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Pronunciation rant

124

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  • Sam lloyd
    Sam lloyd Posts: 1,083
    Caribbean as in CariBBEan & not CaRIBbean
  • Sam lloyd
    Sam lloyd Posts: 1,083
    Dynasty rather than die-nasty
  • Stig
    Stig Posts: 29,027
    Sam lloyd said:

    Caribbean as in CariBBEan & not CaRIBbean

    You haven't been watching Come Dine With Me have you?
  • SDAddick
    SDAddick Posts: 14,467

    JiMMy 85 said:

    Sorry to break this to you Micky, but the guy who founded Nike says it's pronounced Nikey, as in, to rhyme with Micky.

    Trouble is he only seemed to correct everybody about 25 years later. Old boys like me got used to the old pronunciation! A bit like Kim Bassinger later becoming Kim "Bay-singer".
    Really old boys back in ancient Greece pronounced it rhyming with Mikey. Nike (Νίκη) is the Greek goddess of victory so I think they probably new how to say it.
    Having looked at this in more detail, at the time Nike was named, the 'η' (now eta, then heta) was used to indicate rough breathing, meaning it probably would be more like Nikhgh than Nik-e, but certainly not just one syllable like Mike.
    Will you be my friend? My four credits short of a Classics minor is used far too infrequently.

    For what it's worth I'm in the process of moving to Eugene, OR where Nike was founded. We pronounce it "Nike-ee," but I try to be pretty laissez-faire about pronunciation given that I pronounce things strangely.

    That said, "Knockaert" and "Belgiums" have been driving me MENTAL thank you so much for saying what is in my heart @Sillybilly.
  • SDAddick
    SDAddick Posts: 14,467
    edited April 2016

    Yanks who omit the final letter 'i' when saying Aluminium. Drives me nuts.

    Me too, but I think they even spell it without the I.
    We do, but I'd hate to let facts get in the way of a perfectly pedantic argument (genuinely, see above, I love me some pedantry).

    Also, @Stig there are a lot of English idioms that would be understood here, but people will not understand you when you pronounce Yoghurt that way. It just does not resonate.

    Lastly, FA, that qualifies you to be president of my country and have control over the largest nuclear armament in the world.

    To quote Homer Simpson, "It's nucular dummy, the 's' is silent."
  • SDAddick
    SDAddick Posts: 14,467
    edited April 2016
    Addickted said:

    Lieutenant is pronounced Leftenant. It's not difficult America.

    And Jagger, it's 'Off my cloud' not 'Off of my cloud'.

    Okay so I've found myself answering all the Americanisms. WHERE'S THE "F"?!?!?! Do you same "in 'left' of" or "in 'loo' of" for lieu? It's a word with what I guess are French roots, and in French I believe it would be "oo" not "ef."

    @Oakster, that's a North American thing. It's ironic because it seems to be the only "h" some of my English friends pronounce.

    https://youtu.be/cs5H7cgcpkg
  • Exiled_Addick
    Exiled_Addick Posts: 17,170
    Oakster said:

    Not sure if its just a Canadian thing, our friends down south mght be able to confirm but up here they say

    Erbs (ie Curbs without the C) instead of Herbs

    It pisses me right off.

    Think our yank cousins do that too. Bay-sil instead of Basil too.

    People who pronounce Trousers as Pants as well.

    Compared to the Yanks what the Canadians have done to our wonderful language is pretty mild, but still plenty of stuff that annoys.
  • JiMMy 85
    JiMMy 85 Posts: 10,196
    Sam lloyd said:

    Caribbean as in CariBBEan & not CaRIBbean

    As I understand it, Ker-rib-Ian is actually the correct way, but most English say Carrib-Ian.
  • Bay-ta instead of bee-ta
  • Addickted
    Addickted Posts: 19,456
    edited April 2016
    SDAddick said:

    Addickted said:

    Lieutenant is pronounced Leftenant. It's not difficult America.

    And Jagger, it's 'Off my cloud' not 'Off of my cloud'.

    Okay so I've found myself answering all the Americanisms. WHERE'S THE "F"?!?!?! Do you same "in 'left' of" or "in 'loo' of" for lieu? It's a word with what I guess are French roots, and in French I believe it would be "oo" not "ef."
    It's because it is.

