Usual disclaimer - I’m a Brit but isolated on the west side of the Atlantic for 20 years.
I was watching an episode of Top Gear this morning (clearly the best motoring show bar none - all legally available on the web). James May was testing a Peugeot 207 which has a connection for an iPod - so that one can listen to said iPod through the car stereo.
James pronounced iPod with a short ‘i’ like in the word 'skip for example. I (and everyone I know over here pronounce it eye-pod.
His pronounciation sounded very silly. Is that how Brits pronounce the word?
We in the UK would call it “*eye[i/]”-pod too.
The reason he’s doing this is part irony, his image is that of someone who is not into trendiness, who is only interested in quality and not image, and pretends he doesn’t ‘get’ the ‘yoof’ of today.
As far as he is concerned, you buy a car for reasons of longevity, reliability etc etc, and not for some passing trend, in this case the ipod.
I’ve never heard anyone say anything but eye-pod, in any language.
No, it’s eye-pod. I suspect James was just playing up to his wooly-headed technophobe amiable doofus image.