# "Good Grief" (in Queen's English)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [April 13, 2008, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143 "2008-04-13T10:17:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2008, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143/1 "2008-04-13T10:17:46Z")
a) In a George Harrison (solo) song, he pronounced “grief” (should sound like “greef”) as grife (like wife). Is that typical of the British lingo, or is he taking poetic license?
Bonus: b) Also, in an old forgotten Elton John song, he spells “tire” as “tyre” in the lyrics. c) And, in a different Elton song, he says “garage” in a way that rhymes with “carriage”.
By Joe, is this all proper?
- Jinx
P.S. We won’t even talk about “lieutenant”…
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2008, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143/2 "2008-04-13T10:26:45Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx]
a) In a George Harrison (solo) song, he pronounced “grief” (should sound like “greef”) as grife (like wife). Is that typical of the British lingo, or is he taking poetic license?
Bonus: b) Also, in an old forgotten Elton John song, he spells “tire” as “tyre” in the lyrics. c) And, in a different Elton song, he says “garage” in a way that rhymes with “carriage”.
By Joe, is this all proper?
- Jinx
[/QUOTE]
a) Never heard that pronunciation. I’m from Southern England and speak what you’d probably call the Queen’s English (only a bit less posh!). George Harrison, of course, was a Scouser and didn’t, but I don’t think it’s a common pronunciation there either.
b) Yes, “tyre” is the standard British spelling for the rubber things on wheels. “Tire” is used for the verb meaning to fatigue.
c) It’s a matter of opinion. There are three pronuncations of “garage” commonly heard in the UK.
1: to rhyme with carriage, as you (and Elton) say.
2: “GARR-ahge”, with a short “a” in the first syllable, same as in carriage, but the second syllable to rhyme with “large”. (And let’s not get into the lack of “r” 🙂 )
3: As number 2, but with the second syllable as “ahzh”, more “Frenchified”. This is how I pronounce it, and is probably considered more “proper”, at least in RP.
The American-style “Guh-RAHZH” with a schwa first syllable is also possibly gaining a foothold thanks to US television shows. :dubious:
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### Author:  [@blinkingblinking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinkingblinking)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2008, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143/3 "2008-04-13T10:26:57Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx]
a) In a George Harrison (solo) song, he pronounced “grief” (should sound like “greef”) as grife (like wife). Is that typical of the British lingo, or is he taking poetic license?
Bonus: b) Also, in an old forgotten Elton John song, he spells “tire” as “tyre” in the lyrics. c) And, in a different Elton song, he says “garage” in a way that rhymes with “carriage”.
By Joe, is this all proper?
- Jinx
P.S. We won’t even talk about “lieutenant”…
[/QUOTE]
You spelt tyre incorrectly. Elton has many faults but he spelt tyre correctly.
Garage has two pronunciations in English Some people use the two different pronunciations for the different meanings- for where you park your car versus where you have your car fixed.
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2008, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143/4 "2008-04-13T10:32:16Z")
It is all very interesting! Is there any push in the UK to keep Americanizations out, or due to the tele, is it a lost cause? Last, is the correct spelling of “defense” really defence? Fascinating!
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143/5 "2008-04-13T10:39:24Z")
[QUOTE=Jinx]
It is all very interesting! Is there any push in the UK to keep Americanizations out, or due to the tele, is it a lost cause? Last, is the correct spelling of “defense” really defence? Fascinating!
[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure there is really any campaign to keep American pronunciations out, with the exception of the odd sniffy letter from retired-colonel types in the Daily Telegraph.
Quite a lot of words seem to have migrated to an Americanised pronuncation over the past couple of decades. Off the top of my head, two are “harass” (and the related “harassment”), which is now almost always pronounced with the stress on the second syllable instead of the first, and “research”, which has gone the other way, from “rih-SEARCH” to “REE-search”.
“Defence” is spelt (there’s another one!) that way here, but “defense” is perfectly correct if you’re in the USA.
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### Author:  [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143/6 "2008-04-13T10:54:14Z")
My Mom is Canadian, and I had the hardest time with spelling in school! I don’t know…I must have subconsciously absorbed the British colour! 😉 It will always be in me. Cheque it out! 😃 Even when I turn grey, (yes grey) I will still have to think twice how to spell certain words!
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### Author:  [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143/7 "2008-04-13T11:28:24Z")
Re the pronunciation of words ending in -age, such as garage: those words adopted into English (from French) in the Middle Ages got the Anglicised “-idge” pronunciation - damage, carriage etc. Those words adopted in the 17th century or later kept the French “-azh” pronunciation - sabotage, camouflage. Garage is an interesting exception - it was introduced to the English language probably no earlier than the 19th century but is already getting the Anglicised pronunciation.
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### Author:  [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143/8 "2008-04-13T11:44:34Z")
When I worked in local radio in England we would get irate phone calls mainly from elderly listeners if anyone pronounced a word like “scheduled” the American way on air. Thing is, I’ve got to the point where I can’t remember which is which, the ‘sk’ or the ‘sh’ - they’re both in common use in the UK now.
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### Author:  [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)
#### Post date: [April 13, 2008, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-grief-in-queens-english/445143/9 "2008-04-13T11:45:49Z")
[QUOTE=Martha Medea]
When I worked in local radio in England we would get irate phone calls mainly from elderly listeners if anyone pronounced a word like “scheduled” the American way on air. Thing is, I’ve got to the point where I can’t remember which is which, the ‘sk’ or the ‘sh’ - they’re both in common use in the UK now.
[/QUOTE]
“Shed-yool” = UK, “Sked-yuhl” = US.