape]

Sorry - I was a Triang kid, but I still have never heard of Dooblo
To me it was and always will be Dublo

Same here.

[petercharlesfagg]

Sorry - I was a Triang kid, but I still have never heard of Dooblo
To me it was and always will be Dublo

Same here.

Me too!

[keithfre]

No justification for it unless she had a strong Northern Accent ;-} Or has 'double-O' fallen out of use, do people say 'O-O' nowadays?

I live in Holland, but listen to Radio 4 all the time, and notice even well-educated speakers often using spelling pronunciations of words they have presumably never heard spoken by someone in the know (or not taken any notice).

[daveg]

As far back as I can remember it was Hornby 'Dub-low'. Always heard said as that.

Radio & TV announcers used to be coached on pronunciation and often had a phonetic version in their script to help say the word or name correctly. Perhaps they don't do that any more.

Dave G

[AC]

At 28, I'm too young for first hand experience with it, but when looking at my Dad's old catalogues, I always read it as du-blo when I was younger.

I don't remember ever hearing anyone say dublo out loud before when I was younger, or if I did, didn't realise they were saying Dublo. I'd have probably thought they'd have been saying Hornby Double O and being lazy over the word Double.

It was only a few years ago that I suddenly thought it should probably be read as dub-lo because of it being double O gauge.

I'll probably continue to say dooblo out of habit though...

[d-a-n]

I've always heard it as Dub-low at train fairs up and down the country since I was about 5 (I'm 30 now) - I wonder if the confusion comes from the pronunciation of Lego Duplo?

I don't pronounce Dublin as Doob-lin so I'll stick with Dub-low for now!

[Agrippa]

It's pronounced like George Dubya Bush.....

[jonclox]

I well remember being given my hornby  'Dub-low' train set at Christmas 1950 by my father---------------of course I was only allowed to watch whilst father 'played' with it-----------wise I guess as I was only 5 years young

[port perran]

The same is true of Lego.
I've heard it referred to as Leego but I've always called it Lego and yes, it's definitely Dublo (no double o!!).

[Luke Piewalker]

But by the same token, Lego Duplo (with which she may be more familiar) is pronounced Dooplo...

[Trainfish]

I've often been known to go down the pub but never to the poob