# I didn't know American's pronounced it like that! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 19, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836 "2009-12-19T05:15:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/21 "2009-12-19T08:50:40Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You know what’s weird? People who pronounce “leg” with an “a” sound as in “lay.” Laaaayyg. I never could figure out where that accent comes from. > > There was a character on The Sopranos who held for ransom a prosthetic laaaaayyg belonging to a Russian prostitute. Sounded really out-of-place for someone who was supposed to be from New Jersey. I think I say it the way you mean. It rhymes with egg. But both have the ‘a’ sound. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/22 "2009-12-19T09:55:20Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > In America, Evelyn EV-uh-lin is a woman’s name. In Britain, when you pronounce it EEV-lin, it’s a man’s name. My good – female – friend Evelyn, from Edinburgh, would be most surprised to hear that. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/23 "2009-12-19T11:15:30Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You know what’s weird? People who pronounce “leg” with an “a” sound as in “lay.” Laaaayyg. I never could figure out where that accent comes from. > > There was a character on The Sopranos who held for ransom a prosthetic laaaaayyg belonging to a Russian prostitute. Sounded really out-of-place for someone who was supposed to be from New Jersey. I met a girl from Texas who talked like this. She had recently moved to Georgia (yes, I realize we sound funny to other folks too 🙂 ) & I was making small talk with her. She mentioned her husband & then the fun began. \*Me: What does your husband do? Her: He’s daaayd. Me: Oh, I’m sorry. How did he die? Her: He choked on an aaaayyg. \* I had to leave. Rapidly. Before the convulsions set in. ---
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/24 "2009-12-19T11:21:47Z")
There’s another strange pronunciation that amuses me. People who say the words _look, book,_ & _took_, so that they rhyme with Luke. I associate this with Indiana for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/25 "2009-12-19T11:38:59Z")
I was watching some show…I forget, and anyway, this English guy was going across different terrain, and then started talking about a glass-ee-er which definitely leapt out at me, because most of us here in the US pronounce it glay-sure. So, I’m curious now. Is how he pronounced glacier the common way it’s pronounced in England? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/26 "2009-12-19T11:47:09Z")
I grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore, and while I don’t speak [this way](http://diclaudio.org/fun/bawlmer.php), I know a lot of folks who do. Some of the terms have to be heard to be understood… well, sorta. Oddly enough, I can’t do a Bawlmer accent. My youngest sis, tho, can nail it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Krebbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@Mr.Krebbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Krebbs)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/27 "2009-12-19T13:13:38Z")
I pronounce graham “gram” for ease of use; I have a BA in English. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/28 "2009-12-19T13:14:27Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > So, I’m curious now. Is how he pronounced glacier the common way it’s pronounced in England? It’s Glay - See - Err hereabouts, just like _brazier_ and _glazier_. With a long A. But a short A is also used, as in Glah - See - Err (q.v. Fox’s Glacier Mints). But then you get into homophonic trouble with _glassier_. _Glacial_ is usually pronounced with a long A. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/29 "2009-12-19T13:51:10Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > Cite? > > There are actually studies about stuff like this. I would check the amazing Atlas of North American English to see exactly how wide-spread this is. [Here’s one](http://www4.uwm.edu//FLL/linguistics/dialect/staticmaps/q_25.html). Not too definitive in terms of region, but it does show that “ruff” is rarer. Evelyn Waugh was at one time married to a woman named Evelyn. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/30 "2009-12-19T13:59:09Z")
I didn’t kno’w Brit’s punctuate’d lik’e thi’s!! ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/31 "2009-12-19T14:02:59Z")
When I was in Australia, I was surprised at how popular Chris Isaak was there…and that they pronounced his last name I-ZAK (instead of I-zik, which is how he pronounces it and how that name’s said in the U.S.). ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/32 "2009-12-19T14:07:33Z")
