The Pronunciation Thread

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Not all messages are displayed: show all messages (479 of them)

Being a foreigner, it took me a while to notice that "extraordinary" is pronounced "extrordinary", and not the way it's written.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Thursday, 5 June 2003 10:16 (twenty years ago) link

Does anybody know someone with one of those irritating surnames like Featherstonehaugh (Fanshaw) or Chalmondley (Chumley) that are pronounced nothing like what they look like, like?

― MarkH (MarkH), Thursday, 5 June 2003 10:21 (twenty years ago) link

I used to know a family called Wemyss (Weemz).

― Sam (chirombo), Thursday, 5 June 2003 10:24 (twenty years ago) link

(they were common as muck btw)

― Sam (chirombo), Thursday, 5 June 2003 10:25 (twenty years ago) link

There is apparently a Sussex thing of stressing the last syllable of place names - hence my parents live in SeaFORD, not 'Seafud' like 'Bradfud'. And we have ArdingLY(E) and ChiddingLY(E) not 'Ardinglee' and 'Chiddinglee'.

Pronunciation of 'scone' is for me determined by the 'what's the fastest cake in the world?' joke... geddit?

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 5 June 2003 10:25 (twenty years ago) link

Maybe this should have been another .wav thread -- I will never understand American vowel sounds (furry? lorry?).

I was originally brought up to say "scoan" but then at school everyone said this was really posh and people who didn't go foxhunting should say "scon". However, since my mother comes from a lower class background than any of the people who told me that, maybe it IS the other way round. I never much liked scones anyway so I haven't needed to say it for years.

I thought I agreed on the rule about pronouncing placenames as the locals would but on reflection this only extends as far as halfarsed attempts not to lengthen the vowel in Glasgow or Newcastle (or I guess Castleford or wherever).

My dictionary's pronunciation guide tells me not to schwa-ify the last syllable of "inchoate", but that sounds so precise and laboured. Is it right?

― Frazer, Thursday, 5 June 2003 10:53 (twenty years ago) link

Ha ha, hello pronunciation thread, allow me to introduce you to my friend, the word 'banal'. I'm sure you'll hit it off splendidly!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 5 June 2003 12:01 (twenty years ago) link

bun ahl

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Thursday, 5 June 2003 12:19 (twenty years ago) link

as in "bun ahl retentive"

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Thursday, 5 June 2003 12:20 (twenty years ago) link

Hey we've done this before!

― ambrose (ambrose), Thursday, 5 June 2003 12:42 (twenty years ago) link

Also: International Phonetic Alphabet to thread!

(Half of the "I pronounce [X] like [Y] posts" just leave me wondering, "But how do you pronounce [Y]?")

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Thursday, 5 June 2003 15:52 (twenty years ago) link

that should be

"I pronounce [X] like [Y]" posts

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Thursday, 5 June 2003 16:00 (twenty years ago) link

DOCK you men tarry

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 5 June 2003 16:06 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah? Well DOCK you men tarry, too!

― Paul in Santa Cruz (Paul in Santa Cruz), Thursday, 5 June 2003 16:09 (twenty years ago) link

Americans don't say mo' bile or mo bill for mobile, they say "cell phone".

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 5 June 2003 16:48 (twenty years ago) link

"err"
ur or error? i think ur is correct but it sounds a bit much so i say it wrong deliberately, i think.

― dan (dan), Thursday, 5 June 2003 18:10 (twenty years ago) link

NOO-kyoo-luhr

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Thursday, 5 June 2003 18:13 (twenty years ago) link

three weeks pass...

Could some cultured person help me with "Evelyn Waugh"? Is it really pronounced like "evil 'n' woe"?

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 29 June 2003 14:29 (twenty years ago) link

more like "waw", I think (rhyming with jaw). The "evil'n'" bit is spot on.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 29 June 2003 14:42 (twenty years ago) link

eve-lin, surely?

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 29 June 2003 15:01 (twenty years ago) link

You mean there are only two syllables in "Evelyn", Martin?

― o. nate (onate), Sunday, 29 June 2003 15:21 (twenty years ago) link

Well that's how I pronounce it. There is sometimes a hint of an 'uh' between them, but it seems pretty optional to me.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 29 June 2003 15:33 (twenty years ago) link

slee-ter or slay-ter?

i gather it's probably the former, but i like the latter better

(sits in corner)

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Sunday, 29 June 2003 18:08 (twenty years ago) link

Does anyone knows how locals pronounce the name of the Peruvian football team Deportivo Wanka?

― Daniel (dancity), Sunday, 29 June 2003 20:33 (twenty years ago) link

Slay ter Kin knee, yup.

― Mark C (Mark C), Sunday, 29 June 2003 20:48 (twenty years ago) link

How do you pronounce Bassey (as in Shirley)?

