The Pronunciation Thread

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i say foy-er. also, VESTIBULE.

― having fun with stockholm cindy on stage (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:32 (eighteen years ago) link

possibly my primary school teacher who also pronounced "film" as "fillum" and the like

POYM!

― having fun with stockholm cindy on stage (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:33 (eighteen years ago) link

And -- ha! -- we never use the front entrace at my parents' house, everyone comes and goes out the kitchen doors, so it's more like, "just throw your coat over a chair". My poor mother would kill for a proper mudroom.

― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:34 (eighteen years ago) link

yeah laurel exactly - cuz it's all francy pantsy, they wouldn't know a mudroom if it bit 'em*

*neither would i, what in the hell are you talking about

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:35 (eighteen years ago) link

See, as far as I'm concerned, foyer = entrance to theatre or somesuch. No foyer in my (or anyone else's) house.

It's VAHZ, Laurel (in this country anyway).

(xpost, JBR, my teachers insisted on PO-YIM! Or POME!)

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:35 (eighteen years ago) link

(I realise I'm outnumbered by Americans, and I didn't use THEATER!)

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:35 (eighteen years ago) link

VESTIBULE is great.
Yeah, I'm not with the aahnt and vass either. I say "vaaws" though or yeah, maybe vahz (but not "drawma.") But I'm guessing the -ay pronuncation is partly a Cdn thing, what with the French here, to have the French-like pronunciations predominate.
(haha, when I was looking up vase for the pronunciations, I came across the word "vaginismus" and laughed. -mus is just an inherently funny word ending, but when coupled with vaginis-, well, that's humour. sorry.)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:41 (eighteen years ago) link

A mudroom? Oh gosh, an informal entry specifically for dirty people and dogs, to be used in wet weather or after gardening or for people coming in from working in the garage who might be greasy & etc. Floor that can be hosed/swabbed down, space for dirty work boots, and benches & hooks & cubbies for everyone's gear. As it is, the dirt we track in gets ground straight into her wooden floors.

XP: Robyn, do you do the flat "a" in drama and pasta? See, now that gives me a real shudder, but I think all the Canadians I knew (and loved) in college used both of them!

― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:44 (eighteen years ago) link

I grew up saying "foy-ur" but sometimes we'd (my family) say "foy-ay" as a put-on -- sort of recognizing that that's how the word was originally meant to be pronounced but only snooty people actually say it like that anymore. Later, I realized that normal people said it sometimes, too, i.e., that it wasn't *quite* as snooty as I had originally imagined.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:55 (eighteen years ago) link

hmm...my sister studied BBC English pronunciation at a pretentious drama school in UK and she insists "pasta" should more or less rhyme with "ass" and that "vase" should almost rhyme with "ace" but not quite.

but she sure as hell does say DRAHH-ma.

― Thea (Thea), Monday, 6 February 2006 22:59 (eighteen years ago) link

An introductory course in German and the IPA have confused my pronunciation of English vowels. I seem to predict word stress incorrectly on a fairly regular basis.

― youn, Monday, 6 February 2006 23:00 (eighteen years ago) link

No-one in the UK pronounces it as anything but vahz, do they? Someone? Anyone?

(Markelby to thread about pasta, obviously)

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:01 (eighteen years ago) link

oop (xpost) - I mean as in the yank way of pronouncing "ass" (god, confusing)

― Thea (Thea), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:01 (eighteen years ago) link

(Markelby to thread about pasta, obviously)

Please no.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:02 (eighteen years ago) link

I think we used mudroom too! But we actually had a mudroom, at the back door, in one house. or was it another word? I'm pretty sure it had "mud" in it... maybe? What other words are there for entrances?

I say drama/pasta in a way that I'm finding hard to write out phonetically. Yes, but I'm sure it's that flat a way b/c I know americans say it slightly differently. (This has kinda come up lately b/c I was watching online videos (from that roxy thread) and trying to figure out if the guys were Cdn, which I was sure they were - and was right! But in a lot of American tv, actors are trained to have a more neutral accent, so I don't get to hear it too much. haha, and then sometimes I watch Dr. Phil and THERE YA GO all over the place. Neat.)

One day, when I have a foyer, I'm going to become sooo snoooty about it.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:05 (eighteen years ago) link

oh hey yeah, maybe drama does rhyme with ass.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:09 (eighteen years ago) link

You are mental.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:10 (eighteen years ago) link

I might agree, rrobyn!

― Thea (Thea), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:14 (eighteen years ago) link

I mean dramamine, maybe, but not drama.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:15 (eighteen years ago) link

certainly a lot of dramatic productions smell like it, but I digress

― Thea (Thea), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:16 (eighteen years ago) link

I am both mental AND right.

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:17 (eighteen years ago) link

me saying things. I mean, pronouncing things (take one):
hello, robyn's voice

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:32 (eighteen years ago) link

A question for Americans:

Do these words sound the same when you say them - marry, merry, and Mary?

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:35 (eighteen years ago) link

Yes.

― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:36 (eighteen years ago) link

I love pronunciation-robyn.mp3. Although I don't love your Barry Lasagne-style pronunciation of "pasta." Wait for the antagonistic posts from me in the future.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:40 (eighteen years ago) link

I had a college roommate from Kansas City who pronounced Mary as "Murry".

