[QUOTE=norinew]
But that’s not how he pronounces it. For him, it’s “lie-berry”; you know, strawberry, blueberry, lieberry. He’s an educated guy.
[/QUOTE]
Straw-bree, blue-bree, lie-bree. At least I’m consistent within myself, as well as being fairly well educated 
[QUOTE=GorillaMan]
Straw-bree, blue-bree, lie-bree. At least I’m consistent within myself, as well as being fairly well educated
[/QUOTE]
Gah! I hope he never finds out! He’ll be wanting to start a coalition or something! 
I’ll save myself a syllable, thanks. Self-consciously pronouncing ‘Wednesday’ with three syllables is kind of like mowing your lawn with nail clippers-- it takes longer and all the neighbors think you’re weird.
Just a nitpick-- it’s actually not the dropping of a ‘g’ sound but the replacement of the velar nasal with the alveolar nasal (‘n’).
There is no such thing.
What you’re missing is that he’s not mispronouncing it; his dialect’s word for the place where one checks out books is /'laI ber rI/. Despite the wishes of many, pronunciation is not determined by orthography, else we would all be saying /nIx;t/ rather than /naIt/ for “night”. After all, it’s spelled with a yogh (“gh”) – shouldn’t we be pronouncing that, if what you’re saying is correct?
[QUOTE=yBeayf]
There is no such thing.
[QUOTE]
k ur rite
[QUOTE=soulmurk]
I still can’t figure out how Washingtonians get “Ponderay” out of Pend Orielle…
[/QUOTE]
Ah, you can blame the French language for that. According to this site, “The name ‘Pend Oreille’, meaning ‘ear drop’ was given to the lake by French-Canadian trappers. This could refer either to the shape of the lake or the habit of the Indians of wearing pendant ornaments in their ear lobes.” You can also blame those trappers for nearby Coeur D’Alene (Cor D’Lane) in Idaho too.
[QUOTE=Athena]
I’ve had fights with people over the pronounciation of “sauna.”
…I know the standard American pronounciation is saw-na, but I’m not going to use it. “Sow-na” is the correct pronounciation up here, where they’re ubiquitous. I don’t care if you think it sounds funny. You all can’t build 'em, you don’t know how to use 'em, and you certainly can’t pronounce the word. So back off.
[/QUOTE]
Right on, Athena! My Dad’s a Yooper too and he taught us to say it that way. I’ve only been corrected once but I’m sure there are others who wanted to. By the way, for those who are wondering, the first syllable rhymes with wow, not woe.
Here in Seattle, Boeing is major employer. It’s surprising how many people add an ‘s’ at the end. It’s been quite a while but I’ve even heard it pronounced “Boings.”
:smack: Ai yi yi yi!
My problem has always been people who say “worsh” when they mean “wash”. Where the heck do they get the “r”? It isn’t even close!
[QUOTE=Duggy Fizzle]
My problem has always been people who say “worsh” when they mean “wash”. Where the heck do they get the “r”? It isn’t even close!
[/QUOTE]
I have the same problem with people who say “grosheries” instead of “groceries.” Stop that!
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
I have the same problem with people who say “grosheries” instead of “groceries.” Stop that!
[/QUOTE]
That one rhymes with strawberry, too. Seriously.
[QUOTE=WishIHadACoolName]
I have a coworker who at least once a day will mispronounce a patient’s name, usually pretty badly. About 2 weeks ago, she kept saying Elsie instead of Elisa. Finally, Elisa yelled at her.
[/QUOTE]
Maybe this was the one time where she really was a cow-orker
What I want to know is why almost all the enlisted military (on tv news, anyway) call it Eye-Rack. Do they get that in basic training or something?
Maybe a more sensible question would be “Why isn’t “wash” spelled with an “r”, even though there clearly is one in there?”
Once again, orthography is subservient to pronunciation, and not the other way around, and anybody who tries to change pronunciation to match orthography is commanding the tides not to rise.
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug]
What I want to know is why almost all the enlisted military (on tv news, anyway) call it Eye-Rack. Do they get that in basic training or something?
[/QUOTE]
What are they calling an eye-rack? What is that?
Also, I abhor warsh, too.
Ah! just got it, sorry. Iraq. Duh.
There are two cities in Central Florida that get the same treatment. One is Kissimee, pronounced kuh-Sim-ee, not Kiss-A-Me and the other is Altamonte Springs which is All-ta-mont, not Al-ta-Monty.
You can tell when the voice-over is done by an out-of-towner round these parts.
Not really a mispronunciation but irregardless makes my right eye squinch up.
[QUOTE=WhyNot]
The only word that I know the “preferred” pronunciation to, but say the more common one is “coitus.”
Seriously, it’s “supposed” to be pronounced “Ko-ee-tus”. Sounds ridiculous.
[/QUOTE]
Am I being whooshed here? How do you pronounce it? I can’t see any other way to pronounce it other than the correct way, unless you say something like KOYT-us, which is clearly ridiculous and I have never heard it in my life.
[QUOTE=Colophon]
Am I being whooshed here? How do you pronounce it? I can’t see any other way to pronounce it other than the correct way, unless you say something like KOYT-us, which is clearly ridiculous and I have never heard it in my life.
[/QUOTE]
“Koi-tus”, yes. “Koi” like the Japanese fish. That’s how I’ve always heard it. It’s listed as the third alternate pronunciation, but it’s the only one I’ve ever heard.
A co-worker referred to “dash-hounds” and I said I hadn’t heard of that kind of dog. Apparently it is a not uncommon version of dachshund!
My father insists on sow-na too even though he is from more temperate regions. He also switched to “Him-AHL-yahs” after a trip to Nepal.
[QUOTE=WhyNot]
The only word that I know the “preferred” pronunciation to, but say the more common one is “coitus.”
[/QUOTE]
I wonder how long ago it was that “vack-you-um” turned into “vack-yoom.”
[QUOTE=Zeldar]
For me the difficulty arises when I try a new placename phonetically only to learn the local pronunciation has almost nothing to do with its spelling. Louisiana and Texas are good about this sort of thing. Nacogdoches is “nack-a-tish” and how you get that from the spelling beats me.
<snip>
[QUOTE]
Nacogdoches, TX is Nac-a-do-ches.
Natchitoches, LA is Nack-a-tish.