Hey Velvetgoldmine - are you letting this thread die a quick death, or do you plan on responding?
English Pronunciation
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Since I learnt the little English I know, never understood how "live", as in a "U2 go home, LIVE from Slane Castle", is pronounced like "life".....why not write it like that and then be done with the "problem"? Or is it just me that considers that a "problem"???
By the way, in Spanish you just know when you see a word written its exact pronuntiation, so no "mistery" about it....
And I like how "Birmingham" is pronounced up there in England!
Regards
Life is pronounced like wife. Live is pronounced as in the words dive or drive .
There is a big difference
Tell me Mandrake what's the difference between
Grassias
&
Grathias
Is it just a local custom on the Islands or is the Spanish spoken in Madrid correct.
In England, we have more local pronunciations of words than anywhere else I know. Incidentally non of the pronunciations sound like American English or for that matter European English. also, nobody understands people from Birmingham. As you have noticed, they can not even pronounce the name of their City correctly.
God bless.
But isn't that part of the fun of meeting new people.
I count myself truly gratefull that even if I can not always spell the words correctly, I really only ever had to learn the one language.
Down south, "Ralph" is only pronounced "Raif" if you're "putting on airs". Same thing with "Cecil". Big shots pronounce it "Sess- ill" and everyone else says "Seese-ill". I went to school with a boy named Leroy. On the first day of the fifth grade the teacher was going down the roster and when she got to him, she called out "La-roy?" He didn't respond at first, then he asked her "Are you trying to say Leeeeeeroy?" She said "Oh, I'm sorry, most people pronounce it La-roy." He said "not where I come from" and we all busted out laughing. That poor teacher was so out of her league. 
I used to live near the town of Rutherfordton. It was pronounced "Ruff-ton". We also had a lot of folks with the surname "Dula", which is pronounced "Dooley". You may remember the "Tom Dooley" song by the Kingston Trio which was based on the true story of Thomas Dula, who was from the same area. There's also a lot of headstones from the early Scottish settlers that read "Jury, Scotland" as the birthplace, which is the same as Jura.
As an aside, am I the only one that correctly pronounces Worcestershire Sauce as "Wooster-shire"?
I used to live near the town of Rutherfordton. It was pronounced "Ruff-ton". We also had a lot of folks with the surname "Dula", which is pronounced "Dooley". You may remember the "Tom Dooley" song by the Kingston Trio which was based on the true story of Thomas Dula, who was from the same area. There's also a lot of headstones from the early Scottish settlers that read "Jury, Scotland" as the birthplace, which is the same as Jura.
As an aside, am I the only one that correctly pronounces Worcestershire Sauce as "Wooster-shire"?
Question: I've seen several "Pikey" videos on the Youtubes, and I've noticed that a lot of the van dwelling kind call each other "gorger" or "gorger-bread." What in god's name does this mean? I can't for the life of me understand. In "Urban Dictionary" it's defined as someone who lives in a house?!?
Come to think of it, I'd love to hear some other bizarre (relative) British expressions.
Here are some American ones:
"Here's your sign" - An expression of dubious congratulations for someone's abject stupidity. (i.e. join the stupid club, here's your sign)
"Irregardless" - Self Explanatory
We also use Flammable and Inflammable as opposites, I'm not sure if that's similar over the pond, but it drives me nuts.
Come to think of it, I'd love to hear some other bizarre (relative) British expressions.
Here are some American ones:
"Here's your sign" - An expression of dubious congratulations for someone's abject stupidity. (i.e. join the stupid club, here's your sign)
"Irregardless" - Self Explanatory
We also use Flammable and Inflammable as opposites, I'm not sure if that's similar over the pond, but it drives me nuts.
Here in sunny central Fl, there are a lot of indian names for towns and streets ect... Some of the tougher ones for visitors are Kissimee (the second i is stressed), Palatlakaha, Astatula (turn your *** to Tula) and Econolockhatchee.
On a side note, I love the way Houston and Cairo are pronounced in Ga. House-ton and Kay-row respectively.
On a side note, I love the way Houston and Cairo are pronounced in Ga. House-ton and Kay-row respectively.
Down south, "Ralph" is only pronounced "Raif" if you're "putting on airs". Same thing with "Cecil". Big shots pronounce it "Sess- ill" and everyone else says "Seese-ill".
As an aside, am I the only one that correctly pronounces Worcestershire Sauce as "Wooster-shire"?
In Britain Cecil is always pronounced Sessle. When I first heard the Seesle in an American TV program I fell about!
You are correct with Wooster-Shire as long as the Woo in Wooster sounds like Wood and the shire rhymes with huh!
I had seen that brilliantly bad Welsh English translation on the road sign. Made oi laaarf!
Gareth
In one breath?
I've never understood why the Welsh and the Germans want to jam a bunch of words into one. Apparently the name of this spot was a kinda publicity stunt so that the local rail station would have the longest name. The translation is "St. Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool of llantysilio of the red cave"
I'm always amazed in this day of TV and Radio that there are still regional differences in English pronunciation and sometimes in relatively close proximity.