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:41 (eighteen years ago) link

What about carry, Carey (as in Jim), and Kerry?

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:43 (eighteen years ago) link

also -- what about curry? (fr.tamil: kari)

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:48 (eighteen years ago) link

I say all the merry and kerry things the same.
(haha, yeah, I kind of unintentionally elongated the a in pasta, I think. Also: I think I now have to do a podcast b/c I found that way too fun.)

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:51 (eighteen years ago) link

carry, Carey (as in Jim)

Er...Jim Carrey is Carrey, not Carey, and it's pronounced carry.

― JimD (JimD), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:55 (eighteen years ago) link

Pasta/Vase/Fillet/Filet/Foyer in Britain

― Alba (Alba), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:58 (eighteen years ago) link

I interrupted someone in conversation the other night after I heard her say something was "harrible" and I said, "Wait, where are you from?" She said, "Ann Arbor." I was like, "That's what I thought." She explained that she had lived in New York for a while.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:58 (eighteen years ago) link

Re: kerry, merry, etc.

Isn't this kind of weird? I only picked up when I worked with some Americans a few years ago. Presumably, Americans differentiate between 'bag' and 'beg', and 'bad' and 'bed', and 'man' and 'men' etc., but once you add 'rry' to an 'a' or an 'e' they end up sounding the same.

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Monday, 6 February 2006 23:58 (eighteen years ago) link

(What did you use to record that, Robyn? I want to do a Podcast, too.)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:00 (eighteen years ago) link

Bwahahahah. Nick, Robyn can correct me here, but Canadians I have known say "drama" to rhyme with "grandma" (heard among "the kidz" while I was in MI at Christmas: "save the drama for your gramma" -- as opposed to the other prounuciation, which would have to be "save the drama for your mama"). The difficulty here is that you probably pronounce BOTH words with the drawn-out "a" so I don't know what another good illustration word would be. Grand? Drab? The way an American would say them, if you can imagine.

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:03 (eighteen years ago) link

I used to think Jim Carrey's surname was pronounced Carrey, but recently whenever I've heard anyone talking about him it's always been pronounced Carey. Possibly because that's how it's pronounced in America?

Drandma?

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:04 (eighteen years ago) link

Er...Jim Carrey is Carrey, not Carey, and it's pronounced carry.

As opposed to what (seeing as the whole of America just told me that marry/merry/Mary sound identical in Teh USA)?

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:04 (eighteen years ago) link

that was cute, Alba. Everyone should do one.
I used my ir1ver IFP-790 mp3 player - it has a voice recording function! Then I plugged it into my computator, uploaded it, and changed it into mp3 using the ir1ver program thingy. Simple!

― rrrobyn (rrrobyn), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:06 (eighteen years ago) link

We don't say graarndma, that would be ridiculous.

The funniest pronunciation story I heard lately was that the much-mocked "Coe-lin Powell" thing is all a misunderstanding that can be traced back to George Bush Snr's incompetence.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:08 (eighteen years ago) link

I thought it was pronounced Carey (as in rhymes with Mary, as in the way Mary is pronounced here if that's different to how Americans pronounce it).

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

One important point that Alba's mp3 raises! Is Thea's name pronounced Thee-a or Thay-a? (Soft th I should expect, but it's the vowel sound that's contentious here!)

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

As opposed to what?

Well, I'm not american, I talk proper(*), so carrey rhymes with marry and carey would rhyme with hairy.

recently whenever I've heard anyone talking about him it's always been pronounced Carey

Really? Hmm, maybe I'm wrong then, I'm not sure now.

(*) I don't really, I'm from manchester. :-)

― JimD (JimD), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

lady bracknell says graarndma -- except that she actually says graarndmamma

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:09 (eighteen years ago) link

Well, I'm not american, I talk proper(*), so carrey rhymes with marry and carey would rhyme with hairy.

Wtf, these are all pronounced the same. We need more sound clips.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:10 (eighteen years ago) link

See, Americans can make jokes about 'Hairy Potter' and 'Mary Christmas' that don't make any sense here. There's a whole world of fun we're missing out on.

― Tehrannosaurus HoBB (the pirate king), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:12 (eighteen years ago) link

(Markelby to thread about pasta, obviously)

Please no.

-- jaymc (jmcunnin...), February 6th, 2006 11:02 PM. (jaymc) (later)

Oi.

― Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Thea is Thee-a over here, not Thay-a. Lady Bracknell may demur, but she's full of it.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:12 (eighteen years ago) link

Your best friend Harry has a brother Larry
In five days from now he's gonna marry
He's hopin' you can make it there if you can
'Cause in the ceremony you'll be the best man

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:14 (eighteen years ago) link

The alternative begins, I think, like Carr's water crackers. Or "car" or "bar" without the extra letters on. Which might work for a surname like Carrey, but surely not for the word "marry"!! You say "mah-ry" as in, "willie, dear, don't mar the door"??

― Laurel (Laurel), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:14 (eighteen years ago) link

She's theatrical! Thea-Trical DO YOU SEE.

Thea wd be Thay-a if she had Greek relatives.

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 7 February 2006 00:15 (eighteen years ago) link

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