Dennis Nicholls
Senior HTF Member
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain! In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire... Hurricanes hardly happen.Malcolm R said:I didn't think the British pronounced the "H" on anything.
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain! In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire... Hurricanes hardly happen.Malcolm R said:I didn't think the British pronounced the "H" on anything.
I've spent some time checking online pronunciations just now. I stand corrected on oxymoron. You are right that the emphasis is on the third syllable. On the others, however, what I said is supported, especially on "err": it should not be pronounced as the first syllable of error. Granted, it can be argued that there's a "traditional" pronunciation that some purists would support more than recent variations, so there is certainly room for disagreement. An example would be the pronunciation of "dour": the traditional pronunciation would sound like "doer" rather than "dowr" but both are considered acceptable now. Serves me right for being the son of an English teacher!Mike Frezon said:I don't think I agree with any of these. Oxymoron: I believe the emphasis is on the third syllable. Often: Either way is acceptable. It has been cyclical throughout time and both ("t" or no "t") are accepted now. Err: I don't believe either "her" or "air" is right. I've always heard it pronounced like the first syllable of error. ehr Forte: Common pronunciation is FOR-tay. While historically it began life as a one-syllable word, common usage has changed what is accepted as standard.
Re: err.Originally Posted by fxrh
I've spent some time checking online pronunciations just now.
I stand corrected on oxymoron. You are right that the emphasis is on the third syllable.
On the others, however, what I said is supported, especially on "err": it should not be pronounced as the first syllable of error.
Granted, it can be argued that there's a "traditional" pronunciation that some purists would support more than recent variations, so there is certainly room for disagreement. An example would be the pronunciation of "dour": the traditional pronunciation would sound like "doer" rather than "dowr" but both are considered acceptable now.
Serves me right for being the son of an English teacher!
What really drives me nuts is when people spell it like this -- tamarrow. Every single job I've ever had has had someone who spelled it this way. I also see 'fallow' for 'follow' on a regular basis.Originally Posted by JohnS
tomorrow- "DA"morrow
That's just not true. Both forms have come into acceptance.Originally Posted by Kevin Hewell
"Often" should always be said with the T silent.
Living in "Washington", you'd be amazed at how many people living here actually say "Warshington". Not to be rude, most of them are from the midwest and east side of the US, particularly Pennsylvania. At the same time, there are probably plenty of us "Westerners" who mispronouce words from other areas of the country. Reminded me of another, maybe mentioned earlier. "Pitcher" when the real word is "picture". Maybe it has become acceptable, but it's annoying.Sam Posten said:Warshington!
I think some of this is falling into dialects and not actual miss-pronunciations. For instance, my hoser Canadian accent (that I'm told I have though I believe I speak the queens english thank you very much!) has my saying "duty" reportedly sounding like "doody", much to the delight of my friends in the UK. Of course, their accents, proper as they may be, have completely replaced the "r" sound with an "ah" sounds so "cars" sounds like "cahs" and the above "Pictures" sounds like "pictchahs". They didn't believe me when I told them this though, and things got quite heated. Especially when I told them they were wrong, potato chips are sold in bags, they're serving fries with fish, crisps aren't an actual thing but a description of chips and they're liable to burn their houses down if they insist on waving torches around. Thankfully I eventually replied "It's my duty to insist on this" and they all went "Doody!" and a rousing laugh was had by all. (Lots of cider flowing in England...)Originally Posted by Stan
Living in "Washington", you'd be amazed at how many people living here actually say "Warshington". Not to be rude, most of them are from the midwest and east side of the US, particularly Pennsylvania. At the same time, there are probably plenty of us "Westerners" who mispronouce words from other areas of the country.
Reminded me of another, maybe mentioned earlier. "Pitcher" when the real word is "picture". Maybe it has become acceptable, but it's annoying.
I don't know if it's rude either -- so I'll risk being rude and embarrass you!Stan said:I've never truly known if it's rude to tell people they're wrong with things like this, so just tolerated it and let them embarass themselves in company meetings, etc.