Honestly chaps, this sort of thing goes on wherever English is spoken, to include Old Blighty herself. NONE of the English speak proper English, just like we Yanks don't. Each area(add "r" to the end of area if you are English or from the East Coast of the U.S. pronounced air-ee-er :tongue) has its own slang. I have heard at least half dozen different versions of English from varying college transfer students here in the States. I have heard a TON of differing accents here in the States as well. A Texan or Oklahoman sounds much different than someone from Virginia. Older Virginians are more lyrical and sound nearly like someone from Statford on Avon at times. Go a few hundred miles to the South and you grab the Jawja(Georgia) way of speaking. Quite different to those of from the midwest where allegedly we have no accent. My favourite English accents are from the North of England, the Lakeland districts, etc. Those dalesmen are hard to understand at times but usually very fine people. We had a local mobile phone salesman who was from the North. He sounded nearly Scottish but was not so hard to understand at times.
Regards, Todd
Regards, Todd
How about New Orleans? Calliope == cally 'ope... *** is that about?
Terpsichore == terp sih core (like an apple core)?
Terpsichore == terp sih core (like an apple core)?
What about words that all English speakers mispronounce, words like Breakfast. It is evident that the word describes the meal that we eat to break the fast of a nights sleep. But we pronounce it Breck-fusst.
Lord knows I'm the last person who should ever criticize anybody else's spoken English, but there are some features of "Utahnics" that are just fingernails on the chalkboard of my mind:
1. The superfluous t's that sneak in: Conference is pronounced "Cont-fronts," information is "int-firmation," health becomes "howlt-th," etc.
2. Certain i's get changed, too: Music becomes "mews-eek," spiritual is "speereechul," and any poor kid named Eric: "Air-eek."
3. In most environments, words ending in -ing get the g lopped off. Not southern style (fishin' and walkin') which I don't mind; rather, "fisheen" and "walkeen."
As they say behind the Zion Curtain, "Ut's ignert, un howlt-thy, and dusturb-een."
1. The superfluous t's that sneak in: Conference is pronounced "Cont-fronts," information is "int-firmation," health becomes "howlt-th," etc.
2. Certain i's get changed, too: Music becomes "mews-eek," spiritual is "speereechul," and any poor kid named Eric: "Air-eek."
3. In most environments, words ending in -ing get the g lopped off. Not southern style (fishin' and walkin') which I don't mind; rather, "fisheen" and "walkeen."
As they say behind the Zion Curtain, "Ut's ignert, un howlt-thy, and dusturb-een."
A lot of the confusion in how place names are pronounced is historical. Place names in the northeast USA are generally English, in the midwest French and in the southwest, Spanish.
So, when I worked in Chicago for a company based in Boston, I got a call from the home office from someone who wanted to talk to me about my customer in "Lisley". It is spelled Lisle and we say "Lyle" which is as close as an American can get to "Leel". Anyway, here's a joke:
A woman is auditioning for a Broadway musical and she sings:
You say potato and I say potato
You say tomato and I say tomato
Potato Potato Tomato Tomato
Let's call the whole thing off
And the director says, "Thanks very much, don't call us, we'll cal you Mrs. Levin" and she says, "It's Levine".
So, when I worked in Chicago for a company based in Boston, I got a call from the home office from someone who wanted to talk to me about my customer in "Lisley". It is spelled Lisle and we say "Lyle" which is as close as an American can get to "Leel". Anyway, here's a joke:
A woman is auditioning for a Broadway musical and she sings:
You say potato and I say potato
You say tomato and I say tomato
Potato Potato Tomato Tomato
Let's call the whole thing off
And the director says, "Thanks very much, don't call us, we'll cal you Mrs. Levin" and she says, "It's Levine".
Baltimore, Maryland is pronounced "Baw-merr, Merlin" by the natives, who refer to themselves as "Balti-Morons."
Are those anything like "Mass-holes?"
Texans add extra T's, too. "Aholt", instead of "ahold", and "acrossed the street" instead of across. R's too. Warshin' mah truck is what Ah lahk ta do on' Sundee." You read it right. Not Sun-DAY, Sun-DEE.
I always thought that warsh was a midwest thing. I've heard some people here in Texas say it but they were all transplants AFAICS.
We do have a propensity for saying awl and meaning oil.
The acrosst/aholt thing makes me crazy!
We do have a propensity for saying awl and meaning oil.
The acrosst/aholt thing makes me crazy!
They say it here in the southeast too. No matter where I am in the world, I see a washcloth and it registers as "warsh rag".
Here, it's pronounced "earl".
That's also a southeast thing. Somebody once told me "I want you to know I only did this once", but it came out "I wornst yuh tuh know, I only did this wonst."
NC is the only place on Earth where "Chevrolet" is pronounced "Shovel- A". Hell, even the word "pronounce" is pronounced "pro-nunse".
About a quarter of a breath! Only takes three seconds to say.
Actually the Welsh don't put lots of words together as the Germans do. As mentioned, the village of LlanfairPG, to give it its correct postal address was faked up by the Victorian pub/hotel owner to try to get people to stop there on their way to get boats to Ireland.
Iechyd Da
Gareth
How about "north", as in "North London"? Is it pronounced the same way my shirt is spelled?
Not if you lived in SARF London!
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Don't even start about Cockney!