    You all manage to pronounce the 'F' in Elephant.

    And you don't want to listen to what the French say - it's all made up 'Le' weekend my arse.

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  • cafcfan
    cafcfan Posts: 11,198

    Oakster said:

    Not sure if its just a Canadian thing, our friends down south mght be able to confirm but up here they say

    Erbs (ie Curbs without the C) instead of Herbs

    It pisses me right off.

    Think our yank cousins do that too. Bay-sil instead of Basil too.

    People who pronounce Trousers as Pants as well.

    Compared to the Yanks what the Canadians have done to our wonderful language is pretty mild, but still plenty of stuff that annoys.
    Although, according to Bill Bryson, American English is more how English used to be spoken on these shores. (Remember many colonists were from areas like Suffolk, Essex [a genuine Essex accent is very similar to the Suffolk one], Devon and Cornwall.) It's just that we're continually moving on and they are not. For example, the Essex dialect is now almost dead south of Colchester and replaced by Estuary and Cockney.

    To give you a flavour, listen to these accents from Tangier Island Virginia. It's only a couple of minutes. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E
  • Oakster
    Oakster Posts: 6,812
    One thing I never realised aboot Canada was the whole Newfoundland accent thing! Incredible....

    Very well illustrated in this somewhat bizarre video about a shark.... The interviews with the locals gives us that full on Newfie sound

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OjW3rSZ6Ovs
  • Redskin
    Redskin Posts: 3,115
    edited April 2016
    SDAddick said:

    Addickted said:

    Lieutenant is pronounced Leftenant. It's not difficult America.

    And Jagger, it's 'Off my cloud' not 'Off of my cloud'.

    Okay so I've found myself answering all the Americanisms. WHERE'S THE "F"?!?!?! Do you same "in 'left' of" or "in 'loo' of" for lieu? It's a word with what I guess are French roots, and in French I believe it would be "oo" not "ef."

    @Oakster, that's a North American thing. It's ironic because it seems to be the only "h" some of my English friends pronounce.

    https://youtu.be/cs5H7cgcpkg
    Anyone who starts a sentence with 'Okay so' sic, has no right to comment on anything.

  • AshBurton
    AshBurton Posts: 1,142
    cafcfan said:

    Oakster said:

    Not sure if its just a Canadian thing, our friends down south mght be able to confirm but up here they say

    Erbs (ie Curbs without the C) instead of Herbs

    It pisses me right off.

    Think our yank cousins do that too. Bay-sil instead of Basil too.

    People who pronounce Trousers as Pants as well.

    Compared to the Yanks what the Canadians have done to our wonderful language is pretty mild, but still plenty of stuff that annoys.
    Although, according to Bill Bryson, American English is more how English used to be spoken on these shores. (Remember many colonists were from areas like Suffolk, Essex [a genuine Essex accent is very similar to the Suffolk one], Devon and Cornwall.) It's just that we're continually moving on and they are not. For example, the Essex dialect is now almost dead south of Colchester and replaced by Estuary and Cockney.

    To give you a flavour, listen to these accents from Tangier Island Virginia. It's only a couple of minutes. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E
    Bryson's version is correct, I believe. But when have we let inconvenient facts get in the way of a hugely entertaining CL rant?
  • cafcfan
    cafcfan Posts: 11,198
    AshBurton said:

    cafcfan said:

    Oakster said:

    Not sure if its just a Canadian thing, our friends down south mght be able to confirm but up here they say

    Erbs (ie Curbs without the C) instead of Herbs

    It pisses me right off.

    Think our yank cousins do that too. Bay-sil instead of Basil too.

    People who pronounce Trousers as Pants as well.

    Compared to the Yanks what the Canadians have done to our wonderful language is pretty mild, but still plenty of stuff that annoys.
    Although, according to Bill Bryson, American English is more how English used to be spoken on these shores. (Remember many colonists were from areas like Suffolk, Essex [a genuine Essex accent is very similar to the Suffolk one], Devon and Cornwall.) It's just that we're continually moving on and they are not. For example, the Essex dialect is now almost dead south of Colchester and replaced by Estuary and Cockney.