One word that I’ve noticed people pronouncing differently, and not for any apparent reason, is “negotiate.” For years I always heard it pronounced as ne-go-she-ate, but lately I’ve noticed several people saying it ne-go-see-ate. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/33 "2009-12-19T14:28:59Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > In America, Evelyn EV-uh-lin is a woman’s name. In Britain, when you pronounce it EEV-lin, it’s a man’s name. i thought it was evil-lyn. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/34 "2009-12-19T18:45:11Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It’s Glay - See - Err hereabouts, just like _brazier_ and _glazier_. With a long A. But a short A is also used, as in Glah - See - Err (q.v. Fox’s Glacier Mints). But then you get into homophonic trouble with _glassier_. _Glacial_ is usually pronounced with a long A. Ah, after doing some Google searching, turns out it’s the show “Man Vs Wild”, and although this isn’t the episode I’m thinking of he does say the word a few times [MvW](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3nPCAh3hCc) ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/35 "2009-12-19T18:47:08Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > i thought it was evil-lyn. It’s probably like how most Americans pronounce evolution ev-o-lution but British people tend to say evil-lution. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/36 "2009-12-19T19:24:08Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > i thought it was evil-lyn. He-Man nemesis. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/37 "2009-12-19T19:48:59Z")
> [@Incref](#): > > It was a bit like how I never connected Graham (GREY-AM) crackers I read about in books to GRAM crackers This is one of those things that varies regionally; some Americans make the _graham_/_gram_ distinction and some don’t. It’s probably the same ones who differentiate _mirror_/_mere_. Among his many outrages, W irritated me by pronouncing _terror_ as “terr”. That said, it wouldn’t be “gray-am”, but more like “graah-ham”. It’s almost as if the two words are differentiated only by vowel length, except that the contexts of the two words make confusion virtually impossible. Pacific Coast English is often characterized by merging many of these sounds in addition to ones like _cot_/_caught_. I seem to be something of an anomaly since I do pronounce them differently; the reason may be that I studied linguistics in college and inadvertently affected my speech as a result. A year of that time was in Germany, where I took a class in Middle English linguistics; from time to time my German classmates would ask me about questions like this; for example our pronunciation of “clerk”. By contrast, you often seem to drop letters and whole syllables from the names of old places and families. The notorious example of this is “Cholmondeley-Marjoribanks”, pronounced Chumly-Marchbanks. Or the Plague Village Eyam, pronounced Eem. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/38 "2009-12-19T19:54:34Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > Any dog that could actually say “Ruth” would have my admiration. I think a Lhasa Apso with a backbite might manage it. ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/39 "2009-12-19T20:00:23Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > But ‘roof’, ‘proof’, and ‘hoof’ all rhyme! Same vowel as ‘food’, ‘nude’ and ‘dude’… at least where I am… how do you pronounce them? Heh. Agree that ‘roof’, ‘proof’ and ‘hoof’ all rhyme, but not food/nude/dude (in the UK). "Food’ and “dude” rhyme, but “nude” also rhyming is an American thing (or a non-UK thing). In the UK we often introduce a “y” sound where Americans do not. So ‘nude’ is nyood. And we have ‘nyews’ and ‘nyuclear’ and many more. I had lived in the US for about 10 years before I realized that the things labeled ‘Graham crackers’ were the ‘Gram crackers’ I had heard so often. And on the subject of names, we have Basil as Bay-zil (US) and Baz-il (UK) and BAAAH-ZIL (Torquay). ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836/40 "2009-12-19T20:54:41Z")
My brothers and sister learned English in NZ, though they lost the accent relatively early they still pronounced words differently. That’s one thing about the Aussies and Kiwis is they cheat. I have heard the same person say the same word, two different ways depending on if they feel “posh” or not. The biggest thing is that the Aussies, Kiwis and most British people says “SHORE” for sure. Americans say sure to rhyme with fur or blur. But English people say sure as “Shore.” This is why a lot of English singers write songs and rhyme sure with before or sure with more, but oddly enough when they sing it, they sing sure to rhyme with fur or were Other words that Kiwis and Aussies tend to use, in my experience. Vit-a-min, with a short I. Vit to rhyme with pit. Din-a-stee (Dynasty) Mee-moe (memo) in stead of Mem-oh Var-it-tee (varitey) where var would rhyme with pear or square. I also noticed New Zealanders tend to really slur words with the ER sound. Like to me DIRTY comes off as DUTY [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-didnt-know-americans-pronounced-it-like-that/521836.md?page=3)