And Lobsang, I want to ask about British etiquette.
When do you use “shit” and when do you use “shite”?
I watched “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” the other night. I got the impression that “shite” was a personal pronoun.
is it hach or ache
Why waste a whole half a word? What person in his right mind pronounces “Worchestershire” as “wooster”? Arrrrrgh!
Just kidding. I love the English. My most favorite lady on Earth is English (hi, Georgina).
I’m wondering if it’s considered proper BBC English to pronounce Africa as “Africer,” Nicaragua as “Nicaragauer,” Chicago as “Chicager,” North Korea as “North Kareer,” or Venezuela as “Venezueler.” Since that’s what I hear on the BBC World Service when it’s broadcast in the US, it must be.
Oh, well, see, that’s correct then. Now if we can just get rid of all those unneccessary u’s…
I was always floored by the pronounciation of Aluminum as Alu-min-ium. First time I heard it I thought they were talking about some wierd alloy, or some new Aluminum-like element
Does this apply to all -inium affix elements? Is the British Periodic table of Elements full of Titaminium, Plutominium, and Fermimimy-um?
And if you misprounounce Californium (California is my home state) I’ll be forced to run you over with my gas-guzzling SUV
“Californium”? Is that some weird alloy of Californum?
Anyway, apart from Alumin(i)um there are 71 elements that end in -ium and only 4 that end in -um. Or is the American periodic table full of Sodum, Magnesum, Calcum, Titanum etc.
Take no prisoners, ME…you’ve got him on the run now!
Thank you for joining the board, Mr president
Hail to the Chef !
btw, I’ll take the wor-ster-shire-sauce and raise you an ala-min-I-um shed
Only if you are succumbing to the influx of Americanism. The correct answer is ‘skool shedyool’, which, I’m sure, is the answer MEB was looking for.
But we like our vowels. Consider also words like oestrogen, oesophagus, aesthetic.
BTW, what is the proper term for vowels stuck to each other like the o and e are supposed to be (if I knew how to type it)?
Americans like their syllables. Burgle = burglarize. Anaesthetist = anesthesiologist.
Americans are the ONLY ones in the world who say “zee”. Originally it’s from the Greek “zeta”. It is America’s peculiar “zee” that is baffling. The rest of the world is waiting for an explanation for this bizarre behavior.
Not today, please.
I was under the impression that this is done only to “connect” words, to make them flow more naturally.
As in: “The rebels in Nicaragua[sub][sup]r[/sup][/sub] are marching towards the town of El Torro Guapo”
Leaving the “r” out makes it sound staccato.
Isn’t this why we kicked the lime juicers out of here in the first place? Since we’re on the topic where the hell does anyone get the pronounciation “sinjin” from “St. John?”
It helps if you talk like Prince Charles …
I am sure it’s the other way round -
UK : Sked
US : Shed
Fine, but be gentle with us today (Feb. 1), ok?
No, the almost-impossible-to-pronounce “sss-shedule” is the stupid English pronounciation. “Skedule” is the more sensible American pronounciation, which, thank goodness, is being adopted more and more by us.
Anyway, I think we should be nice to Americans, today, given the horrible tragedy that has just been suffered there.
“Pronunciation” :smack: