In Irish English, is the word “medicine” usually pronounced with two syllables, as in British English, or with three, as in American English?
If a sample size of one, and a reference to Ireland following the US style is any use, three syllables. I never realized it could be pronounced with just two, but then again I’ve been subject to ridicule for thigh-land.
I think most Scottish people pronounce it with 3 syllables.
OK, well, substitute “RP” for “British English” in my original post, then.
English here - three syllables for me and most people I know.
Also English and two syllables. That’s how I hear it on radio and TV too. - Med sin.
I think I normally hear it pronounced with 3 syllables. That is certainly how I pronounce it. However, I haven’t been listening out for this difference, so it may be that people are saying “medsin” and I haven’t noticed.
It’s not med-uh-seen-ay? Oh.
Only poshy Irish people would say it with two syllables. It’s typically three to my 32 year old ears.
MED-suhn surely. The second vowel is a schwa, or somewhere betweena schwa and a u, certainly not an i. That’s how I grew up saying it, in South East England, anyway. I don’t know about the Irish.
Southern England. Three syllables for me. Meh-di-sin. The middle one is sometimes vanishingly short, but it’s there.
Don’t just take it from me, let’s see what Julie Andrews has to say on the matter. The way she sings it is the way I say it and the most common way I hear it said.
I’ve never heard of a silent I in “medicine” (northern England). When I try to say it that way, it sounds like a small child who can’t say the word properly.
Well, shows what I know. I thought the Irish pronounce medicine this way: “beer.”
If you don’t understand what we’re talking about , go to this link on medicine and click on the little UK speaker icon. Sure sounds like “medsin” to me.
Sounds more like a syllabic /n/ to me. Medsn, if you will.
meh, one UK speaker is not like another. I asked my (mostly southern UK) office crowd to say the word just now and all 5 of them used three distinct syllables.
med-i-sun
What about ‘police’, which sounds to me as if they’re saying ‘pleece’?
Note on above- Irish often say Poliss for Police.
Back on subject- it is an age and profession thing. I am in my sixties and say Medcine, younger people in the general population tend to say Medicine. Doctors tend to say Medcine for the speciality and Medicine when addressing patients about the drugs they are prescribing:
“My specialty is Medcine”
“I want you to take this Medicine twice a day”
I’ll say “pleece car” but “here come the po-leece”…go figure