    To give you a flavour, listen to these accents from Tangier Island Virginia. It's only a couple of minutes. https://youtube.com/watch?v=AIZgw09CG9E
    Bryson's version is correct, I believe. But when have we let inconvenient facts get in the way of a hugely entertaining CL rant?
    Too true. Frankly seeing Izzard while trying to eat my Marmite on toast, has meant I've lost all perspective.
  • Dazzler21
    Dazzler21 Posts: 51,345
    Addickted said:

    Lieutenant is pronounced Leftenant. It's not difficult America.

    I think the Yanks have that one right to be fair. Who spells Leftenant as Lieutenant ensuring there is no F?

    Nope, it's got to be Loo-tenant then.



  • Dazzler21
    Dazzler21 Posts: 51,345
    edited April 2016
    Sam lloyd said:

    Caribbean as in CariBBEan & not CaRIBbean

    Do you mean Caribb-ian or carry-bee-un?
  • Dazzler21
    Dazzler21 Posts: 51,345
    Sam lloyd said:

    Dynasty rather than die-nasty

    once again think you mean

    Din-nisty
    or
    Die-nasty
  • lolwray
    lolwray Posts: 4,902
    posting without reading

    have we got onto botswain and other nautical terms yet ?
  • lolwray
    lolwray Posts: 4,902
    some think something is pronounced somethink
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  • Addickted
    Addickted Posts: 19,456
    Dazzler21 said:

    Addickted said:

    Lieutenant is pronounced Leftenant. It's not difficult America.

    I think the Yanks have that one right to be fair. Who spells Leftenant as Lieutenant ensuring there is no F?

    Nope, it's got to be Loo-tenant then.



    Because thems the rules. As I said earlier, there's no F in Elephant.

    It's pronounced Leftenant amongst our armed forces.

  • SDAddick
    SDAddick Posts: 14,467
    Addickted said:

    Dazzler21 said:

    Addickted said:

    Lieutenant is pronounced Leftenant. It's not difficult America.

    I think the Yanks have that one right to be fair. Who spells Leftenant as Lieutenant ensuring there is no F?

    Nope, it's got to be Loo-tenant then.



    Because thems the rules. As I said earlier, there's no F in Elephant.

    It's pronounced Leftenant amongst our armed forces.

    No but there's a "Ph" which is pronounced as an "f" like in phonetic or Philadelphia or pedoPHile or phuck off ;)
  • LawrieAbrahams
    LawrieAbrahams Posts: 3,779
    Magdalene being pronounced maudlin. Cholmondeley as chumley.
  • 25May98
    25May98 Posts: 712
    lolwray said:

    some think something is pronounced somethink

    Steady on. If you are going down that route there is no 'th'.

    Somefink.
  • Magdalene being pronounced maudlin. Cholmondeley as chumley.

    These both wind me up every day!
  • Cardinal Sin
    Cardinal Sin Posts: 5,233

    Can't think why none of you have asked Mandy Anderson-Myers opinion on matters of pronunciation. She has a way with words and must have plenty of time on her hands at the moment, so would probably welcome enquiries.

    WOO-LIDGE. Double-dim.
  • Exiled_Addick
    Exiled_Addick Posts: 17,170
    Oakster said:

    One thing I never realised aboot Canada was the whole Newfoundland accent thing! Incredible....

    Very well illustrated in this somewhat bizarre video about a shark.... The interviews with the locals gives us that full on Newfie sound

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OjW3rSZ6Ovs

    Worked with a Nefie on site once for a couple of days. He had such a strong Somerset accent I assumed he was from Bristol or something. Turned out he was 5th generation Canadian or something but Great Great Great Great (or whatever) Grandad was from Somerset.

    Most of those folks in your video sound Irish. It's like they all just keep their individual family accents, or at least the ones out in the sticks do.. You run into quite a lot of them around here that have moved to work in the oil patch... they do have something of a tendancy towards being a bit odd. Being British I think I probably helps me to understand them better than a lot of Canadians do.
  • seth plum
    seth plum Posts: 53,448
    I think having a wide variety of accents and dialects in this world is a wonderful thing.
    I also love Malapropisms.
  • i_b_b_o_r_g
    i_b_b_o_r_g Posts: 18,948
    Nik e
    A didas
    Darvid Shinola
  • Trottiscliffe anyone?