# Brits -- how do you pronounce... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643 "2006-04-14T10:44:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/1 "2006-04-14T10:44:25Z")
…jaguar? The advertisements for the car by that name currently running have an announcer with a (what sounds to me like an obviously fake) British accent calling it a “Jag-you-ar,” which annoys me no end. Do y’all really say “Jag-you-ar,” or do you pronouce it “Jag-whar,” like normal folks? Do you pronounce both the name of the car and the name of the animal the same way? And if you do say “Jag-you-ar,” how do you pronounce “guava”? TIA. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/2 "2006-04-14T10:52:20Z")
_Jag_-you-ar. Only ridiculously-pretentious people, and foreigners, go for two syllables 😛 Guava = _Gwa_-va I suppose it’s only fair that Jag adverts should be foisting the ‘correct’ pronunciation on you, as Hyundai’s adverts here fairly recently started over-egging ‘_hyun_-day’, which nobody uses in real life. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/3 "2006-04-14T10:53:32Z")
Oh, and yes, the car and the animal are the same ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/4 "2006-04-14T11:00:51Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > …jaguar? > > The advertisements for the car by that name currently running have an announcer with a (what sounds to me like an obviously fake) British accent calling it a “Jag-you-ar,” which annoys me no end. > > Do y’all really say “Jag-you-ar,” or do you pronouce it “Jag-whar,” like normal folks? Do you pronounce both the name of the car and the name of the animal the same way? > > And if you do say “Jag-you-ar,” how do you pronounce “guava”? > > TIA. Like normal folks? Excuse me, but I think you’ll find we invented the language. It’s you bloody colonials who’ve got it wrong. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/5 "2006-04-14T11:10:25Z")
Seriously – if it’s “jag-you-ar,” why isn’t it “goo-wah-va”? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/6 "2006-04-14T11:12:52Z")
'Cause they’re two different words, which don’t even have matching spellings? ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/7 "2006-04-14T11:30:00Z")
How about **Aluminum**? Almost every person I’ve ever met has pronounced it “All-lou-men-um” including non-Brits with British accents (mostly Africans, some Indians). Except for a few people I have seen on TV and one fellow named Nigel I knew years ago. They add an extra syllable as in “Al-eww-men-ee-um”. Gracias ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/8 "2006-04-14T11:37:35Z")
It’s not our fault that Yanks get confused by a mere typo 😉 : > [@](#): > > The United States adopted the -ium for most of the 19th century with aluminium appearing in Webster’s Dictionary of 1828. However, in 1892 Charles Martin Hall used the -um spelling in an advertising handbill for his new efficient electrolytic method for the production of aluminium, despite using the -ium spelling in all of his patents filed between 1886 and 1903. It has consequently been suggested that the spelling on the flyer was a simple spelling mistake rather than a deliberate choice to use the -um spelling. Hall’s domination of production of the metal ensured that the spelling aluminum became the standard in North America, even though the Webster Unabridged Dictionary of 1913 continued to use the -ium version. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium) ---
**Author:** ![nd\_n8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/439d5e/32.png) [@nd\_n8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nd_n8)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/9 "2006-04-14T12:12:31Z")
Ummm… We meant to do it that way, it was intentional… Yeah, that’s the ticket, it was on purpose. It wasn’t a typo, it was a statement… Sure it was, just ask my wife, Morgan Fairchild, she’ll tell you… – Slinks away quietly ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/10 "2006-04-14T12:27:00Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > 'Cause they’re two different words, which don’t even have matching spellings? Sure they do – isn’t the issue here whether “g-u-a” one syllable or two? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/11 "2006-04-14T12:30:42Z")
Not really - the English language is hardly the ideal place to start looking for consistency 😉 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/12 "2006-04-14T12:35:17Z")
You’re just not gonna let me have any fun at all here, are you? **pout** ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/13 "2006-04-14T13:04:16Z")
[Jonathan Pryce](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000596/), who does all the Jaguar commercials I’ve ever seen, is Welsh. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/14 "2006-04-14T13:09:34Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > You’re just not gonna let me have any fun at all here, are you? **pout** Nope 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/15 "2006-04-14T13:40:06Z")
Here’s to hoping that Ford never decides to make an Al-eww-men-ee-um Jag-u-ar. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/16 "2006-04-14T13:45:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Jonathan Pryce , who does all the Jaguar commercials I’ve ever seen, is Welsh. I’ve seen several without Pryce. There’s one with a couple in an art gallery or museum, looking at a picture. A jaguar speeds by, evoking no immediate reaction. Then one asks, “That reminds me – did you buy that Jag-u-are yet?” I wanna see an ad that’s identical, except , instead of a jaguar, a big noisy beetle flies past them. “That reminds me – did you buy that Volkswagen yet?” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/17 "2006-04-14T14:34:40Z")
And don’t even bring up the word “herb”. I saw Paul Bettany on Conan and he said, “You say to-may-to, we say to-mah-to. We say po-tah-to and you say po-tay-to. You say “erb” and we say “herb” because there is a fucking “h” at the beginning.” What about “honor”? ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/18 "2006-04-14T15:28:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Jonathan Pryce , who does all the Jaguar commercials I’ve ever seen, is Welsh That explains why his English accent is dodgy then 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/19 "2006-04-14T16:06:01Z")
You may be interested in this old GQ thread on the [Pronunciation of ‘jaguar’](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=145570). ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/20 "2006-04-14T16:59:05Z")
We’re still largely Brit-based in our speech patterns here, but I’ve always known jag-yoo-uh to be the car and jag-wahr to be the big cat. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643.md?page=2)