― Poppy (poppy), Monday, 30 June 2003 00:19 (twenty years ago) link

like the fish and the strait

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 30 June 2003 00:35 (twenty years ago) link

To rhyme with Lassie.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 30 June 2003 11:33 (twenty years ago) link

five months pass...

I would like to point out Tracer Hand is wrong, as I also pronounce "mountain" properly, with a "t" in it. How on earth can one pronounce it without a "t"? I can't figure it out!

― Allyzay, Wednesday, 10 December 2003 15:17 (twenty years ago) link

Mau-in

― Sarah McLusky (coco), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 15:22 (twenty years ago) link

yeah, glottal stop (say 'bottle' with an english accent and the glottal stop is where the tt is).

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 15:25 (twenty years ago) link

I associate mau!in with rough NJ guys. I say maun!n.

― Bnad, Wednesday, 10 December 2003 15:59 (twenty years ago) link

Mown-tin. I was in a band with someone named Mountain for 3 years, I know how to spell it! (It was her real name, too! Only one in the band!)

OK, she's Canadian, so she pronounces it Moohn-tin, but its her name, she can pronounce it how she likes.

― HRH Queen Kate (kate), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 16:03 (twenty years ago) link

Mown-tin, yes that is exactly how it is pronounced. I think Tracer is trying to trick his lovely girlfriend.

― Allyzay, Wednesday, 10 December 2003 19:07 (twenty years ago) link

kate was in a band with leslie west!

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 19:08 (twenty years ago) link

(who is a he obv)

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 19:08 (twenty years ago) link

I pronounce mountain either way but I generally drop the middle 't', I suppose it is some kind of southern thing. Also "fire" has two syllables.

― TOMBOT, Wednesday, 10 December 2003 19:19 (twenty years ago) link

Fire is supposed to have two syllables, how else do you pronounce the combination of letters there? Between this and that thread where someone said "romance" and "dance" don't rhyme I'm starting to feel like I talk like a total freak.

"FYE-ERRR" that is how that is pronounced, everyone I know says it like that. However I do not understand this "t" dropping nonsense, I can't even figure out how that would work, if I try to say it like that I cannot.

My sister is like physically incapable of pronouncing the letter g if it is anywhere in a word besides the very start, which is odd.

― Allyzay, Wednesday, 10 December 2003 19:25 (twenty years ago) link

How does she say "higgeldy-piggeldy" then?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 21:28 (twenty years ago) link

"hilllldy piiii-illdy"

― Allyzay, Wednesday, 10 December 2003 21:29 (twenty years ago) link

Can I get a .wav of her saying that?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 22:00 (twenty years ago) link

I don't think she has the technology to create such a thing.

― Allyzay, Wednesday, 10 December 2003 22:03 (twenty years ago) link

Ally you're the only American to pronounce "mountain" that way that i've ever known. was it the dry Southwestern air that honed your consonants to such an Audrey Hepburn sharpness?

(in Texas "fire" is pronounced "far," obv)

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 22:14 (twenty years ago) link

and school is pronounced "skool," not "skoo-wuhl," as New Yorkers with "no accent" would have us believe.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 22:16 (twenty years ago) link

i pronounce it "skool."

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 22:17 (twenty years ago) link

IMPOSTER

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 22:21 (twenty years ago) link

Who in the hell even pronounces it "skooo-whul"??? Tracer, are you sure you actually lived in NY ever?

― Allyzay, Wednesday, 10 December 2003 22:24 (twenty years ago) link

at least pick on new yorkers' inability to use the letter "d" in a word without inexplicably adding a "z" sound to it.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 22:27 (twenty years ago) link

skewl.

i love the collegian bicoastal accent (er i wrote 'college girl' there which may be poor on my part, but i associate it with a) a girl in my program, b) a girl i uh met in d.c. and c) kathleen hanna) where the vowels are overrounded and at the front of the mouth, sort of valley girl (again with the girl thing, sorry!) but not really.
conv. btw aforementioned girl b. and me:
b: we could hang out on my reef.
g: what?
b: is that okay?
g: your reef?
b: my REWF.
g: haha oh your ROOF
b: dewn't make fun of me, minneapolis

― g--ff (gcannon), Wednesday, 10 December 2003 22:29 (twenty years ago) link

two months pass...

What is the definitive way to pronounce the name of Liberal Democrat politician Menzies Campbell? On Newsnight they say it really quickly, so as to avoid having to enunciate it carefully. This morning on Five Live Breakfast they used the short form, which sounded alarmingly like Ming. Ming?! I paid no attention to what he said after that - wrapped up as I was in thoughts of huge collars and devillish beards. So come on, how do you pronounce his name?

― Daniel (dancity), Monday, 1 March 2004 18:28 (twenty years ago) link

Skipping 379 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

just basic building block components of sound. i know that's different than the filetype and all of that. i just associate them that way, may be alone in that

― Karl Malone, Monday, 24 January 2022 00:19 (two years ago) link

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.