# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/21 "2006-04-14T17:03:12Z")
Australian here, who says jag-you-are for the car and the cat, and who says al-you-min-ee-um. Just because everyone in the US says it one way doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t go our own way. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/22 "2006-04-14T21:42:54Z")
On a related note, I’m a yank but I love the idea of calling the letter “z” a zed instead of “zee”. Sounds cooler. Is there any way I can get away with using this without sounding horribly pretentious? ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/23 "2006-04-14T21:45:16Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > What about “honor”? In my accent, “onner”. And I think you’ll find it’s spelt _honour_. 😉 ---
**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, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/24 "2006-04-14T21:47:12Z")
> [@Jayrot](#): > > Is there any way I can get away with using this without sounding horribly pretentious? Yes. Emigrate. 😉 ---
**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, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/25 "2006-04-14T21:48:50Z")
> [@Revenant Threshold](#): > > In my accent, “onner”. Fffffft. What a waste of a vowel. _n’ner_ is about all I could transcribe the local variant as. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/26 "2006-04-14T22:33:44Z")
It just wouldn’t be the same to have a dream about a big star who always ate at the Goo-avv-ah bar. ---
**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, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/27 "2006-04-14T23:36:56Z")
> [@Jayrot](#): > > On a related note, I’m a yank but I love the idea of calling the letter “z” a zed instead of “zee”. Sounds cooler. Is there any way I can get away with using this without sounding horribly pretentious? No. Thanks for the link, **Thudlow** – shoulda realized there are no new questions at the Dope. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/28 "2006-04-15T01:04:05Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > 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.” Someone better tell Eddie Izzard this guy’s stealing his material. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/29 "2006-04-15T02:42:46Z")
Just gonna post the same thing, **Smeghead**. “You say _lee_-zhur, and we say ly-_zhur_-ee-ay.” ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/30 "2006-04-15T02:48:38Z")
I think it’s fair to say that the company can pronounce the name of its own car however it wants. I also think that, if you are an American, if you call it a “Jag-you-arr” you will unavoidably sound like a “jag-you-off.” Being an American, I feel compelled to pronounce it a “Jag-war,” just as I would the Panthera onca, so as not to sound pretentious. OTOH, it sounds cool when Brits say it the other way. You can get away with it, we can’t. JMO. ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/31 "2006-04-15T03:56:16Z")
> [@Jayrot](#): > > On a related note, I’m a yank but I love the idea of calling the letter “z” a zed instead of “zee”. Sounds cooler. Is there any way I can get away with using this without sounding horribly pretentious? Move. But not too far! Just up the coast! I’ll have my mother train you. You’ll be hearing “Hay is for horses” and “Yes is with an ‘s’” and “Zee??? Zee is for ignorant unwashed Americans!”\* in no time. \*This is a lie. She’s just sneer at you and shake her head, muttering something about raising savages who’ll never find proper husbands under her breath when she hears you say “zee”. And think the “unwashed American” part. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/32 "2006-04-15T04:47:03Z")
> [@Jennyrosity](#): > > 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. 😛 Maybe English, but not the word in question. That one belongs to the Spanish and Portuguese. And about “zed” how come you don’t pronounce B as “bed” too? ---
**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 15, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/33 "2006-04-15T05:04:00Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > And about “zed” how come you don’t pronounce B as “bed” too? I blame the empire-hungry Plantagenets. From [here.](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=zed) > [@](#): > > zed, c.1400, from [M.Fr](http://M.Fr). zede, from L.L. zeta, from Gk. zeta, from Heb. zayin, letter name, lit. “weapon;” so called in allusion to the shape of this letter in ancient Hebrew. U.S. pronunciation zee is first attested 1677. Other dialectal names for the letter are izzard, ezod, uzzard and zod. Some bright spark over t’other side of the Atlantic in 1677 musta said, “Hey! Wait a minute, there …!” ---
**Author:** ![Trillionaire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@Trillionaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trillionaire)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/34 "2006-04-15T09:57:31Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Seriously – if it’s “jag-you-ar,” why isn’t it “goo-wah-va”? So presumably you pronounce “Stuart” as “Stwahrt” then? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/35 "2006-04-15T10:22:48Z")
> [@Trillionaire](#): > > So presumably you pronounce “Stuart” as “Stwahrt” then? 😉 Touche! (pronounced “towch”) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/36 "2006-04-15T13:52:32Z")
If you don’t like the way they say ‘jaguar’, you’re _really_ going to hate the way they say ‘Nicaragua’. ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/37 "2006-04-15T16:31:33Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > If you don’t like the way they say ‘jaguar’, you’re _really_ going to hate the way they say ‘Nicaragua’. Speaking of Nicaragua, is there much call for rolling r’s in any American accent? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/38 "2006-04-15T16:45:10Z")
There is NO call for a rolled R, a trilled R, or a flapped R, (and NEVER and uvular R) in any American dialect. The closest we come is dropping it altogether or turning it into a glide after a vowel. (I guess we just got the wrong immigrants from the island during the settling. You can find some near-rolled Rs in Canada, but they allowed in far more Scots and Northumbrians.) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/39 "2006-04-15T16:50:41Z")
What’s with pronouncing “drawing” as “drawring”? ---
**Author:** ![sjc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@sjc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sjc)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643/40 "2006-04-15T17:59:17Z")
From [here:](http://www.worldwidewords.org/articles/aluminium.htm) > [@](#): > > Sir Humphry made a bit of a mess of naming this new element, at first spelling it alumium (this was in 1807) then changing it to aluminum, and finally settling on aluminium in 1812. His classically educated scientific colleagues preferred aluminium right from the start, because it had more of a classical ring, and chimed harmoniously with many other elements whose names ended in –ium, like potassium, sodium, and magnesium, all of which had been named by Davy. In other words, the guy who named it named it aluminum _before_ he changed his mind and named it aluminium. So the American spelling has the distinction of coming before the British spelling. Of course Davies changed his mind eventually and called it aluminium and most people agreed (including Americans for most of the 19th century). I’d say the arguments for the “aluminium” spelling are pretty good, but at the same time it’s not as if it has pride of place. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/brits-how-do-you-pronounce/352643.md?page=3)